Leading Under Pressure - 5 Tips From a Racing Champion

Garth Tander is a star of Australia's V8 Supercar Champion series who drives for the Holden Racing Group. He's also a BSchool Mentor who uses his experience at the top of his career to help people like you reach their potential.

Recently, Garth Tander talked to BSchool students about his ideas for handling high pressure, prep work and efficiency on big tasks.

Here's what he said:

1. Have Perspective

Garth Tander's most significant race of the year is the Bathurst 1000 - a 1000km stretch at outrageously high speeds. However, this isn’t his only race of the year. "From a business viewpoint, the Bathurst 1000 race is the greatest, but I have 15 of these races a year, and the preparation and skill needed is equivalent for every one of them" says Tander.

Lesson - If a certain job is drawing more pressure from stakeholders, that does not mean that you should psyche yourself out and deter from how you would normally approach it.

2. Healthy body, healthy mind

Garth Tander understands that his prep work method has to focus on both mental and physical efficiency. "Physical prep work is extremely important for an athlete, however if I am not preparing myself mentally for the race, no quantity of weet-bix is going to provide me an edge against my contestants."

Lesson - High effort will not necessarily alleviate high pressure. Carrying out at your finest might indicate occasionally taking a couple of hours to unwind and regroup.

3. Prep work eases pressure

Every single moment matters in racing and Garth Tander understands that the very best method to maintain an edge on his competitors is through effective team effort. Tander says "Nobody shows up on the day of the Bathurst 1000 and says 'ok now how are we going to do this.', Leading up to the race I know exactly what every individual in my group is doing as well as their Plan B if something fails".

Lesson - The best method to handle a high-pressure scenario is to prepare for it. Take time to consider contingency strategies and comprehending how your team will work together.

4. Do not over think it

For Garth Tander, driving a race car is so natural for him to do. Years of practice implies that he can instinctively make the ideal steps without needing to get absorbed in third party burdens or second guess himself. "I stay in a subconscious state when I am driving at my very best - if your prep work is strong, then the execution becomes extremely natural. You should not overthink it".

Lesson - Don't let external pressures disrupt your strategy and procedure. If you're not focused, you are less likely to perform at your finest.

5. Review your mistakes ... and your successes

Breakdowns and losses are unavoidable for Garth Tander, and there's always a lot to learn from each race. However, what about the victories? "When we accomplish something, we always conduct a thorough evaluation into why we did. To be able to duplicate the positive in the future, we examine the positive very thoroughly."

Lesson - It's just as vital to understand why you achieved success as it is to comprehend why you didn’t. By knowing your main assets, you can control them much better.

BSchool Leadership is appropriate for an infinite array of professionals, but will significantly benefit you if:

•          You have existing leadership duties.
•          You are being groomed for leadership duties.
•          You have leadership abilities that you're not making use of.
•          You are actively involved in interacting or handling others in a supervisory function.