Staying Cool under Pressure

We continue to navigate uncertain times, and leading our people comes with its own pressures and stresses. How we handle and deal with these can impact our success significantly.

Feeling overwhelmed or not in the right headspace impacts our decision-making and general emotional intelligence when we are serving the needs of our people. You may disagree, but generally, we are a lot more effective when we can think clearly and maintain focus. If we are in an anxious state or feeling stressed we have the tendency to lose our composure and focus on areas we cannot control, and enter an unproductive state which can lead to mistakes or misses.

Weekly Newsletter - The Average Joe

James Kerr wrote a great book called Legacy which we can learn a lot of lessons from the New Zealand All Blacks in their approach to staying calm under pressure.

In 2003, the New Zealand All Blacks exited the World Cup in many fans’ view, early. They choked when pressure was applied. In the spirit of the All Black’s culture they needed to bounce back and fast.

They brought in forensic psychiatrist Ceri Evans. They wanted to explore more about the mindset and how the brain works under pressure to avoid choking at pivotal moments in a game.