One Graph Every Good Leader Must Grasp

A couple weeks ago, I was asked to speak to a group of operations managers from the natural gas industry. These are tough, battle-hardened folks. They move earth. Build things. Run heavy equipment. And keep flammable gases from combusting.

You’ll never guess the topic of our workshop.

Their leader, Bryan, asked me to share some thoughts on “Self Care for Leaders.”

Rough and tumble, weatherbeaten oil and gas guys evidently are accustomed to taking care of rigs and pipelines and crew. But they are less inclined to care for themselves.

Bryan had observed this group beginning to show signs of strain. Warning signs were perceived. With little margin for error, they could ill afford an operations manager coming unraveled ('blowing a gasket' may be a more apt pun).?

How could we encourage managers who build, run and maintain crucial billon-dollar systems with exacting standards to take care of themselves? These are proud, self-reliant business professionals. They keep things running. They push themselves to perform, time and again.?

This would be challenging. How could we bridge the gap between the harsh realities of their daily environment … and a softer topic - self care?

The answer was to meet them right where they were.?

They were not open to listening to advice about meditation, sleep hygiene, journaling or yoga, until they were convinced I understood their world, their challenges, their plight.

Before a word was spoken, we began the workshop with a graph. Big blue sharpie. White flip chart on the easel. I drew something resembling the diagram at the top of this story.

I asked them if they had ever seen the Pressure Performance Curve. Of course they had. Their livelihoods depend on making a pipeline transmission system deliver natural gas from a source to a destination. Their posture changed. They leaned in.

In brief, the system needs some pressure—but not too much. When there’s little or no pressure in a transmission pipeline system, natural gas does not flow. Nobody’s making any money. That’s the lower left corner of the graph. There’s very little, if any, performance.

A moderate amount of pressure is good for the system. In the graph above, left of the midline, as pressure increases so does performance. A greater volume of gas can be transmitted through the system. Moderate pressure equates to a higher performance.

However, there’s a clear point of diminishing returns. Look at the top of the bell curve, and observe what happens as you move toward the right (representing an additional increase in pressure). The line goes downhill. You stop gaining performance. In actuality, your system performance drops off despite further increases in pressure.

Ultimately, when the pressure is too high the system falls apart. Valves fail. Pipes break. Bad things happen. Possibly a leak, or worse … an explosion.

Humans are no different.

The comparison was apparent, obvious and irrefutable.

For the remainder of the hour we had a good, meaningful discussion about the importance of self care for leaders … for themselves.?

Good chance if you’re reading this … you are also a leader. Maybe you’ve been feeling the pressure lately. Perhaps you're close to a breaking point.

And that could mean it’s time for you to embrace the principles of self care. To learn to make a few simple, healthy changes in how you begin and end your day.?To reduce or moderate the pressures in your world.

If you’re looking for a place to start … a few basic resources … a starting point, reach out to me. I’ll be happy to share a few elements of my self care practice and share what I am learning.

No graphs or engineering discussion required. I promise.