Do you trust your team when the crucial moment arrives?

I still remember the first time it happened.

The first time I went home on a Friday night I thought, “We don’t have a show.”

You see, for about 15 years, Saturday was show day for me and my team. Every Saturday, we would fill the studio with 175 audience members and record an entirely new show that would be broadcast, approximately one hour later, to approximately one million people in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. And it didn’t matter if we were ready or not.

I was literally producing under pressure.

Saturday morning was when we would write all the breaking, topical stuff like the opening monologue. Friday, however, was when we put together all the other pieces, many of them previously recorded, that we had been working on all week. And I still remember that first week when, in the editing room, I realized that our big opening piece, the one I hoped would take the show (since some of the later material wasn’t our strongest), just wasn’t cutting it. . it’s.

So I went home, pretty late, thinking, “We don’t have a show.” It was panic time.

For the next 15 years, there were several Fridays each season that I would go home thinking, “We don’t have a show.” But there was no (or very little) panic.

Why? Why, in the same situation, was my reaction so different? What helped me overcome the challenge these last few times?

The same thing that got me through the first time.

My team.

Through a stroke of luck and a little skill, I had surrounded myself with a powerful team that I could trust to find the goods when the crunch time came. This team included future Oscar nominees, sitcom stars, and household names.

The reason for my initial panic was that I hadn’t yet realized that I could trust these brilliant writers and performers to put on the show. But they – we – always did. Weekly. For 15 years.

So here’s the tough question. Do you trust your team? Do you know (and I mean really know) that they will be there for you when the going gets tough? When is there pressure? When is the moment of truth?

Look, producing under pressure is hard no matter the circumstances. When the critical moment arrives, you want your team to be your battle armor, not your weak link. So maybe it’s time to take a cold, hard look at your team. Can you count on them? Do they have your back? And, more importantly, do you trust them to deliver when it really matters?

QUESTION: What have you, as a leader, done to set your team up for success when the crunch comes?