How to Keep Cool under Stress
The only differences between small businesses and their larger colleagues are in the number of employees and headquarters size. The intensity of stress is the same across the board.
As a small business owner or a non-profit director, you are faced with a range of issues that keep you up at night.
- Will we conclude the important contract?
- Will we secure a new line of credit?
- Will we be ready for the new product launch?
- Will we convince stakeholders of the importance of our mission?
- Will we raise enough funds in this year’s campaign?
- Will we hire enough employees to get the job done?
And so on and so forth.
For the good of your small business, your non-governmental organization and your own health, it is important to keep stress from debilitating you. You must control anxiety and remain mission driven in order to overcome the problem, keep your business alive and your employees and staffers employed.
So what to do?
I came across an interesting article about how the National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials keep their cool when they encounter mission and life-threatening glitches in a moon launch.
In an article in Business Insider, former NASA flight director Paul Hill explained what his team does in difficult situations. Hill had a high-stakes job managing 24 space shuttle and International Space Station missions for the program.
Hill, the author of “Leadership from the Mission Control Room to the Boardroom: A Guide to Unleashing Team Performance,” led the investigation into the 2003 Columbia disaster. He said NASA’s flight controllers employ certain strategies and thought processes to combat stress during crises. Those tactics came in handy during the 2001 incident, Hill pointed out.
With intense focus, flight controllers are able to deal with potentially catastrophic situations. Instead of “running down the halls with our hair on fire,” Hill said the team would focus on a series of questions:
- What was everything they knew — and did not know — about the situation at hand?
- What did the data actually say about the situation at hand?
- What was the worst thing that could happen as a result of the situation?
- Did the team have enough information to know for sure — and how could they get more information?
- What immediate steps could be taken to continue making progress in the mission or keep everyone safe?
Hill recounted that it’s important not to let past strategies or outcomes bias your understanding about a new crisis whether you’re flying people into space or launching your own business.
He explained that trouble occurs when a calamity happens and you feel the urge to say “No problem, I’ve been in this situation before. This is what we did the last three times. It’s always worked so I'm going to do it again.”
Past successes do not guarantee current or future successes.
Hill said that’s why he always tried to instill a bit of “fear” in his team members, lest they allow their past successes go to their heads.
“What we do today, the decision we make today, matters,” he said. “We have to look at this data and make the right decision and take the right action or make the right recommendation to protect these astronauts, these people who are friends of ours.”
You may not be preparing for the first manned Mars launch, but taking into consideration these NASA tips may help you and your team survive your earthbound complications.
Join the conversation in cyberspace about overcoming stress let me know how you fared. I’ll help you spread the word about your success.
I’d also like to invite you to visit my Thought Leadership website:
If you’re looking for advice on recruiting, company handbooks and other human resources topics, I’d like to suggest to you this interesting website:
If you’re in northern New Jersey, I’d like to direct your attention to the free services and consultation of the NJ Small Business Administration of Bergen County at Ramapo College. Tell Vince Vicari, executive director, that I sent you. https://www.njsbdc.com/locations/bergen-county/
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