Why Highly Capable People Underperform When It Matters Most

Many years ago, I was leading one of the biggest deals of my career. And despite being fully capable, fully prepared and in a very strong position…

pressure nearly changed everything.

It was a multi-million pound, multi-year opportunity in a public sector market where we had virtually no presence.

For almost a year, I had worked closely with the client sponsor. I had built strong trust. We had shaped the vision together.I had helped influence the agenda.

And although the project ultimately had to go through a formal competitive tender process, we were in pole position.

The sponsor wanted us to win.

Throughout most of the campaign, I performed at my best.

I was calm, relaxed, strategic.

The client trusted me. They valued my judgement and opinions. But as we moved closer to the final stages of the deal, something started to change.

The pressure increased from every direction. Internally, senior leadership began forecasting the deal heavily because of its size and strategic importance.

My boss suddenly wanted to become much more involved and “be associated” with the opportunity.

I started thinking about what winning the deal could mean for my own career, visibility and reputation within the company. At the same time, pressure from the client increased as we prepared for the final presentation to the leadership team.

And psychologically, something shifted. I stopped simply focusing on serving the client and leading the process.

I became attached to the outcome. And the moment you become attached to the outcome, your attention shifts away from the process that created success in the first place.

I felt responsible for everyone:

• the company • the leadership team • my boss • the client sponsor • my own future

And on the day of the final presentation, I was extremely anxious. I was no longer showing up as the same person the client had trusted throughout the previous year.

I overthought. I lost some of my natural presence.

I was less composed, less influential, less like myself.

Afterwards, the client sponsor actually asked me:

“What happened? Why were you so nervous?”

Fortunately, because we had already done so much groundwork and had built such a strong position ahead of the competition, we still won the deal.

Over the following years, that market became the largest market for the company.

But the experience stayed with me because I realised something profound:

If we had not already been significantly ahead of the competition before that final presentation…

the commercial outcome for the company — and potentially the trajectory of my own career — could have been very different.

Not because I lacked capability. But because pressure changed my performance in the moment that mattered most.

That experience became one of the foundations for the work I do today through Performance on Command.

Because I now understand that many highly capable professionals do not underperform because they lack talent, intelligence or expertise.

They underperform because pressure changes:

• thinking • communication • emotional control • decision-making • presence • influence

And often the biggest opportunities, careers and outcomes are decided in precisely those moments.

I think many senior professionals have experienced some version of this at some point in their career.

Moments where pressure quietly changes how we think, communicate and perform.

Have you ever experienced something similar?

Pressure is inevitable.

What often determines success is not capability, experience or preparation alone. It's whether you can still access those things when the pressure is highest.

That is exactly why I developed Performance on Command — a practical methodology designed to help professionals perform at their best in high-pressure situations.

If you're leading sales teams, executives or client-facing professionals and recognise this challenge in your organisation, I'd be happy to share more about how we're helping individuals and teams perform more consistently when it matters most.

Feel free to connect with me or send me a message.

https://www.performanceoncommand.com/performance-lab

#PerformanceUnderPressure #SalesLeadership #Leadership #ExecutivePresence #PerformanceOnCommand

What Champions League Penalties and Multi-Million Pound Deals Have in Common.

Why the ability to perform under pressure often matters more than capability itself.

I'm a huge football fan. Like millions of people, I was watching the Champions League Final knowing there was a good chance it would come down to penalties.

 As the tension built, something struck me. Before a penalty is even taken, we often think we know who will score and who might miss. Not because we're football experts.

Because body language speaks volumes.

 You can see the hesitation, the tension, the uncertainty. The player trying to convince themselves they're confident. Or the player who looks completely composed. The one who already knows what they're going to do and seems unaffected by the enormity of the situation.

 The difference between scoring and missing is rarely ability. It's what pressure is doing to that ability in the moment.

 And as I watched, I was reminded how often I've seen the same thing play out in boardrooms, client presentations, interviews and major sales pursuits.

 Throughout my corporate career, I led teams pursuing large deals worth many millions of pounds. Winning big deals is a team sport.

 No matter how good your sales leader is, at some point, your experts need to stand in front of the client and perform.

 That's where things can become unpredictable.

 Just as you expect the star striker to step up and score their penalty, you expect your key people to deliver when the spotlight is on them.

 But in team sports, not everyone takes penalties every week. And in team selling, not everyone is used to presenting to executive audiences, defending solutions under scrutiny or influencing senior stakeholders.

