Friday, October 24, 2008

How I See It

A good leader shines under pressure

In the Olympics last summer, the U.S. women’s gymnastics team took silver instead of gold. Under the intense pressure of competition, the team made several mistakes.

What does a coach do when an athlete or team is having trouble performing under pressure? They each work to fix the situation. Perhaps the athlete needs more training or needs to develop skills to handle the pressure. Perhaps the team needs to build unity. A good coach identifies what went wrong and develops a training plan to prevent its happening again.

The same holds true in today’s high-technology workplace. A team that does not perform well under pressure — or a manager who fails to manage effectively when leadership is most critical — is a danger signal. The problem does not go away when the pressure abates: When the sun is shining, the roof doesn’t leak.

For example, software development is a business that requires a surprisingly cohesive team: individual engineers are generally working alone or with a partner, so it is easy to lose track of the contributions of other people. Under the pressure of a tight deadline or a critical milestone, all manner of nastiness and finger-pointing may emerge.

At one Silicon Valley company, team members had staggered milestones; those with earlier milestones would knock themselves out to hit their targets so as to not slow down the rest of the team. The later group would then take over and yell at the first group for not continuing to work long hours. Caught up in its own deadlines, all the second group could see was that the first did not appear to be working as hard. As the pressure mounted, the situation only became worse until the team cracked and engineers went looking for other jobs.

A problem gets worse the more often the team snatches defeat from the very jaws of victory, and the expectation of unpleasantness adds to the tension. Why not fix the problem right then and there? Well, as the Arkansas Traveler says, “I couldn’t mend it now; it’s a rainy day.”

Under stress is not the time to fix a major problem, although it is the time to commit to fixing it. When time is short and the stakes are high, people are not receptive to change. An attempt to introduce new skills or new procedures is likely to make the situation worse.

Imagine attempting a major redesign of the software a couple weeks before the ship date: It’s invariably a disaster. People do not have the time to think about what they are doing. Skills and procedures need to be learned and practiced under calm conditions before being applied in stressful conditions.

Unfortunately, executives at all levels frequently fail to take advantage of those sunny days. They ignore the danger signals. After all, the milestone was met; the product did get out the door. While the athletic team may have just lost the gold medal, the business will claim victory for some measure of success. In fact, the team simply hasn’t realized that it has lost. 

Of course, occasionally there really is a one-off incident. How can you tell the difference? Take notes on the behavior you see. If you feel too busy to take notes, that’s a red flag. When things calm down, review your notes. Is the observed behavior something you want to risk again? If the level of risk is not worth worrying about, stop now. Otherwise, observe how people behave in other situations. Does the behavior reappear in tense or difficult situations? Are team members overly polite? Consciously avoiding conflict?

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then you have a hole in the roof.
 

Stephen Balzac is a professional speaker and consultant, and is president of 7 Steps Ahead, based in Stow. He can be reached at 978-298-5189 or steve@7stepsahead.com.