High-Pressure Leadership Tips

If you don’t defend your team when it counts, you’re not leading. You’re just managing. Anyone can lead when things are going well. The test is what you do when pressure hits. KPI performance matters. But the real signal of leadership? How you show up for your people. A strong team isn’t built through targets. It’s built through trust — and the way you protect it. Here’s what that looks like: 1. Own the tough moments
 Real leaders take responsibility. They don’t let the team carry the blame. 2. Stop toxic culture at the door No room for politics, gossip or finger-pointing. Shut it down early. 3. Provide clarity
 Confusion kills confidence. Communicate clearly — especially when things get messy. 4. Start with trust
 Micromanagement isn’t control. It’s fear. Trust your people to do what they were hired to do. 5. Back your team Even when it’s uncomfortable. Especially when it’s uncomfortable. Teams don’t forget how you made them feel — especially under pressure. → When people feel safe, they perform.
 → When they feel trusted, they grow.
 → When they feel protected, they stay. Leadership isn’t about your title. It’s about who you’re willing to stand up for. ♻️ Reshare to reshape leadership.

Why do some teams thrive under pressure while others collapse? It often comes down to two hidden forces: The level of psychological safety people feel. The performance standards they’re held to. Not just one of the two. Both. Amy Edmondson’s framework shows how these forces interact, creating four very different team dynamics: Apathy Zone (low safety, low standards):  People disengage. They show up, but their minds are elsewhere. Minimal energy, minimal outcomes. Comfort Zone (high safety, low standards):  People are relaxed and friendly, but without challenge. It feels nice—but progress stalls. Anxiety Zone (low safety, high standards):  Pressure is high, but fear dominates. People play it safe, withhold ideas, and avoid risks. Performance suffers despite effort. Learning Zone (high safety, high standards):  This is the sweet spot. People feel safe enough to speak up, experiment, and fail, while being stretched to achieve ambitious goals. This is where true innovation and growth happen. Here’s the key insight: Psychological safety alone is not enough. A comfortable team without high standards doesn’t move forward. But also: Performance standards alone are not enough. High standards without safety create fear. Strong leaders cultivate both: they build an environment of trust and respect, and set the bar high enough to push people to their potential. The best teams don’t just feel safe. They feel safe and challenged to do hard things. Which quadrant are you or your people in today?

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 A tight deadline. A demanding client. A last-minute change that turns your work upside down. We’ve all been there. Stressful situations at work are unavoidable. But how you handle them? That’s where real professionalism shines. I’ve seen two types of responses: 🚩 Person A: Panics, gets defensive, blames external factors. ✅ Person B: Stays composed, finds solutions, keeps communication clear. Guess who earns more trust, credibility, and respect? Here’s what I’ve learned about maintaining professionalism under stress: 🔹 1. Pause Before Reacting When things go wrong, our first instinct is to react instantly. Instead, take 10 seconds to process the situation before responding. Your tone, body language, and words matter more than you think. 🔹 2. Control What You CAN You can’t control last-minute client demands or an overflowing inbox, but you can control: ✔ Your response time ✔ The way you communicate ✔ Your ability to prioritize and delegate 🔹 3. Keep Your Emotions in Check (Even When Others Don’t) If a colleague or client is frustrated, demanding, or even rude, don’t mirror their energy. Stay calm. Stay professional. Nothing diffuses tension like a composed response. 🔹 4. Focus on Solutions, Not the Problem Instead of saying: 🚫 “This isn’t possible. We don’t have enough time.” Try: ✅ “Given the deadline, here’s what we CAN do and how we can adjust.” 🔹 5. Your Reputation = How You Handle Tough Moments People don’t just remember your work—they remember how you made them feel in stressful moments. A calm, professional attitude builds trust and opens doors to bigger opportunities. At the end of the day, professionalism isn’t just about doing great work—it’s about how you handle the tough parts too. #Professionalism #CareerGrowth #Leadership

Let’s face it - current headlines spell a recipe for employee stress. Raging inflation, recession worries, international strife, social justice issues, and overall uncertainty pile onto already full work plates. As business leaders, keeping teams motivated despite swirling fears matters more than ever. Here are 5 strategies I lean into to curb burnout and boost morale during turbulent times: 1. Overcommunicate Context and Vision: Proactively address concerns through radical transparency and big picture framing. Our SOP is to hold quarterly all hands and monthly meetings grouped by level cohort and ramp up fireside chats and written memos when there are big changes happening. 2. Enable Flexibility and Choice: Where Possible Empower work-life balance and self-care priorities based on individuals’ needs. This includes our remote work policy and implementing employee engagement tools like Lattice to track feedback loops. 3. Spotlight Impact Through Community Stories: Connect employees to end customers and purpose beyond daily tasks. We leveled up on this over the past 2 years. We provide paid volunteer days to our employees and our People Operations team actively connects our employees with opportunities in their region or remotely to get involved monthly. Recently we added highlighting the social impact by our employees into our internal communications plan. 4. Incentivize Cross-Collaboration: Reduce silos by rewarding team-wide contributions outside core roles. We’ve increased cross team retreats and trainings to spark fresh connections as our employee base grows. 5. Celebrate the Humanity: Profile your employee’s talents beyond work through content spotlight segments. We can’t control the market we operate in, but as leaders we can make an impact on how we foster better collaboration to tackle the headwinds. Keeping spirits and productivity intact requires acknowledging modern anxieties directly while sustaining focus on goals ahead. Reminding your teams why the work matters and that they are valued beyond output unlocks loyalty despite swirling worries. What tactics succeeded at boosting team morale and preventing burnout spikes within your company amidst current volatility?

