Episode
#51: When Pressure Hits, Does Your Team Expand or Shrink?
- Published
- Mar 23, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3029
- Processing state
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- https://mpwrcoaching.com
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Summary
Why Teams Freeze When the Stakes Get High What happens when pressure rises and your team does the exact opposite of what you expected? In calm seasons, most teams look functional. Communication flows, goals get met, and collaboration feels solid enough. But when the stakes go up—when revenue misses, key relationships strain, or uncertainty enters the room—everything changes. Decisions slow down. Creativity disappears. People get quieter, more cautious, and less willing to take risks. As Eric and unpack in this episode, "What's being tested under pressure isn't our intelligence… it's our capacity to work well individually and collectively." That distinction changes everything. This conversation goes far beyond surface-level leadership advice. Eric and Dawn explore why capable, skilled teams can still shrink under pressure—and why the issue often isn't competence at all. "I think we need to remember there's a difference between skill and capacity." A team may know what to do, but under stress, perceived risk rises, fear takes over, and trust begins to fracture. That's when leaders start asking hard questions: Is my team built for this? Have I prepared them well enough? Why are they pulling back instead of stepping up? Through powerful examples from business, sports, and their own leadership journeys, Eric and Dawn reveal why pressure exposes what's really happening beneath the surface. As they put it, "The squeeze reveals the juice." If you've ever felt frustrated watching your team stall when it matters most, this episode will help you understand why. More importantly, it will show you what to do about it. At the heart of the conversation is one of the most important truths in leadership: "Adding more pressure into the system without creating more trust actually makes t…