The Advantage Wey Calm Leader Get

Think back to one moment when everything dey go wrong for work. Deadline dey collapse, launch dey break, client dey vex, one number wey come far below where e suppose reach. Now picture the person wey everybody just naturally look to. E likely say no be the loudest person for the room, or the one wey get the most senior title. Na the one wey stay steady, wey lower im voice instead of raise am, wey ask clear question instead of dey put blame, wey make the rest of the room breathe small easy just by being calm.

That steadiness no be personality trait wey you either born with or you no born with. Na skill, and you fit learn am. E sef na one of the highest-leverage skills for any career, because of one quiet truth about groups of people: emotion dey spread.

Calm dey contagious, and panic too dey contagious

Researchers get name for this thing. Dem dey call am emotional contagion, and the evidence for am strong. We dey catch each other mood the way we dey catch yawn, mostly without noticing. The Wharton researcher Sigal Barsade run one study wey don become classic now, where one trained actor join small working groups and quietly perform different mood. The actor mood reliably spread out come shift the mood of the whole group, and with am, how well the group take cooperate and perform.

Two findings from that work matter pass for anybody wey dey lead. The first na say people dey pay plenty attention to the emotion of whoever dem see as the leader, wey mean say your state dey travel far and fast pass wetin you think. The second one dey sober person: negative mood dey usually contagious pass positive one. Anxiety dey spread easy pass calmness.

Put those two together and the stakes go clear. When you waka enter tense room dey carry your own panic, no be say you just feel am, you dey hand am to everybody else, and e dey multiply. When you waka in dey carry steadiness, you dey give dem something to borrow.

Why calm dey make you sharper, no be just nicer

Second advantage dey, and na about the quality of your decisions.

When stress flood you, the part of your brain wey dem build for fast threat response dey take over, and the part wey dem build for careful thinking dey go quiet. Psychologists dey sometimes call the extreme version amygdala hijack, the moment when alarm dey override judgement and you dey do something wey you for never choose with clear head. All of us don send that kind email before. Calm no be just say na more pleasant state to dey. Na the state where your real intelligence dey available for you.

Leader wey fit stay regulated under pressure dey keep access to im own best thinking exactly when e dey needed pass, and, by steadying the people around dem, dey keep the whole team thinking online too. Na that be the calm leader advantage for one sentence: composure dey protect judgement, your own and everybody else own.

This one no be about title

E easy to read all this as advice for managers. E no be so. Leadership, for the sense wey matter here, na behavior long before e become position. The person wey stay grounded when project scatter dey lead, whether or not person dey report to dem. People dey notice who dem fit count on when things hard, and that noticing na how trust and influence dey build, usually well before the org chart catch up.

If you don ever be the steady one for group chat during crisis, or the colleague wey others dey quietly come meet when their head dey spin, you don already sabi this thing. You dey lead. The work now na to do am on purpose.

How to build am

Na for ordinary moments dem dey build calm under pressure, no be say you dey summon am for big ones. Few things wey genuinely dey help:

• Know your own triggers. Notice the specific situations wey dey spike you, a particular person, when person interrupt you, public criticism, a certain kind of mistake. You no fit manage wetin you no fit see as e dey come. To name your patterns na the start of getting ahead of dem.
• Buy small time. The whole game dey often come down to the gap between feeling the surge and acting on am. Build habit of one slow breath, or one sentence of delay, "Make I think about that one for one second", before you answer. Almost nothing for work genuinely need instant reaction.
• Regulate your body first. You no fit think your way reach calm while your body dey for alarm. Long, slow out-breath, feet plant for the floor, shoulders drop, these no be soft extras. Na how you dey get your judgement back.
• Lead from values, no be mood. Decide before time how you want show up, the kind of colleague and leader wey you want be, so that for the hard moment you go get something steadier to act from than whatever feeling you just happen to dey feel.
• Show recovery, no be perfection. You go lose your composure sometimes. Everybody dey. Wetin people dey remember na whether you own am and come back. Leader wey talk say "I no reason well with you earlier, and na my fault" dey teach the whole team say person fit survive mistake. That one too dey contagious.

The longer view

See the part wey make this thing worth the effort pass any single quarter. The leaders wey people dey follow for decades, the ones wey their teams dey do the best work of their life and dey stay, na almost never the ones wey run the hottest. Na the ones wey be safe, steady presence to dey around. That steadiness good for results, and e good for you too: career wey you build on staying regulated dey sustain far pass one wey you build on running on adrenaline until you burn out.

Calm no be the absence of pressure. Na wetin you fit offer the people around you when the pressure high pass. Build am now, for the small moments, and e go dey there when e matter, for dem, and for you.

Wia We Take Am From

• Sigal Barsade, The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and Its Influence on Group Behavior (Administrative Science Quarterly)
• Wharton Executive Education, Emotional Contagion: Why It Matters for Leaders
• Knowledge at Wharton, Leadership Influence: Controlling Emotional Contagion