High-performing teams usually do great work together and get awesome results. But even high-performing teams can regress to just doing 'okay', or worse, underperforming. Pressure can bend a team backwards or forwards based on how the team responds to it. When a team, or even one person on the team, is overwhelmed by pressure, it can lead to stress, conflict, and burnout, causing the team to regress. However, if the team sees pressure as a challenge and has the right support and resources, it can boost their performance and growth. Effective managers and leaders play an important role in developing and sustaining a pressure-resistant team culture. They work at individual level as well as team level to build skills, encourage effective communication, and foster a strong sense of trust and respect among team members. Realistically, it's difficult to completely prevent people from feeling overwhelmed and stressed. While manager's can support the development of resilience in people and create supportive environments, individual reactions to stress vary greatly, and some factors are beyond their control. This makes it really important for leaders to watch out for signs of escalating stress, such as changes in performance, morale, or behavior. By recognizing these signs early, they can intervene with appropriate support or adjustments, helping to prevent more serious issues like burnout and maintaining a healthy, productive team dynamic. Understanding the Responder Stress Continuum can be helpful. This model, often used in high-stress professions, outlines four stress levels: Ready, Reacting, Injured, and Critical. Let's look at how this applies to our teams in the corporate world and the important role of managers and leaders. ✳ Ready: This is where we all want our teams to be - engaged, motivated, and stress-free. At this stage, teams are productive, innovative, and collaborative. It's where high performance happens. ⚠ Reacting: Here, stress starts creeping in. Maybe it's a tight deadline or a challenging project. Teams might still perform well, but there are signs of strain. Regular communication and coaching at both individual and team level are key at this stage to prevent escalation. ⚡ Injured: If stressors aren't managed, teams enter the 'Injured' stage. Performance dips, morale drops, and burnout risks increase. This is a critical point where targeted interventions are necessary to bring the team back to 'Ready'. 🛑 Critical: The stage we all want to avoid. Chronic stress has set in, leading to serious implications for health and performance. Recovery at this stage is difficult and requires significant time and resources. #teamwork #highperformingteams #teamdevelopment #leadership #leaders #manager #stressmanagement #teamdynamics #teameffectiveness Image Credit: Laura McGladrey and Responderalliance.com

Why I’m Posting These Emergency Management Thoughts I’m not doing this for likes. I’m posting because after 40+ years in emergency management, I still see us making the same mistakes—mistakes we already know how to fix. We confuse activity with outcomes. We issue warnings but don’t ask if anyone took action. We activate EOCs but don’t measure EOC actions to outcomes in the field. We deploy resources but don’t ask if they actually made a difference. Too often, we sit in our EOCs staring at screens like they’re the truth—when they’re just a representation of what’s been reported. That’s not reality. It’s filtered data. Leaders need to get out into the disaster and see it for themselves. Make sure your assumptions match what’s really happening on the ground. I’m sharing these thoughts to cut through the noise. To remind us the mission isn’t process—it’s people. Survivors don’t care how well you followed the plan if the plan didn’t work. These posts come from the field—hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods, and everything in between. From press briefings, EOC floors, sleepless nights, and lessons learned the hard way. If they challenge your thinking, good. If they help you lead better in the next disaster, even better. Because responding isn’t the goal. Delivering results that matter is. — craig

The most powerful leadership insight I've gained didn't come from an MBA program or executive retreat. It came from observing how transformative positivity can be in high-pressure environments. Last year, I led a team facing impossible deadlines, budget cuts, and market uncertainty. The conventional leadership approach? Push harder. Demand more. Focus on metrics. Instead, I experimented with what I call "strategic positivity"—not blind optimism, but deliberately cultivating connection, empathy, and psychological safety. 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗱: 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟭: Empathy accelerates execution When we started meetings by checking in on people as humans—not just resources—psychological safety increased. This led to more honest problem-solving and fewer hidden roadblocks. Application: Create structured space for human connection before diving into tasks. 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟮: Unity creates decision velocity By aligning on shared values—not just objectives—we made complex decisions 3x faster because we trusted each other's intentions. Application: Invest time articulating team values that go beyond corporate speak. 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟯: Positive cultures attract top talent Our team became a talent magnet in a difficult hiring market—not because we offered the highest compensation, but because word spread about our supportive environment. Application: Make culture visible through consistent practices, not just slogans. The results surprised even me: • 32% increase in team productivity • Zero turnover during a period of high industry attrition • Recognition from senior leadership as a model team The data is clear: positivity isn't just a nice-to-have—it's a strategic advantage in competitive environments. What's one small practice you've implemented that builds more positivity in your professional environment? ✍️ Your insights can make a difference! ♻️ Share this post if it speaks to you, and follow me for more.

