{"id":3659,"date":"2014-01-24T01:12:55","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T07:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=3659"},"modified":"2014-01-24T01:18:36","modified_gmt":"2014-01-24T07:18:36","slug":"3-ways-to-sharpen-your-leadership-edge-when-the-pressure-is-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/24\/3-ways-to-sharpen-your-leadership-edge-when-the-pressure-is-on\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Ways to Sharpen Your Leadership Edge When the Pressure is On"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you remember the tv ads for the knives that could cut through a tin can and a leather shoe, and still be sharp enough to slice a tomato?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pretty impressive stuff!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The point of course, was that this knife\u2019s edge was so sharp it could cut through just about anything.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The same is true for your leadership edge. If you keep it sharp.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When your leadership edge is sharp you make better decisions, you build stronger teams, you cast more compelling visions and you get more done.<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re not careful, your leadership edge can become dull, especially when you\u2019re under a lot of stress, when you\u2019re battling to meet a deadline and when you\u2019re leading through a crisis.<\/p>\n

But effective leaders know that during these seasons there are ways to keep your edge sharp. These are three of the most important edge-sharpening strategies for leaders:<\/p>\n

1. Maintaining physical health<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the pressure is on there can be a tremendous temptation to abandon exercise, to cut corners on sleep and to sacrifice healthy food for fast food.<\/p>\n

Resist these temptations at all cost.<\/p>\n

When the pressure is on you need to be at your physical best.<\/p>\n

2. Nurturing spiritual vitality<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll pray later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll catch up on bible reading later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll worship later.\u201d<\/p>\n

The times when you\u2019re under pressure are the very times you need to lean into<\/em> God, not withdraw further from him.<\/p>\n

3. Deepening relational roots<\/strong><\/p>\n

Effective leaders are always focused on adding value to others. But when the pressure is on there can be a huge temptation to make it all about one\u2019s self.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let this happen.<\/p>\n

When the heat is on, that\u2019s the time to go the extra relational mile. That\u2019s the time to discipline yourself to continue pouring yourself into others in your relational world.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s counter-intuitive, but the payoff is huge.<\/p>\n

The point is that many leaders under estimate the critical importance of their physical, spiritual and relational worlds. Then, when the pressure is on, these vital edge-sharpening dynamics can be quickly abandoned.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let that happen.<\/p>\n

When the heat is on, ramp up these vital sharpening tools.<\/p>\n

Because when your leadership edge is sharp you can cut through just about anything.<\/p>\n

How do you keep your leadership edge sharp?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you remember the tv ads for the knives that could cut through a tin can and a leather shoe, and still be sharp enough to slice a tomato? Pretty impressive stuff! The point of course, was that this knife\u2019s edge was so sharp it could cut through just about anything. The same is true…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,738,478,7,807,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-action","category-discipline2","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-leadership","category-spiritual-life","category-temptation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3659"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3664,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659\/revisions\/3664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}