Tier1 Human Performance

I read Brenton Sanderson’s article this week about the emotional toll of coaching and one particular passage really stood out...

When things started going badly at Adelaide, he stopped delegating. Stopped leaning on his assistants and stopped bouncing ideas off his leadership group. He started carrying everything himself.

I’ve seen this in the military, business and sport.

Real, sustained pressure changes our behaviour and the warning signs aren’t always obvious (at least not to ourselves). You don’t suddenly become incapable and you don’t wake up one morning burned out.

You gradually become:

😩 Less patient
😩 Less curious
😩 More controlling

You stop listening and asking for help.

You convince yourself that carrying the load alone is leadership when it isn’t.

I’ve been a leader in high consequence environments where ambiguity was constant, margins were tight and the outcomes were permanent. Sanderson’s description of leadership pressure resonates.

In every demanding leadership position I held I was never the smartest person in the room. Success was always built on maintaining perspective and having people around me who could challenge me, support me and tell me the truth when I needed to hear it.

Most leadership failures don’t start with incompetence, they start with isolation.

And the dangerous part is that it often feels like strength while it’s happening.

Snide social media remarks, late night calls, relentless workload: The emotional toll of being an AFL coach This former AFL coach says the job made him agitated and intolerant. He fears a serious incident if they are not given more support.