How to Build Resilience Through Problem-Solving Skills

I often allow room for my leaders to fail, even when I can predict the outcome. 🔮 According to Goodwin University, when failure is experienced… “Our brains create and maintain new neural pathways helping us avoid the same mistakes in the future, grow more resilient, and, eventually, find success. In addition to supporting cognitive growth, failure strengthens professionalism.” Let’s dive into a non-professional example: If you lift weights, you’ve heard the term “train until failure.” 🏋🏽 This term implies for us select a weight that's heavy enough, so that the last rep strains you to the point that you struggle to complete it. Why? Fitness Expert Seamus says, “by forcing your muscles to work until they can't, training to failure leads to greater muscle fiber breakdown than not training to failure.” When your muscle fibers breakdown, the fibers will repair, growing bigger muscles that can lift even heavier loads. 💪🏽 How does this tie into leadership development? I believe this same logic can be used in any realm of personal growth. The more my leaders can experience missteps, the more likely they will be able to see around corners in the future. Building their intuition and problem solving muscles are more valuable than me giving them the right answer. Therefore, I create a safe space. This doesn’t mean that I don’t provide any critical course correction or assist them when requested. What it means is that I don’t allow my fear of them making a mistake to override their room for growth. As the saying goes, a mistake is just a missed take. There’s always room for a take two. 🎬 . . . #careers #management #leadership

The start of the year = new stress, both professionally and personally. Several years ago, Darja Gutnick switched her BUNCH software to a coaching platform with great lessons on resilience. Looking back at my notes, I drew up little cards for the team on #biomimicry and #stress at the time, inspired by what Darja was doing as we went through an acquisition. I never did use them because we fucked off and drove racing vehicles through the building instead 🤣 Mangrove Roots (Personal/Business): Mangroves stabilize coastlines with their intricate root systems. In personal life, this symbolizes building a support network that provides stability during turbulent times. In business, it translates to fostering a strong, interconnected team culture that can withstand market fluctuations and internal challenges. Bamboo Flexibility (Personal): Bamboo withstands high winds due to its flexibility. This teaches us to develop a flexible mindset, capable of adapting to life's changes while maintaining our core principles. Embracing change and being adaptable reduces stress and helps navigate life's unpredictability. Camel Water Retention (Business): Camels efficiently manage water to survive desert conditions. This principle applies to resource management in business — conserving and utilizing resources wisely during scarce times, ensuring sustainability and resilience during economic droughts. Ant Colony Cooperation (Business): Ants exemplify perfect teamwork, working collectively to achieve common goals. In a business setting, fostering a collaborative environment where teamwork and collective problem-solving are prioritized can significantly reduce individual stress and enhance overall productivity. Pine Cone Adaptability (Personal): Pine cones adapt to weather conditions, opening and closing with moisture levels. This teaches us to be emotionally adaptable — knowing when to express ourselves or protect our inner thoughts and adapting our emotional responses to different situations for mental well-being. Buffalo Herd Movement (Personal/Business): Buffaloes move towards storms, facing them as a group. This approach, applied in personal life or business, advocates facing challenges head-on and collectively, knowing that overcoming difficulties is often the quickest way to overcome them. Cactus Water Conservation (Personal): Cacti store water to survive dry periods. Similarly, in our personal lives, we should 'store' positive experiences, practice self-care, and build emotional reserves to help us through tough times, ensuring long-term mental resilience. Bear Hibernation (Personal): Bears hibernate to conserve energy during the winter. This teaches us the importance of rest and self-care. Recognizing when to step back and rejuvenate is crucial for maintaining long-term health, preventing burnout, and ensuring we are ready to face future challenges.

We've all been there—overwhelmed, with our emotions in a tangle and no idea where to turn. In moments like these, it's essential to have a process that can help you regain control and make wise decisions. Let me share with you my Rapid Power Reclaim® method, a practical approach designed to guide you through tough times at work. - Step 1: Create Choice When you are emotionally triggered at work, it is easy (and normal) to get stuck in fight, flight or freeze mode. This is a state of anxiety, anger, fear, etc. When this happens, our limbic system takes over and our emotions crank up even higher. In order to get unstuck and be able to move to our prefrontal cortex for effective problem solving, it is important to acknowledge and then process those triggered emotions by moving them out of your body with sound, movement and breath. When this happens, we now have the ability to make a rational choice about how to best respond next - Step 2: Elevate Action Elevating action involves calmly thinking through what would be the next best positive step you can take regarding what caused the triggered emotional response. Because we can access the problem solving part of our brain, we can choose an elevated action (instead of reacting from our emotional state). What you do to elevate your action is entirely up to you depending on the situation. - Step 3: Celebrate and Integrate It’s important that after you have elevated your action, that you take time to celebrate how you managed the situation! Doing so integrates your new response into your identity (this literally will enable the rewiring of your neuropathways). When we focus on positive things, the quality of our lives improves, according to positive psychology research. The Rapid Power Reclaim® method will help you navigate overwhelming moments, make informed choices, and build resilience for the future. Save this post for those moments when you need it most! #OvercomeOverwhelm #OverwhelmManagement #WorkplaceTips #HealthyWorkplace #HealingAtWork