The leadership response to pressure is not more pressure. As someone who has made his fair share of errors this way, this still feels like a radical idea.

We are trained, compensated, and promoted around the whole notion that to be a great leader we have to deliver great results with happy, motivated, teams. And when things take a downturn, as they often do, we do our root-cause analysis out of fear because "I" must respond, "I" am accountable, "I" won't get promoted, or, "I" must fit the ideal. We radiate our fear outward just when we need people to be coming up with new ideas. Then we wonder why our performance issues repeat.

This picture changes dramatically when you introduce the spiritual dimension. When, for example, you have faith in your greater purpose for leading - like helping people lead more fulfilled lives, or preserving the sense of wholeness of your organization - your responses move quickly to being more calm, confident and creative.

Faith can feel like hard moment-by-moment leadership work, especially with difficult colleagues. It means trusting long before the outcomes are certain, but thankfully a little faith goes a long way for us all.

This week, focus on the spiritual connection between you and those you work with. Will you choose words that preserve and expand the connection? Or will pressure cause you to ignore or even diminish it? Your choice.

Stephen
ANE = Calm, Confident, Connected Leadership