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Developing Leadership Skills: How to Thrive Under Pressure

The Highlights:

  • Think of your capacity for stress as a bucket. It can only hold so much.
  • So if a larger part of your bucket is filled with workplace stress, then avoid adding more stress from things like alcohol, poor sleep, and a sedentary lifestyle.
  • Look in the mirror — your own unmanaged stress can lead to poor communication, lower productivity, and burnout.
  • Go back to the basics, e.g. prioritization, time management, and clear communication.
  • Develop your “soft skills” like self-awareness, resilience, and empathy.
  • Empower your employees to navigate stressful situations by building a culture of well-being.

Leadership is a demanding role, and stress is an inevitable part of the package. 

But with the right skills and perspective, you can use stressful situations as opportunities to let your leadership shine.

The ability to effectively navigate stress is the hallmark of a great leader. This sets the tone for resilient, high-performance organizations.

Smiling businesswoman in a meeting, holding documents and engaged in discussion with colleagues in a bright office setting.

How to Lead Effectively in Stressful Situations

Stressful situations are a true test of leadership.

They challenge your ability to remain composed, make sound decisions, and inspire confidence in your team. 

In these moments, effective leaders rely on more than just technical skills. They draw on emotional intelligence, adaptability, and clear communication to navigate uncertainty. 

This is how you can lead with clarity and resilience, even when the pressure is on.

1. Look in the Mirror and Lead by Example

Effective leadership under stress begins with self-awareness. 

Your own unmanaged stress can lead to poor communication, lower productivity, and burnout — not just for you as a leader, but for the entire team.

Think of your capacity for stress as a bucket. It can only hold so much.

So if a larger part of your bucket is filled with workplace stress, then avoid adding more stress from things like alcohol, poor sleep, and a sedentary lifestyle.

The more stressful the time, the more important it is to support your foundational well-being — and demonstrate that for your team.

Great leaders model the behaviors they want to see in their teams. By demonstrating healthy coping mechanisms and prioritizing your well-being, you can set a powerful example for your employees.

Practical Steps to Model Effective Stress Management:

  1. Reflect: How does your own stress manifest in your behavior and decision-making? Where can you better self-regulate and avoid putting added stress on your team members? 
  2. Prioritize Rest and Recovery: Sustainable leadership isn’t about working non-stop. It’s about balancing work and recovery to maintain peak performance. Focus on the basics: Sleep consistently, eat well, and use microbreaks to stay energized and clear-headed.
  3. Open Up About Stress: Vulnerability can be a strength. Share your own experiences with stress and the strategies you use to cope. This humanizes your leadership and builds trust with your team.

2. Go Back to the Basics

It never hurts to refine your foundational skills — think prioritization, time management, and clear communication. 

Continuously developing leadership skills is essential for leading effectively under pressure.

The Basics of Building Leadership Skills:

  1. Get Comfortable With Reprioritizing: When things get hectic, it gets easy to pile onto the team without deprioritizing anything. Reflect: In stressful times, how do you maintain focus and clarity for the team and prevent the frenetic pace from taking over? Respect your team’s time and energy, and they will reward you with trust and productivity. 
  2. Time Management: Stress often arises from feeling overwhelmed by tasks. Use time blocking, delegate tasks where possible, and help your team offload their less important tasks.
  3. Clear Communication: Miscommunication can amplify stress in teams. Practice active listening and ensure transparency in your interactions. This fosters trust and clarity, especially in high-pressure situations. Get clear on what you want, and then get clear on how you want to communicate it to your team.
  4. Seek Feedback: Regularly ask for feedback and reflect on your leadership style. Don’t get defensive. Be truly open to feedback, and make sure you listen deeply to your team members without taking things personally. Remember: Developing leadership skills is a lifelong process, and stress resilience improves as you grow.
  5. Assign Tasks Based on Strengths & Preferences: Tailor roles and responsibilities to match individual strengths and preferences. Assigning tasks to people that misaligns with what they excel at and care about is a quick path to burnout. Set your employees up to succeed.

3. Cultivate Soft Skills to Manage Stress

Soft skills are the backbone of effective leadership — especially in stressful environments. By investing in these, you enhance your ability to connect with your team, keep your composure, and inspire confidence.

Essential Leadership Soft Skills for Leading Under Stress:

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  1. Train Resilience & Adaptability: Nothing will ever go exactly as planned. Resilient leaders flexibly bounce back from setbacks and keep their focus on long-term goals. This involves maintaining a growth mindset and viewing challenges as opportunities for development rather than threats.

    Actionable Tip: Encourage innovation within your team by fostering a culture where experimentation is safe. This builds collective resilience and trains the team to be ready for the unexpected.
  2. Develop More Empathy: Leading through stress requires understanding your team’s challenges. Empathy fosters a culture of support and collaboration, which can mitigate unnecessary stress for everyone involved.

    Actionable Tip: Empathy starts with listening. Schedule regular touchpoints with team members to check in on their well-being and offer support. Listen for signs of burnout, and see how you can help.
  3. Build Psychological Safety: Create an environment where team members feel safe to express concerns and seek help. A psychologically safe workplace reduces stress and boosts collaboration.

    Actionable Tip: Listen closely to your team members. Invite feedback on how processes and culture can be improved, and then act upon it.

4. Empower Your Teams to Manage Stress

Leading through high-stress moments isn’t just about managing your own stress — it’s about empowering your team to do the same. 

Strong teams support one another, and building a culture of well-being can prevent burnout while raising performance.

Strategies to Help Teams Navigate Stress:

  1. Provide Resources: Equip your team with tools and resources to manage stress, such as resource groups, coaching sessions, or well-being programs.
  2. Make Recovery Easy: Help your team set boundaries and take time off. Flexible scheduling and initiatives like “no-meeting Fridays” can create space for recovery. Set the expectation that your team can slow down after a period of high stress.
  3. Build Belonging: Belonging is a fundamental human need. Set up team rituals to celebrate team milestones, foster connection, and raise morale.
  4. Encourage Flow State: Flow state is the perfect intersection of ease and performance. By creating an environment that supports focus, clear goals, and autonomy, leaders can help their teams succeed through flow.

Thriving Under Stress

Investing in stress management isn’t just about surviving the tough times — it’s about thriving in them. 

Remember, building resilience as a leader is all about learning, adapting, and growing with your team. This is the essence of leadership: to rise above challenges and lead others to do the same.

By embracing stress as an opportunity, you can transform your organization’s challenges into triumphs.

Want to reach the next level of your leadership? Look into Exos’ Human Performance Coaching.

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We’re not here to just check a box. Our comprehensive solution set is designed to help your entire organization elevate their performance — and sustain it. We provide the tools needed for your employees to build capacity and reach their full potential.