Staying composed under pressure and still project confidence
Under pressure at work?
Everybody faces stressful situations at some time in their personal and professional life, but why do some people manage stress and pressure better than others? Read on for a number of tips about how you can stay composed, remain calm and even improve your ability to work under tense situations.
Staying calm and composed when under pressure includes a mix of self confidence, optimism and clear thinking.
Your composure is reflected in your attitude, body language and overall presence. Part of being an effective leader is being able to instill confidence in those around you. And part of that comes with the way you are able to maintain composure under pressure. And when you feel composed and in control of your emotions you’ll be able to embrace challenges and tackle any difficult work situation with confidence. When you project confidence as a leader you will inspire it in others.
When you’re feeling the pressure and starting to lose your composure you may like to practice these techniques regularly so that they become second nature.
Take a breath
When you’re feeling the pressure, just stop and take a breath. Breathing slowly and deeply triggers our bodies to stop producing stress hormones and start to relax.
Don’t take things personally
When you take things personally it’s difficult to maintain your composure and convince others you have things under control. It’s important to remain calm and don’t get defensive or feel you have to apologise or defend yourself when you don’t have to.
Adopt a positive mental attitude
Having a positive mental attitude is infectious. As leaders we often set the workplace tone and can have a huge impact, both for the positive or the negative. Employees take cues from their leaders behaviour, actions and overall attitude. And in times of stress and challenging times even more so. So it’s important as a leader to manage one’s own mental attitude to keep your employees inspired and buoyant.
Analyse and learn
Being resilient in the face of conflict takes confidence and experience. Learn from your own experiences of situations where you failed to stay cool, reflect and take stock of the reasons why. Think about what you can do to improve in a similar situation in the future. Remain fearless in the face of adversity, learn from your lessons and you will improve both in projecting confidence and tackling any difficult situations with a similar confidence too.
Effective leaders understand how to regulate and manage powerful emotions not only in themselves but in others. The ability to maintain composure in times of crisis is an essential part of the leaders emotional skills toolbox.
If any of your leaders or team need help with staying composed under pressure they may be interested in our unique module in our Strong Resilience & Grit performance area.
Stay composed and project confidence – module
It can be incredibly frustrating to not perform at your full potential because of nerves or anxiety but… intense emotions can’t be stopped, only managed better. What if we could provide you with techniques that enable you to instantly look and feel in control, even in the most challenging situations?
Our unique module Stay Composed and project confidence helps participants take control of their behaviour to channel nerves and manage emotional reactions to deal more effectively with stress and anxiety. Learning how to instantly project authority, confidence and self-belief and feel more empowered and improve personal performance and happiness at work.
