SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 170,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each Tuesday in our e-newsletter.
Last week, we asked: How are you at staying calm during a crisis?
- I’m extremely calm: 27.16%
- I’m reasonably calm: 52.7%
- I’m somewhat calm: 13.43%
- I’m nervous and anxious: 5.29%
- I’m frantic and lose my cool: 1.42%
The calm in the storm. Your team watches everything you do including how you react to a crisis. If you freak out, they freak out exponentially more because if their leader is worried, they’re extremely worried. For those of you who have trouble staying calm, find a trigger that will help you quickly regain perspective, take a breath and settle things down for your team. Try saying “it’s only (insert stressor here).” It’s a good way to put things in perspective and settle your team down so you can lead them more effectively through the crisis.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS and author of “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”