It's September

..and you know what that means? Finals season. We are now down to the top 4 to battle it out to determine who is going to be this year's premiership side. As an avid Geelong Cats supporter (4th generation), tonight is a big game.

What I love about finals footy is that it highlights so many of the challenges faced by everyday people in their work life.

What happens during finals footy?

It gets intense. The pressure is on. This is where all the hard work, training and skill development pays off.

It's crunch time.

What is crunch time?

Crunch time is when the whistle blows and it's game on for the next 80 minutes. In business, it's the start of an intense period leading up to a deadline. Take financial year-end, for example, it's 1 July until the date of the Board meeting where the accounts are signed.

It is a really peak period and make no mistake of it....it's hard.

What happens after crunch time?

Earlier this season, Cats captain, Joel Selwood severely injured his ankle. Fortunately, he has been able to return for finals season, but he was out of the game for just over a month. In that game, the Cats lost to the Swans by 46 points - a poor result to say the least.

Quite often, after business crunch times, there are similar consequences. Leaders and employees are literally taken out of the game with burnout and resignations. Financial results are reviewed, leading to regulators, investors and shareholders alike questioning whether leadership fostered a culture that enabled good decision-making.

So what does that mean leading up to crunch time?

It means that your preparation is key. It means you need to train hard, to build your skills and techniques, and those of your teams, so that they can be drawn upon and quickly.

Crunch time should be when everything comes together and you're performing at your peak. It is not a time to withdraw and revert to old habits where you end up solving the problems yourself.

It's what I hope to see tonight when the Cats take on the Crows.

Do you know when your crunch times are?

Have you prepared your people for crunch time?

How do you want to emerge out of crunch time?

Go Cats