It was 6:30 AM. I had just gotten out of bed and was
having breakfast when I got a call from a sub-contractor who was doing some
work for me. With panic in his voice, he said, "I don't know what to
do." I asked him what was going on. He said the job had gone wrong, and he
thought we needed to call the job off. I said, "Hold on, and I will be
right there." When I arrived on the job and assessed the situation, I
said, "It will be alright," and I calmed him and the rest of the crew
down.
One of my guys looked at me and said, "That's why
he's the boss. When he says it will be alright, it's all right."
Once we were able to decide on a course of action, I
said, "Let's get it done." The very important job then went off
without a hitch. My team just needed me to keep a cool head and to be the
stabilizer.
What they did not know was that I was concerned.
This was a very important job with a lot of eyes on it, and I needed to get it
done and done right! However, in order to get the job accomplished, I needed to
calm the team down and to show confidence and decisiveness (never let them see
you sweat).
I remember the San Francisco 49ers’ Joe Montana, the
multiple Super Bowl winning quarterback whose nickname was "Cool Joe"
because of how cool he was under pressure. His leadership, his ability to make
good decisions, and his gift for instilling confidence in his team in the midst
of adversity made him and his team World Champions!
The reason I could be cool under pressure is because of
my team and my trust in their skills and abilities to meet the challenge and to
get the job done.
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