How to lead in high-stress times, from Canada’s Olympic artistic swimming team leader

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Question: I’m a team leader in a high-stress work environment. How can I bring out the best in my team members without adding to their stress levels?
We asked Kerri Morgan, team leader and national sport officer for the Canadian Olympic artistic swimming team, to tackle this one:
Sport is very high stress, for athletes and for staff. It can very quickly become a 24-hour-a-day job, especially if you’re travelling internationally. Everybody’s on a different time zone, your governing body is sending you emails in the middle of the night. So with my team, I’m open and honest about what is going on in each person’s schedule and the amount of work that we’re pushing through.
I also force them to take time off, which won’t reduce stress, but it will keep our ability to deal with the stress at the highest possible level. But it’s not always well-received.
One of the athletes I work with, when she first started with us, I would routinely say to her, ‘You need to take some days off. This is too much right now.’ And she would inevitably show up at the pool and I would say, ‘No, no, no, what are you doing here? You’re only a human being. You need to go home.’ This year, she said to me, ‘Kerri, do you remember when we first started working together? I used to get so mad at you when you would tell me I needed recovery time. I didn’t listen to you. I would go home and work. I would just do it where you couldn’t see.’ I said, ‘I know,’ and she said, ‘How did you know?’ I said, ‘Because you didn’t come back rested. But I also knew you would learn.’
I think it’s really important to set realistic expectations and then hold us all accountable. Let your team know there is only so much that humans can accomplish and we will all be better if we set boundaries.
In times of high stress, you need to rely on your logical side because your emotional side will be too wound up at that moment. Your team needs somebody who is very calm to walk in and say, ‘We’re going to take a deep breath. We’re an incredibly high-functioning team. We can do great things together when we’re calm. So let’s calm the situation down, everybody to their corners.’ And then you need to listen. Your team needs to feel heard.
I think leaders make a mistake when they think strong team culture is everybody going, ‘Yeah, it’s all great, we can do it,’ all the time and never complaining. That’s not strong team culture, that’s indoctrination. If you ask the staff and athletes I work with, I very often say, ‘Okay, here’s what I see the issue is,’ and throw it out in the middle of the room. That’s strong team culture, which will reduce stress because everyone knows, no matter what the problem is, you can say it out loud and you will have people around you that will support you through finding the answer to the situation.
High performers don’t make less mistakes and they don’t have fewer problems. They’re just more honest about them, and they fix them faster.
One of our athletes made an error at a competition recently and she apologized. I said, don’t apologize for making an error. You did exactly what a high performer should do. You recovered in the moment quickly, and the rest of your performance did not suffer.
When it comes to bringing out the best in your team, everybody is on their own path. I think as leaders, we fail when we think, ‘If I set a good example and I forge this roadway to where we’re going, everybody is going to get behind me and we’re going to march there together.’ Life doesn’t happen like that. You need to accept the fact that we’re all going to start together and we’re all going to end together, but we’re going to get there in our own way based on whatever obstacles are put in front of each individual.
If you’ve got athletes who’ve got health issues or injuries, they’re going to go off on a different path. And it’s okay. If you’ve got athletes with mental health issues, maybe they’re going to leave and deal with what’s going on and then they’re going to come back.
I preach all the time that you don’t have to be on the same path to be amazing. You’re already amazing. Get on your own path and be amazing on your own path.
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