When Work Feels Like a Squid Game

One of the most powerful illustrations of human behaviour under pressure comes from an unlikely place — the global phenomenon Squid Game. High-pressure environments often reveal more about performance capability than routine work ever does. Deadlines tighten, expectations rise, uncertainty increases, and suddenly even familiar tasks feel fragile.

The Dalgona Challenge: A Performance Experiment in Disguise

In one of the series’ most memorable scenes, participants are asked to carefully carve a shape out of a brittle honeycomb candy using only a needle. The task appears simple. Yet the pressure, time constraint, and fear of failure transform it into an almost impossible challenge.

Observing how players approached the task revealed a fascinating pattern of human stress responses:

• Some rushed with urgency and broke the candy immediately

• Some froze, overwhelmed by the stakes

• Others paused, assessed the challenge, and adapted their strategy

These reactions closely mirror how employees and leaders respond to workplace pressure.

The Neuroscience of Performance Under Pressure

When individuals experience high stress, the brain activates the threat detection system, often referred to as the fight-flight-freeze response. While this response evolved to protect survival, it can significantly impair workplace performance.

Research in performance neuroscience shows that excessive stress can:

• Reduce cognitive flexibility

• Narrow attention and decision-making capacity

• Increase impulsive reactions

• Decrease creativity and problem-solving ability

In organisational environments, this explains why highly capable employees may struggle during transformation, deadlines, or crisis situations.

Pressure does not remove capability — it changes how the brain accesses it.

Why Confidence Often Breaks Under Stress

Many individuals approach challenges assuming technical skill alone will ensure success. However, research in human performance shows that psychological regulation often determines outcomes under pressure.

Employees who rely solely on speed or effort may unintentionally increase performance errors. In contrast, those who pause, regulate emotional response, and adapt strategy often sustain performance longer.

High performance is not simply about working harder. It is about working with the brain’s stress response rather than against it.

The Organisational Cost of Constant Pressure

Modern corporate environments frequently normalise urgency as a productivity driver. However, sustained high-pressure conditions can lead to:

• Increased burnout risk

• Reduced decision quality

• Lower employee engagement

• Higher error rates

• Reduced innovation capability

Short-term pressure may create output spikes, but long-term performance sustainability depends on stress regulation capacity across teams.

What High-Performing Organisations Do Differently

Organisations that maintain performance during high-demand periods often prioritise human performance regulation alongside operational delivery.

1. Normalising Strategic Pausing

Encouraging teams to pause, reassess, and adjust strategy improves accuracy and long-term efficiency.

2. Training Stress Regulation Skills

Performance coaching, leadership training, and resilience programmes strengthen cognitive flexibility under pressure.

3. Designing Realistic Performance Pacing

Balancing high-demand delivery periods with recovery phases protects employee cognitive and emotional capacity.

4. Encouraging Adaptive Problem Solving

Leaders who reward creativity and alternative approaches improve organisational agility during complex challenges.

5. Building Psychological Safety During High-Stakes Work

Teams that feel safe admitting difficulty or uncertainty adapt faster and reduce performance errors.

Failure as Performance Feedback

One of the most overlooked elements of high performance is how individuals and organisations respond when outcomes fall short.

In high-pressure environments, failure is often perceived as final. Yet behavioural research shows that organisations that treat setbacks as learning opportunities demonstrate stronger long-term resilience and innovation capacity.

Performance growth is rarely linear. It often develops through iterative adaptation.

Leadership Reflection: Pressure Is Not the Enemy

Pressure itself is not inherently harmful. It can sharpen focus, motivate effort, and drive achievement. The risk arises when pressure exceeds the human capacity to regulate it.

Leaders play a critical role in determining whether pressure becomes:

• A performance catalyst

• Or a performance breakdown trigger

When organisations support employees in developing regulation, adaptability, and psychological safety, pressure becomes a manageable challenge rather than a destructive force.

Final Thought

In the Dalgona challenge, success was rarely determined by strength or speed. It was determined by patience, adaptability, and emotional regulation under pressure.

Workplace performance follows the same principle.

The question organisations must ask is not whether pressure will exist — but whether their people are equipped to navigate it successfully.