When you’re stressed and feeling intense pressure to finish projects with the highest success, it can be easy to forget what you know about great leadership and fall into unhealthy patterns. Trying to take responsibility for every task, avoiding communication or going below the line with your team are all methods of failing leadership. Instead, it’s essential for leaders to actually hone in on their leadership skills during these times and lean on their peers. Emotional intelligence, prioritization skills and leveraging our people are three ways to maintain effective leadership under pressure and will be discussed in this article.

1. Emotional Mastery & Self-Awareness

Something that leaders must learn if they want to succeed is emotional intelligence. Those who are able to understand and work through their emotions, and the emotions of those around them have an easier time navigating stressful situations. Through recognition of what is sure to elicit an emotional response, leaders can better manage how it is shown in their behaviours and decisions.

Think of a time, as a leader when you’ve encountered a 911 at work while you were putting out a fire of your own. Emotional mastery is having the ability to keep your cool and give your coworkers a regulated version of yourself. It means keeping negative emotions at bay and having a clear head to problem-solve and collaborate.

 It’s important to inspire your team when faced with high emotions, rather than dragging them off course with you. Engaging in a leadership development coaching program might be the push you need to give you access to this skill. It promotes self-awareness, which encourages communication and the ability to make better decisions in the presence of stress.

2. Prioritization & Swift Decision-Making:

When finding yourself in high-pressure scenarios, the ability to swiftly assess the situation at hand and asses the order to handle the most crucial tasks is invaluable. To be successful, leaders must learn and develop a clear framework for prioritizing tasks and ensuring that the essential functions get addressed first. Having this type of clarity at work helps when making informed and timely decisions as well as prevents hasty mistakes.

When you’re able to prioritize what needs to be done immediately, later, or saved for another day, you can put your efforts to use. It is especially useful for leaders to make quick decisions in times of high stress where there isn’t as much time to explore every option. Having the ability to compartmentalize tasks and responsibilities helps everyone work more effectively and drives success in all departments. When you can maintain strong, positive leadership through difficult times you can further perfect your craft and connect your team.

3. Leveraging Support Systems

Even the most senior leaders can't deal with everything alone. It's so important to have a reliable team that you can turn to and lean on throughout challenging times. This might mean that you have people you trust to delegate tasks, manage multiple projects, or simply provide additional perspectives to support you. Leaders who know how and when to utilize their workplace support systems are most successful at maintaining leadership efficacy under pressure.

Leaders who are privy to the experience of leadership development coaching programs are equipped with methods and strategies that allow them to create connections and therefore trust in their teams. Your people want to feel that they have your trust and that they are capable of doing their jobs, so there is no need to micromanage.

When leaders can leverage their team to assist them when needed, they create connections that lead to a healthy workplace culture. Stop trying to do it all! Those who allow others to step up for them are better at managing their emotions and stress - without it being at the expense of their team.

If you’re interested in discovering more strategies to maintain effective leadership while under pressure, consider utilizing the help of a professional executive coach. Through diving deeper and re-framing your perspectives on common workplace issues, you will be able to be a better leader in your professional life as well as a excel in your personal experiences. Leadership development coaching programs team you how to practice emotional intelligence, make better, more holistically framed decisions and create trust between you and your team.

If you or your company are interested in developing your leadership skills with real time strategies and teachings, downloading our "How to Design a Leadership Development Program" guide is a great start to diving deeper into effective leadership:

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