Developing integrative awareness helps leaders recognize these stress responses as opportunities to pause and reflect before acting, 3Īrmita Golkar et al., “Distinct contributions of the dorsolateral prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex during emotion regulation,” PloS One, November 7, 2012, Volume 7, Number 11. Giving them the tools to lead with deliberate calm and bounded optimism. When they do that, instinctive biological reactions will start working for them and not against them. Not only will this practice lead to increased effectiveness but it is also essential to managing personal health and energy over a longer period of time.
(Jump to the six practices here.) Deliberate calm: how to steer into the storm Khalsa et al., “Interoception and mental health: A roadmap,” Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Elsevier, 2018, Volume 3, Issue 6, pp. In crisis situations, leaders must make a deliberate choice to practice a calm state of mind. Then they can step back from a fraught or high-stakes situation and choose how to respond, rather than reacting instinctively.