#115: Rule 3 Update: Pressure is a Privilege

I asked a mentor, “how do you know when to apply pressure?” He smiled, and said that’s a good, but difficult question. He emphasized the importance of gauging the situation in order to determine when it makes most sense to hold the team accountable to the highest standards and tightest timelines vs when to choose good enough so that you can re-charge for the next high-pressure scenario, or time to push.

When I started writing this post, I questioned myself for asking about applying pressure. I just want to know how to stay afloat under constant pressure to continuously prioritize and execute across my personal and professional live(s). It wasn’t until I took an extra personal day just to write that my misunderstanding of pressure itself became clear. Pressure necessitates contrast. If the level of pressure is consistent, whether it’s high or low, you’re unlikely to notice it. Until your mind and body break down under the stress, that is. This leads back to the original question: how do you know when to apply pressure? What about when you don’t feel comfortable making tradeoffs?

If you don’t feel empowered to make tradeoffs, you either need a bigger team or that’s poor leadership. As the executive leader of my team of one, I’m deeply frustrated by this, although I fully accept the premise of poor leadership. Running around as if I’m a headless chicken who somehow maintained and strengthened her vocal cords trying to get everything done is simply not working. In the words of Liz Wiseman in her 2017 book Multipliers, this behavior makes me a dreaded diminisher, as opposed to the desired, albeit rare, multiplier type of leader. A multiplier recognizes and leverages the team’s unique talent to get 50% more work and 200% higher job satisfaction from their team vs diminishers, who have higher turnover rates in addition to the lack of results.

How does the multiplier do this? “A great leader asks the questions that focus the intelligence of their team on the right problems.” As the leader, my natural next question is how does the leader know which problems are the right problems to solve? They work backwards from what matters. How do they know what matters? They figure out what matters by establishing clear goals.

Ultimately, I’ve been applying pressure to myself on everything – because I’m not totally certain of my goals. The goals that I do have are massive, and I’m not sure which one to work on first. I’ve second guessed myself, and questioned what direction I’m going in. Or am I just scared to start? I don’t know – I’m not certain that I’m certain. I don’t know what else to tell myself, other than it’s probably because I fell in love with the impossible.