Leading Under Pressure: How to Stay Calm, Clear and Compassionate When Everything Is Changing
Do you get that Sunday night feeling?
Anticipating the pressure that will be waiting for you when you arrive at work tomorrow?
Have you noticed that your sleep is impacted when the pressure builds?
Or that you become irritable with your loved ones, or forget things?
How Pressure Shows Up in Leadership
Your physiology is letting you know when the pressure builds.
And in leadership in the current climate, those feelings are all too familiar.
You’re asked to do more with less.
You’re dealing with paradoxes and conflicts daily.
And you may be losing staff or being subjected to yet another reorganisation, making it hard for you to gain traction as a leader.
At Compassionate, our whole focus is on supporting leaders to thrive so that their teams and organisations can thrive too.
Compassionate Leadership Starts With Awareness
One of the first steps to Compassion is awareness.
To be a compassionate leader, you need a level of self-awareness and a willingness to see the struggle around you.
Building walls around yourself or burying your head in the sand doesn’t work – and you probably know that already.
But the idea of digging into emotions may also scare you.
You Don’t Have to Bare Your Soul
Happily, the skills of Compassion don’t require you to bare all or dig around in painful emotions.
What we do teach you is to notice your internal state and to build a toolbox of strategies that help you navigate difficulty.
- Shame.
- Fear.
- Anxiety.
- Uncertainty.
- Conflict.
These are all normal experiences for leaders.
But when everyone is looking to you to steer the ship, who can you turn to for confidential support?
Using Self-Compassion to Navigate Difficult Emotions
Self-Compassion skills can be very helpful for navigating difficult emotions.
The first step is to normalise your emotional response and remind yourself that you’re not alone.
Your brain loves to tell you that you’re the only one who struggles in this way.
But that isn’t true.
Using Your Physiology, Breathing and Mindset
What is true is that you can use your physiology, your breathing and your mindset to help you navigate difficulty.
You can motivate yourself with Compassion rather than a big stick.
And you can become your own best trusted advisor and coach.
Build Your Compassion Skills as a Leader
To find out more about how to build Compassion skills as a leader, use our
contact form to request an informal chat.
We’ve got you.
