When The Pressure Mounts Wise Leaders Always Persevere (Failure of Nerve)
“Leaders with a Sisu Spirit maintain a non-anxious presence in the midst of seemingly impossible challenges.” ~ Danita Bye
Webster defines “fix” as: “The act of adjusting, correcting, or repairing.”
But, we often operate with a “quick-fix” mentality. We want immediate results. Frustration is high and we look for the fastest way to fix what we perceive as broken. As a result, our anxiety and problems only grow bigger. We rarely achieve a lasting improvement.
If a “quick-fix” is not the answer, what should CEOs, Presidents, Business Owners and Sales Leaders do when they see the young leaders they coach facing serious challenges?
One of my favorite leadership books is A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix by Edwin H. Friedman. Two concepts are critical in Friedman’s model:
- Self-knowledge and
- Self-control.
In short, wise business leaders possess the ability to keep a healthy, steady, non-anxious presence, even in the midst of storms.
What works for you when it feels as if life is two steps ahead of you?
When the Pressure Mounts, Persevere is the fifth action step to strengthening your Sisu Spirit.
So, how do wise leaders coach and mentor emerging leaders to develop a stay-calm and resist-the-quick-fix character? Here are some personal tips, plus some I picked up from Friedman.
What tips do you have to help inspire young leaders to persevere when they’re in the midst of challenges, chaos, and conflict?
As wise leaders, we have the opportunity to encourage young Millennials to persevere in searching for creative solutions instead of looking for a quick fix.
Stay calm
- Reset focus by reviewing your life values, principles and vision.
- Act with integrity in all situations. Don’t cave in to pressure.
Resist the quick-fix solutions
- Separate yourself emotionally (and maybe physically) from the chaos so you can give yourself time to think and process.
- Remain emotionally connected with those you’re dealing with. You can still build a collaborative working relationship.
Focus on fixing the process, not the people
- Avoid trying to please everybody all of the time – it’s an impossible task. Plus, you’ll never be able to ‘fix’ anyone on the team anyway – you can only fix yourself.
- De-emotionalize the problem by thinking through how to fix the process, so that a creative, long-term solution can be installed.
Persevere
- Track progress. The traditional mantra in the selling world is that it took 5 No’s to get a Yes. In today’s world, we often have to go for 8-10 No’s to get a Yes. Invite your young leaders to log a tick mark so they have feedback on how close they are getting to the 10 No’s (Or however you do “ticks” in a digital ageJ).
- Encourage them after each “no” to debrief, tweak their plan, and then go after it again.
Perseverance is learned. Often young leaders give up or cop out as soon as they hit obstacles or difficulties. Next time a young team member tells you it feels as if his challenges are overwhelming and everything is spinning out of control, remind him to persevere and not settle for the ‘quick fix.’
Next post: Developing an Action Mindset – a core element of a successful leader.
Leadership lesson: Success doesn’t happen to you; you make success happen.
Leadership question: What seemingly insurmountable challenges do you deal with when you work with young leaders?
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