When a business owner is stressed, everyone around her feels it. Contractors get rushed instructions. Team members get short answers. Clients pick up on the tension in emails. And decisions made in a panic tend to create more problems that need fixing later.
Leading calmly doesn’t mean pretending everything is fine. It means staying steady enough that the people around you can keep doing good work, and that you can keep thinking clearly.
Remember that most urgency is borrowed
A lot of what feels urgent is really someone else’s urgency: a client who wants an answer right now, a notification, an email marked high priority. Before reacting, ask: what actually happens if this waits until tomorrow? Often, nothing much.
Real emergencies exist. They’re just rarer than our inboxes suggest.
Slow down your first response
When something goes wrong, the first reaction is usually the least useful one. Give yourself a short pause before replying, deciding, or delegating. Ten minutes, a walk around the block, a night’s sleep for anything big. The problem will still be there, and you’ll handle it better.
Name the actual problem
Panic makes problems feel bigger and vaguer than they are. Write down, in one or two sentences, what’s actually wrong and what needs to happen. “The client’s launch is Friday and the designer is two days behind” is much easier to work on than “everything is falling apart.”
Communicate clearly, not frantically
When things are tense, people need clarity more than anything:
- What’s happening
- What you need from them
- By when
- What they can stop worrying about
Short, specific instructions calm a team down. Rushed, scattered messages wind them up.
Protect the important work
In a crisis, everything gets treated as equally urgent. Decide what truly can’t slip, protect it, and let some less important things wait. Tell people what’s being pushed back, so it’s a decision and not a surprise.
Build in slack before you need it
The calmest leaders usually aren’t the ones with the steadiest nerves. They’re the ones whose businesses have some breathing room: buffers in deadlines, a cash reserve, documented processes, help they can call on. Calm is a lot easier when the business isn’t running at 100% capacity all the time.
Have someone to call
Everyone needs a place to say “this week is a mess” and get perspective from someone who’s been there. Peers who understand business can help you see what’s really urgent and what’s just loud. WEN Round Tables are small, honest conversations with women running real businesses.
Related reading: How to Think Clearly When Your Business Feels Chaotic.
