Leading project teams toward goals, especially with distributed members and stakeholders can become an exercise in managing pressure and tension.
Pressure is task and work focused, coming from deadlines, stakeholder expectations, and increased by resource constraints. Positive pressure can drive high performance through focus and a sense of urgency, but too much pressure runs the risk of burning out the team, increasing mistakes.
Tension is relationship focused, coming from a misalignment of team expectations, lack of clarity on roles and tasks, and interpersonal friction. Unchecked tension reduces collaboration, can suck the energy from a team and leave progress in quicksand.
As leaders, our effectiveness depends on our understanding of these dynamics within the team and from outside of it, applying the right amount of pressure (at times protecting from outside pressure) while managing any building tension through dialog, clarity, and working through conflict.
Published 23Dec2025