For people who want regular personal or professional development advice from a qualified executive coach.
Pressure Doesn't Reveal Immaturity, It Does Something Else...
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When things get tough in an organisation or company, people don't always behave well. Have you noticed that? Some people can get a bit childish. Maybe they withdraw, or they throw tantrums, or tell tales. Other people can get a bit parental. They start wagging fingers, telling people off and raising their voices. In other words, people stop behaving like adults and they regress into patterns they have known since childhood. And the worse the pressure becomes, the more likely they are to regress even further. Which makes the behaviour worse. Which encourages bad behaviour from everyone else. We tend to feed off each other in this way if we don't feel safe. Before you know it, productivity is the last thing on everyone's minds, because they are all stressed about the work AND stressed with each other. Now, probably, the original source of the pressure is a system which isn't working, or which is no longer fit for purpose. And so, wise leaders find ways to step back and look at the whole picture before deciding how and where to act. They don't overreact to the noise. The very best leaders do this from a calm, confident adult position, regardless of the behaviours of everyone else. And when they do that, everyone else tends to follow. So, never underestimate the positive power you can have, simply by being the adult in the room. Stephen -- If you’re curious whether coaching could help you find more clarity or direction, book a free 15-minute Clarity Call and we’ll explore it together. If you want help to think about where problems might be arising in your organisation, try my Complexity Pressure Check. For anything else, hit reply. I answer every email personally. |
HeRO Chronicles
For people who want regular personal or professional development advice from a qualified executive coach.
The most common frustration I hear from highly capable leaders is expressed in a variety of ways, but it can be summarised as: I can't seem to get anything done anymore! The frustration might be with themselves, for not being able to do the things they need to do. Or it might be frustration with their team, for not finishing things or getting them done right. When this frustration shows up, it is rarely about skill, confidence or motivation. More likely it is because people are being...
When things start to get harder for leaders, it isn't usually because of a lack of skill or effort. It is usually because the system around them has changed. Now systems are always changing and often they balance out, but, at some point they get out of balance and we don't know why. Decisions get harder. Deadlines get missed. Meetings lose their purpose. And the instinct is to wonder, "who is to blame?" But if leaders can take a step back and look at what's changing in the circumstances they...
The word retreat has been on my mind a lot over the last few days, and for two different reasons. There’s retreat in the sense of withdrawing from the day-to-day. Stepping back to reset, recharge or escape circumstances we don’t like. This is the kind of retreat you hear about a lot in the personal development world. Creating calm spaces for people who are tired, stretched or overwhelmed. I have a lot of respect for that work. But it isn’t really how I’m wired. My default response to...