{"id":4914,"date":"2015-11-13T05:33:13","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T11:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=4914"},"modified":"2015-11-13T05:33:13","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T11:33:13","slug":"how-great-leaders-respond-when-the-pressure-is-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2015\/11\/13\/how-great-leaders-respond-when-the-pressure-is-on\/","title":{"rendered":"How Great Leaders Respond When the Pressure is On"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the 2015 Global Leadership Summit, Bill Hybels spoke of a season in which he found himself under enormous pressure.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The problem was, he explained, he tended to put everyone around him under tremendous pressure too. Bill\u2019s self-awareness helped him to learn to cope with pressure in a way that didn\u2019t cause everyone in his orbit to board his personal \u201ccrazy train\u201d, as a colleague put it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rather than inflicting unbearable pressure on everyone else, I\u2019ve learned that the most effective leaders raise their leadership to a higher level during times of pressure, by consistently demonstrating three counter-intuitive qualities:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Heightened authenticity<\/strong><\/p>\n

One leader for whom I worked would take me out for lunch just prior to the onslaught of a particularly intense season. And he would have the same conversation with me each time.<\/p>\n

\u201cScott, I just want you to know that I\u2019m entering into a period of intense pressure,\u201d he would begin. \u201cAnd you might notice cracks in my armor during this season. You always have permission to point it out when my \u2018jerk-factor\u2019 is starting to rise\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Such authenticity is a counter-intuitive quality of effective leaders during times of pressure.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Uncommon composure<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was once called upon to say some words to our team on the final work-day of a beloved colleague, who was moving to a different city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis person probably had some bad days during her time with our team,\u201d I began. \u201cBut if she did, the rest of us never knew. She was the very picture of composure and grace at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if I could offer higher praise to a leader under pressure.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Unwavering passion<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had the privilege of serving under the leadership of Willow Creek Association president Gary Schwammlein for close to 15 years.<\/p>\n

And during that time I\u2019ve been aware of seasons when ministry and personal circumstances have combined to form a cocktail of pressure that would have incapacitated a lesser leader.<\/p>\n

But in the case of this remarkable leader, such seasons have seen his passion seemingly increase, rather than waver. Counter-intuitive, to be sure, but nonetheless a mark of effective leadership.<\/p>\n

The next time you face such pressure take a \u201cpressure-response\u201d inventory. Will you respond with composure, authenticity and passion?<\/p>\n

Or will you invite everyone around you to join you on the crazy train?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the 2015 Global Leadership Summit, Bill Hybels spoke of a season in which he found himself under enormous pressure. The problem was, he explained, he tended to put everyone around him under tremendous pressure too. Bill\u2019s self-awareness helped him to learn to cope with pressure in a way that didn\u2019t cause everyone in his…<\/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":[769,5,738,478,7,581],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-2","category-discipline2","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-leadership","category-self-assessment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4914","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=4914"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4920,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4914\/revisions\/4920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}