Building High-Performance Team: Staying Composed When It Matters
As leaders at all levels build high-performance teams, leaders must maintain their composure in all situations, most importantly the tough ones.
The leaders’ demeanour also reflects maturity and thoughtfulness. We, leaders, serve as role models and are constantly under scrutiny and observation. Our actions, whether intentional or not, directly or indirectly influence the learning and behaviour of our team members.
Important: Leading by example is always in style.
In challenging situations, maintaining composure and clarity can be demanding, but it is crucial for leaders. Moments like team conflicts, project delays, or production incidents require a calm and collected approach.
In this post, I will share my rules for staying grounded and creating a positive impact in difficult circumstances.
May you be a manager or an individual contributor and technical lead, the following rules should help all leaders at all levels -
Rule 1: Don’t React, Respond
First and foremost, focus on yourself first. Take a deep breath. Of all the people and teams, make sure you as a leader don’t react and try to respond to the situation. The reaction is generally by system 1 of the brain and responding is by system 2. These types of thought processes by the brain are explained by Daniel K in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow. When something goes wrong, try to respond intentionally with system 2 thinking. Thinking with System 2 in tough situations will bring out the best decisions and outcomes from everyone.
Bonus points if you can crack a joke or two to keep the mood light — it can defuse tension and reframe the situation positively.
Rule 2: Fix forward (Focus on solution, not blame)
Rather than hastily jumping to conclusions, focus on the present situation. Use all available information to find the best solution to the problem at hand. Analyze the situation to identify learning opportunities for yourself and your teams. The aim is to prevent similar mistakes in the future. This approach allows you to maintain a broader perspective and view the current situation as just another problem to be solved.
Rule 3: Assume positive intent
Regardless of the situation or the people involved, it’s essential to recognize that everyone’s intentions are generally positive. Embracing the concept of good intent allows us to remove personal biases from the equation. This shift in perspective encourages us to move beyond blame and finger-pointing towards a mindset of “it’s not my fault, but it’s my problem.”
Conclusion
There are many other strategies that leaders can employ, but I have found the above three rules to be particularly effective and easy to practice. I hope these tips help leaders out there maintain composure and drive positive outcomes in challenging situations.
I hope this helps the leaders out there.
