Shhhh! The Secret of Emotional Resilience
So, you’ve arrived back from your “Summer hols” feeling
refreshed and raring to go. You spend a few minutes listening to your
voicemails as you approach the office. Urgent feedback from your PA is there
have been a few disputes amongst your team which need ironing out immediately.
Next you turn your attention to the 420 emails in your inbox. High on the
priority list is HR outlining the staff member who left in June - it is looking
likely that his qualms are going to lead to a tribunal. Board of Directors are
wanting your quarterly strategy and forecasts in by the end of the week. Your
top client wants to move a meeting date you had scheduled from next week to
tomorrow as they feel there is a sense of urgency in discussing some
snowballing issues. Your mobile phone pings… it’s a text message from your wife
asking for your support at a parent teacher meeting this evening following an
issue your daughters is facing at school.
The familiar feeling of your arms tingling and shallow
breathing returns to you. Your energy levels start to feel sapped and you turn
to a cappuccino to give you a much needed boost. At a rapid rate the positive
effect of your holiday is wearing off and you are starting to ask yourself
whether you can continue to sustain this amount of pressure on a long term
basis – without having some kind of outburst that is…
It goes without saying that there are a lot of positives
that go with fulfilling a leadership role and I have painted a pretty bleak
picture here.
More often than not, there is an abundance of self-development
and support programmes available to teams. Our research shows that this
kind of support for leaders is rarer. Yet
the ability for leaders to remain calm, confident and be able to deal with
change and pressure is vitally important to the success of a company!
Let me share with you a little secret, although you have
probably heard this all before. Either way here goes...
As a leader if you are able to cultivate emotional
resilience you will be able to approach all of these challenges calmly
and confidently. By developing your emotional resilience you will be able to:
-
Understand and express your feelings and
emotions
-
Recognise your stressors and be able to address
them
-
Develop clear goals to help you have a clear
vision
-
Communicate effectively and establish positive
relationships
-
Deal with criticisms and judgements
In a nutshell, the greater your resilience, the greater your
chances of overcoming continually challenging issues. The good news is
emotional resilience is something that can be developed. Calm Execs offer
exactly this and following our weekend programme, you leave armed with the tools
needed to sustain and flourish in a leadership role. If this story resonates
with you, I would welcome you contacting me to find out more about our
Executive Weekend Resilience Programme, next one scheduled for November.
Leigh McKay
