The Pressure Paradox
How to motivate your team without breaking them…
When I was in the Army, one of my Battalion Commanders was a hard charger.
He wanted to train hard so that when we’d hit the battlefield, we’d already paid in sweat to minimize the need to pay in blood.
The logic was sound.
We had a rotation coming up at the National Training Center (think MASSIVE war game), and in preparation, the BC ordered a 45-day field problem.
So, we packed our stuff and trained in the Alaskan wilderness for 45 days. Through blizzards and a lack of sunlight, we kept paying in sweat.
Now, most of the soldiers were okay with the amount of work we had to put in. Long days, longer nights, and weekends in the field were expected for the infantry.
But what kept everyone motivated was the idea that there was a break coming after our trip to NTC.
We could push through the sprint and catch our breath on the backside.
Only, that break never came. We went right back into a training cycle.
That’s when chaos happened. And that’s what got me thinking about the pressure paradox.
What is the Pressure Paradox?
The Pressure Paradox is a concept about finding balance.
Pressure makes diamonds. But it can also bust pipes.
Pressure can be what motivates and accelerates performance. But it can also be what drives burnout and destroys motivation.
The story I just shared is a great example of applying too much pressure.
Following our return from the National Training Center, we went right into another training cycle, with no break. That’s when we saw the largest uptick in Soldier issues.
We had DUIs, people showing up late, and general underperformance.
The team had given up.
Had we actually gotten that break, the team may have continued on an upward trajectory.
Sometimes, what you think is momentum is actually the work of your team pushing forward on all cylinders.
Let’s talk about what to do with pressure.
What if the Pressure is Too High?
The Army is an interesting organization, and while I like using examples from it, a lot of situations aren’t perfectly parallel in the business world.
In your agency, pressure building up leads to team members quitting, providing subpar work, and being aggressive with other team members.
In this state, people are generally dissatisfied with work and aren’t going to look for solutions to problems. They view problems as the way things are.
To release the pressure, there are a handful of simple things you can do:
Create capacity agreements
Establish a “90% No” rule (if they’re over 90% capacity, they can say no to new work)
Encourage the use of vacation days
Outsource support
Increase team size (unless onboarding adds over-burden)
Reassess timeline goals
Embrace the Law of Mobility (if you don’t need to be in a meeting, don’t be)
These are just a few examples. One that’s often underused is simply asking your team how they’re feeling and giving them permission to ease off the gas.
It can be hard for a leader to recommend it, but if you do, and you back your words up with actions, you’ll build a much stronger team.
What if the Pressure is Too Low?
When pressure is too low, we build complacency.
Complacency is when we gradually settle to a place of mediocrity. And it’s important to think about it this way, because we don’t always notice the pressure lightening.
At one time in the army, when pressure was low, I found myself needing to write everything down if I wanted to remember it. This stood out to me because when things ramped up, my brain was on fire (in a good way). I could recollect every detail of every mission brief and know exactly who was where at what time. I didn’t need to write anything down.
Pressure is positive as it forces us to stay engaged.
If you’re finding pressure across your team is low, here are some tactics to deploy:
Promote ownership and autonomy in projects
Provide developmental opportunities
Provide pay incentives
Provide challenging tasks with enough time to resolve
Set ambitious goals with specific deadlines
Go first: set the standard and motivate the team.
I’ve had teams where I called out that we were in a pressure deficit, and my team agreed. So we found some tasks to work on so that when pressure inevitably built again, we’d be in a better position to not let it ruin us.
If you’ve hired the right people, they’ll want to deliver their work at a high level and keep improving. Communicating that you don’t think the team can do that with limited pressure can go a long way.
Finding the Sweet Spot
I call this Goldilocks Pressure.
There’s a spot for every team where they work best. The pressure isn’t too much to stress them out, but it’s more than enough to keep them actively engaged.
It’s beautiful when you see it. And if you catch it at the right moment, you’re going to want to do everything possible to maintain homeostasis there.
Here are some ways you can:
Track employee happiness (eNPS)
Address frustrating problems early
Align on and weigh the requirements/priority for each team
Kill dumb rules
Set clear expectations
Focus on individual strengths
Every team is unique and for all of these levels of pressure, you’ll see your team acting differently. The more aware you are of how they perform and engage daily, the easier it’ll be to see when they’re in the Goldilocks Pressure zone.
Identifying Your Release Valve
The Pressure Paradox can make or break your team.
Have conversations early with your leadership team and individuals so everyone is monitoring for over-pressure and can call it out when it’s happening.
If you set triggers in place, it’s much easier to address them in real-time and not when you’re forced to clean up the mess.
Find your release valve by talking to your team and seeing what ways they prefer to decompress while still making work happen. I promise this is a simple way to set yourself up for success.