Manufacture Your Day by Winning the Pressure Game

It’s Wednesday and it’s time for our “Manufacturing Leadership Minute” with Karin and Adrian.

Make sure to watch our video by clicking the picture below:

VIDEO ⇒

Have you ever come across job descriptions requiring candidates to “work well under pressure”? How ridiculous is that?

Let’s imagine you’re in a job interview. If the HR manager asks, “How well do you work under pressure?”, you might be well advised to look for the nearest exit.

Here’s my personal translation of this completely outdated expectation:
“Welcome to the mess we’re in. Starting tomorrow, it’s your job to handle it.”

Yes, we all need to handle pressure from time to time—and some people are better at it than others. But who wants that to be a core job requirement?

When dysfunction and disorganization take over, the job can quickly start to consume your life. Before you know it, you forget that you’re allowed to have a life outside of work.

There are way too many people who….

• make decisions based on habits (it worked before, it must work again).
• think they have no choice.
• don’t evaluate their choices.

How can a person who works under constant pressure be innovative and creative?

In other words, it is next to impossible to strive for manufacturing excellence and world-class manufacturing if employees have neither the tools nor the mental strategies to handle their daily demands.

Please know that your productivity will drop if you spend most of your days in emotional states such as

• anxiety,
• frustration or
• anger.

What would it be like if people would have the ability to regulate their thoughts and emotions? Would there be less wasted energy?

Allow yourself a “Moment of Truth”:

• What needs to happen to make the organization you work for world-class?
• Do you speak about what others should do or do you take ownership and responsibility for your own actions?
• What person will you have to become (attitude, behaviour, skills, effort) to work for a world-class company?
• What will you have to learn?
• How will you have to grow as a person?

Be intentional with your thoughts, spend your mental energy wisely, and watch the magic unfold.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Stop for a moment to reflect. How do you spend your mental energy?

Please read this article:

7 Ways You Can Increase Your Mental Energy Right Now