 As a sales leader, I was usually pretty good at managing my own state. That doesn't mean I wasn't nervous. I absolutely was. Before major presentations, executive meetings and critical client sessions, I often felt huge pressure on me.

 But over time, I learned how to access the state I needed to perform.

The bigger challenge was helping other people on the team do the same.

 On big sales pitches, I spent countless hours briefing project managers, architects, technical specialists and subject matter experts.

 Many of them were brilliant. Far more knowledgeable than I was. Yet some of the most capable people I worked with were uncomfortable standing in front of senior clients or having the spotlight placed firmly on them.

 One particular example I will never forget. I was leading a major bid for a multi-year business process outsourcing programme supporting multiple government departments. It was a huge opportunity for the company.

 As the deal progressed, expectations from our board and investors continued to grow.

A critical part of the solution involved transitioning people, systems and processes into a new shared services operation.

 Our transition lead was our most senior person in this area. He had delivered complex transformations throughout his career. He was highly respected, deeply knowledgeable and exceptionally experienced.

 Everyone who worked with him knew he was outstanding. There was just one challenge.

 He was incredibly introverted. His authority came from years of delivery experience, not from standing on a stage or presenting to executive audiences. Put him in front of people who knew him and trusted him, and he was exceptional. Put him in front of a room full of senior executives he had never met, and the pressure visibly affected him.

He would go red in the face, his confidence would drop, his communication would become less effective.

 Not because he lacked capability. Because pressure changed how that capability showed up.

 The challenge was now helping the client feel confident in that capability.

 Our main competitor was a consortium involving one of the Big Four consulting firms. Their team was polished, confident and very comfortable in front of clients.

 They didn't have the depth of experience our transition lead possessed. But they knew how to perform under pressure and were comfortable with executive audiences.

 The final presentation before they chose their preferred supplier was to a large group of stakeholders, many of whom had not been involved in previous workshops where our transition lead had really shone.

 Whatever credibility we had built up to that point could easily have been lost in a single session.

 Government departments buy low-risk.

 And confidence is often confused with competence.

 I believed we were in pole position to win the deal. But I also knew that a poor performance in this final session could change everything.

 I took the decision to deliver much of the presentation myself and minimise his role in the formal pitch. Fortunately, I had enough knowledge of the solution and transition approach to cover the detail required.

 The presentation went as well as it could. However, afterwards, the feedback was that many stakeholders felt more confident about the slick consultants than about our team and the individual who would actually be leading the transition.

 We were still in the game!  I was able to persuade the client's advisers to arrange a series of smaller one-to-one meetings with the key client decision makers.

 Those meetings transformed everything.

 Away from the spotlight and the pressure of a large audience, our transition leader was in his element. His expertise shone through. His credibility was unquestionable. The stakeholders left those meetings fully supportive of our approach and their confidence in our team to deliver this.

 We won the deal.

 Looking back, this wasn't an isolated incident. It was a pattern I saw repeatedly throughout my career.

 The brilliant engineer who froze in board meetings.

 The exceptional architect who spent more time looking at the floor than engaging with the audience.

 The divisional director who was technically outstanding but struggled to inspire confidence when presenting to clients.

 These were talented people underperforming not because they lacked expertise, but because pressure prevented them from fully accessing it.

 That realisation became one of the driving forces behind what would later become Performance on Command™.

 Whether it's a Champions League penalty shootout, a board presentation, an interview, a client pitch or a major deal pursuit, the same principle applies.

 Pressure changes everything.

 The question is not whether pressure exists. It will.

 The question is whether you can consistently access your best performance when it matters most. In these key moments.

 Have you ever worked with someone who was technically brilliant but struggled to show their true value when the pressure was on? What impact did it have on the outcome?

 Most organisations invest heavily in developing capability. Presentation skills, bid teams who can produce content, sales methodologies or maybe even story-telling skills.

 Very few invest in helping people access that capability when the pressure is highest.

And it is in these moments where success often hinges – individual careers, teams and organisations

 Turning the possibility of performing at your best into a high probability.

If you're looking to help your team perform more consistently in high-pressure situations, learn more about Performance on Command's Corporate Training, Performance Lab and Private Coaching programmes.

Contact Jonathan Butler to discuss your requirements.

https://www.performanceoncommand.com/corporate-training

#PerformanceUnderPressure #SalesLeadership #Leadership #ExecutivePresence #Communication #performanceOnCommand