Stress spreads faster than Wi-Fi. Good or bad, it shows up everywhere.  In your tone, your body language, your decisions. And if you’re stressed, they’re stressed.  If you’re steady, they’re steady. In this week's episode, I unpack how leaders slow the spread: 1. See it before you speak Track what spikes you for one week (missed targets, unresolved conflict, back-to-backs). Patterns first. Fixes later. 2. Regulate before you communicate Sixty seconds of slow breathing. A tech-free walk between meetings. Enter composed, not combustible. 3. Set the thermostat Your presence sets the pace.  Calm + clarity = focus. Rush + tension = silence. 4. Communicate like a human Short, frequent check-ins beat long monologues. One “quiet” manager I coached lifted output 20% – 100% with this alone. 5. Normalise recovery End meetings five minutes early. Protect buffers. Model rest as part of performance. Drop these pitfalls Hero syndrome. The “always-on” badge. Silent suffering. Think about it next time… Do you want to be the calm in the storm, or the storm itself? Calm is a skill, and you can learn it on the Yuwab Podcast. Tune in, subscribe and share with someone you care about or a leader who may need this. ____ Watch now on the Yuwab Podcast → https://lnkd.in/d2ZKivzD Listen to the Yuwab Podcast: Apple: https://lnkd.in/dH2KZpac Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dbYJHuFV

Memoirs of a Gully Boys Episode 37: #EmotionalIntelligence – The Key to Meaningful Leadership Leadership isn’t just about strategy and execution; it’s about understanding, connecting with, and inspiring people. Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize and manage not only your emotions but also those of others. Over the years, I’ve learned that while technical skills can get you started, it’s emotional intelligence that keeps you ahead. Leading with Empathy During a critical system overhaul, one of my most skilled team members began missing deadlines and appearing disengaged. Instead of reprimanding him, I called for a private conversation. It turned out he was struggling with a personal issue that was affecting his focus. Rather than pushing harder, I offered him flexibility and reassigned some tasks to lighten his load. Within weeks, his performance rebounded, and his gratitude translated into renewed dedication to the project. Lesson 1: Empathy isn’t a weakness in leadership—it’s the strength that builds loyalty and trust. The Art of Active Listening In a client negotiation years ago, tensions were high due to differing expectations. The meeting began with both sides defensive and unwilling to compromise. Instead of countering every point, I focused on actively listening to their concerns without interrupting. Once they felt heard, their stance softened, and we found common ground to move forward. That day, I realized that listening is not just about hearing words—it’s about understanding emotions, intentions, and the bigger picture. Lesson 2: Active listening dissolves barriers and creates pathways for collaboration. Regulating Emotions in High-Stress Situations During a complex software migration, an unexpected system failure triggered panic among stakeholders. As the project lead, I felt the pressure mounting. However, instead of reacting impulsively, I paused, analyzed the situation, and communicated a clear action plan. Keeping emotions in check not only reassured the team but also set the tone for a calm and focused recovery effort. The project was back on track within days, and the team’s confidence grew as a result. Lesson 3: Emotional regulation isn’t about suppressing feelings—it’s about channeling them effectively to lead under pressure. The Power of Recognition Emotional intelligence also lies in recognizing and appreciating people’s contributions. During a grueling project, I made it a point to acknowledge every team member’s effort, no matter how small. The simple act of recognition boosted morale and created a sense of shared ownership. When the project was completed successfully, the celebration felt more collective than individual—a testament to the power of emotional intelligence in fostering unity. Lesson 4: Recognition fuels motivation and strengthens connections within teams. Closing Thoughts Emotional intelligence is the bridge between leadership and humanity. To be continued...

I faced a 2-3 hour delay after a workshop in New Hampshire, making it impossible to reach the airport on time for my flight to Las Vegas. Despite feeling panicked, I used the R.A.I.N. technique from my Peloton meditation teacher to stay calm. I'm happy to share this technique with you. Here are the concise steps: 1. Recognize your feelings: Identify and acknowledge your emotions, accepting them as normal and valid. 2. Accept and allow your feelings: Embrace your emotions as they are and allow yourself to feel them without judgment. 3. Investigate: Determine what you need in the moment and take necessary actions to meet those needs. 4. Nurture: Care for yourself by seeking support, finding solutions, and taking positive steps forward. R.A.I.N. helped me stay calm during a tough situation. How do you remain composed during difficult customer interactions or tough meetings? Share your approach in the comments to help someone out today!