Pressure can be in many forms. It may be narrow timelines, achieving milestones, a shortage of resources or customers looking for a high density of outcome. Much of what I learnt about handling pressure, I learnt from my mentor. It was almost two years ago when we were at a location remotely implementing infrastructure services. There was high pressure to complete the site quickly and I was called in to bring it to the next stage. In that situation, my mentor was with us every step of the way.

1. How To Handle Situations Under Pressure
Pressure can be in many forms. It may be narrow timelines, achieving milestones, a shortage of
resources or customers looking for a high density of outcome.
Much of what I learnt about handling pressure, I learnt from my mentor. It was almost two years
ago when we were at a location remotely implementing infrastructure services. There was high
pressure to complete the site quickly and I was called in to bring it to the next stage. In that
situation, my mentor was with us every step of the way.
He might not have been part of the execution, but his moral support and positive thoughts were
invaluable. Once, he even contacted a high-level connectivity vendor who helped us at a crucial
stage. Thanks to his help and encouragement, we were able to meet our milestone in one and a
half business days instead of 3 weeks.
Instead of taking a backseat and giving instructions, he kept in touch with the leadership team
and kept them updated on a daily basis. Better still, he did not pass any of the pressure down
the line, and ensured necessary updates were passed on to ensure it worked out.
Get Involved
This kind of mentorship taught me how to handle situations smoothly. I try to treat my team the
same way. Whether it means logging in at 10 a.m. and logging out at 4 the next morning, we
manage the internal pressure as a team.
It is up to the project manager to get involved and get tasks delivered quickly without impacting
employees, the outcome of the delivery and the total customer satisfaction. While delivering
under high pressure, it is acceptable for the CSAT ratio to be somewhere around 4 - 4.2 on 5.
The right information can reduce the impact when a situation gets out of control. If there is a
problem during testing, take the time to pinpoint issues, and put remediation in place to control
it. From an operational perspective, ask questions like, ‘What is the outcome?’, ‘What are the
challenges?’ and ‘How can they be overcome?’.
Transparent Communication
Creating a concrete project plan is essential. One that is open and transparent. If you don't have
the resources to deliver on time, be open and polite to your customers and superiors, honestly
stating what is needed to be achieve the goal.
Transparency needs to be extended to all parties, especially your team. An important element of
leadership is not making demands regardless of peoples commitments. We need to be
transparent if there are expectations, encourage and motivate them, stay informed and plan
accordingly.
Through it all, communication and real-time interaction is vital. Status updates with leaders and
project managers are essential to keep them updated. If there are any issues or operational
challenges, break them up as much as possible and prioritise the important tasks. The more the
connect, the more disasters can be averted.

2. Mentally strong
My priority is simply to achieve the goal. The mental pressure might be great but I trust my
people, my vendors, their skills and capabilities. No matter the situation, I don’t take negativity to
heart, or become upset or fearful.
At the end of the day, situations like these add to our experiences. These are life experiences
that tomorrow help me adopt a different persona that is stable enough to handle the situations.
The same hurdles we went through will help to prepare me for issues and solutions in my next
project.