Leadership and Sports Training: Preparation, Perception and Grit!

Well, I made it to my Telos Leadership Venture! Because of some injury to my back followed by a cold, I was not prepared like I would have wanted to but I made it. 
What an amazing experience it was from the Wildland Trekking https://www.wildlandtrekking.com team of two, Edie and Tess, to the two Telos Institute leaders http://thetelosinstitute.com, Lydia, and Suzanne and the four of us, Nora, Katherine, Heather and me. The four-day adventure started at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon down to the first campsite, then further down to the Colorado River for our second-night camping, then to a creek for our last camping night and a long uphill to finish the Hermit Loop. 

Be as prepared as you can be! 
I’ve been training for a while that it’s for ocean swims or marathons. Sometimes I arrive really well trained, no injury and full of energy to these events. Other times I’m not so lucky. Last November’s marathon was preceded with food poisoning a week before, the Hawaii marathon with a cold a week before and this Grand Canyon trip with a back injury as well as a cold. 
Clients of mine are sometimes fully prepared for a presentation or an important meeting Sometimes they are really prepared to take a new role and sometimes the curve is steep.  They realize that the presentation demanded a lot more preparation, the meeting they showed up at also included board members and the new position they took has a tone of work that needs to be redone and cleaned up.
I’m not sure if we can ever fully be prepared and know how things will unfold and sometimes to add to the mix circumstances beyond our control and that we did not expect gets in the way. 
This Grand Canyon trip really showed me that. I knew I was not in the best form but felt I could tackle it even though I did not quite know what I had signed up. Maybe that is we can’t really know what we’ve signed up for. It’s there to be discovered just like the Canyon was there to be discovered. 

Perception is everything!
So, I have one day and a half done in the Canyon and it’s beautiful. We all stop and one of the wildland guides and one of the Telos ask me if I think I can do the full trek. They are worried about my pace and my breathing and wonder if I should turn back. I’m surprised by the request but I understand how they may be concerned. Their perception is that I might have a hard time especially on the last day that is mostly all climbing upward. They also don’t know me well, they haven’t seen me do my 6 hours long marathons and my 2.5 mile swims. We decide to keep going and I accelerate my pace and within the next 2 hours they are reassured and know that I will be able to complete the trek. 
My clients are surprised by some of the feedback they are getting especially from 360’s. What is surprising to them is how people are perceiving them and then concluding because of the perception. For example, of one of my client though really caring had no idea that many of his direct reports thought he might be too abrupt and that he yelled. As soon as he learned that this was the case is he started working on monitoring when he did so and slowly learn to stop speaking abruptly and to harshly. Sometimes we can address a perception and a behavioral the stop, sometimes it may take quite a long time. 

You are stronger than you know! 
Resilience, inner strength, and determination can go a long way. There are also ways to build character and strengths especially if you’ve had hard challenges in the past. Every new challenge you conquer builds your inner strength.  
I am not a professional athlete but I like the challenges I give myself. I like feeling healthy and I like feeling alive. Sports make me feel alive. In the Canyon as far as I knew, I believe I had what it would take to make it to the end and I did. The Venture was not easy but because it was hard it made it possible to learn a lot more about myself and my co-trekkers. 
My clients are also challenged, by changes in their organization, by the feedback they get, by challenges they are given. I admire their tenacity, their discovering strengths they did not know they had, their tackling learning, growing and changing. They are stronger than they know and some of them may know that they are strong. 
In this trip, I was stronger than others knew and maybe then I knew because I had never done so much hiking in a day and did not fully know what trekking upwards for a full day is. I thought that all of my previous training would have made it easier but my health setbacks did not help this time. Still, I completed a difficult trek and am proud of it. 

And the work continues! 
I came back stronger in so many ways, spiritually, emotionally, in my knowledge of what trekking is and even physically. I am back swimming and running and getting ready for a 5K swim, the 4.4 mile Chesapeake Bay swim as well as two marathons at the end of the year. 
That you’re getting a 360 feedback or attempting to learn a new skill, a new behavior, that you are attempting a new venture or an upcoming swim or marathon we are all of the journeys of learning, growth and experiencing life! 
​
On to the next adventure!
If you are interested in learning more about our services you can visit our website at www.desormeauxconsutling.com or contact me [email protected].  

​

---