As every person on the planet must know now, the world is in a pandemic caused by coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an infectious respiratory illness. There are shelter-in-place guidelines for people everywhere.  How are you adapting to being confined to your home most, if not all, of the time?  
 
If you are like me, you’ve had to adjust every few days--or even every few hours! New information that shifts your perspective and awareness requires being able to navigate your cognitive, emotional, and physical reactions.  Information can trigger fear, panic, and frustration at needing to adapt over and over again. Being grounded throughout this time, staying centered as well as being able to navigate change, becomes so important. 
 
As I’m navigating this situation, I am also trying to understand how to adapt and listen to the specific needs of each client. Personally, I’ve found that meditation, nutrition, exercise, music, and good sleep have been central to staying centered and grounded. 
 
What are the key elements of my practice?

• Meditation: Doing 20 minutes of meditation in the morning or at night with Headspace Navigating Change series really helps me deal with fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. https://www.headspace.com​​
• Cycling: This is what really helps me. A few years ago, my coach Rob http://colburnbodyconcepts.com suggested I get a trainer for my bike so that I could cycle indoors during winter. When all the pools were closing and I had to stop swimming, I was so glad I already had the bike in place.  
• Physical therapy exercises: Three days a week I do warm up exercises recommended by my physical therapist, Sally Ryan at https://sportscare1.com/locations/nj/physical-therapy-hoboken/

 
What does a week of training look like?
 
This week I had my first Zoom video session with my physical therapist. Then I get on my bike and cycle to music from Fit Radio https://www.fitradio.com, or while watching a rerun of a NBA or college basketball game on ESPN, or watching reruns of Surfing competition on Fox Sports.  I feel amazing after these sessions. These are followed by weight training from Pauline Nordin’s challenge program https://fighterdiet.com/challenges/, which I’ve been doing for years now, and then more stretches for my knee and back. 
 
The other three days are dedicated to Yoga by Adrienne on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7xsYgTeM2Q, followed by surfing jumps and then my knee and back stretches and exercise. While I do the exercises, I watch WSL news or, to lift my spirt, past surfing competitions https://www.worldsurfleague.com, because that’s what surfing does for me. 
 
How will you build resilience to navigate these times?
 
In virtual zoom, webex, and call conversations with my clients over the last few weeks, I’ve been listening to what each leader is having to navigate during these changing times. Many are working from home with infants or young children who need help navigating technology (and more) to learn virtually. Some in financial services have had to create new offerings for business loans to help their clients, while others have had to lay off employees until the crisis is over. Most organizations and companies are looking at the financial implications for their business. 
 
Every one of them is coping differently with the adjustments.  Some are losing sight of their self-care and exercise, and find their anxiety increasing. Others are doing better at coping, having built resilience through previous challenges (including a client who grew up in a war zone). Still others are continuing to build awareness of their leadership communication and how they are being perceived under stress: strong, resilient, and grounded?  anxious, harried, and unraveling? centered and present?
 
I personally am learning to let go, be more collaborative, and leverage the talent that I have in my consulting firm. I’m also attuning to my clients and seeing how we can help. 
 
Wishing you health and resilience during this time, and let me know if I or my consultants can help. Stay safe. 
 

At Desormeaux Leadership Consulting we believe that leadership during challenging times can really make a difference. A client of ours asked if we could create interactive sessions for her employees who were dealing with the challenges of managing stress, dealing with uncertainty, adapting to working remotely as well as building resiliency.
 
Desormeaux Leadership Consulting associates have created and designed 11 - 45 minutes interactive zoom meetings for your leaders and your employees during COVID-19.  
https://www.desormeauxconsulting.com/consultants.html
 
Here is a list of our 45 minutes interactive zoom sessions we are offering to clients (limits of 12 participants: :

• Leadership in Times of Change  
• Managing Stress During Covid-19
• Dealing with Uncontrollable Circumstances: Assessing Anxiety and Building Resiliency
• Staying Healthy While Working from Home
• Working Remotely from Home and Homeschooling: Structuring your Day
• Working Remotely from Home and Living Alone
• How Emotional Intelligence Can Help During Time of Crisis
• Building Resiliency During Time of Crisis
• Getting Back to Center: How Mindfulness Practice Can Help You Navigate Challenging Times
• How to Work and Manage Your Emotions During Challenging Times
• Relationship Building In a Virtual World 

 
For More Information
If you feel that these sessions could be helpful during this challenging time, please reach out to us. We are ready to help and support your leaders and employees. 
 
Contact Lyne Desormeaux at lyne@desormeauxconsulting.com or call 646-634-5829.

Sports training continues to teach me lesson after lesson. We all are here on the planet for who knows how long, and recently we all have been reminded of this in some dramatic ways.  Last month there was the unexpected death of Amerrican professional basketball player Kobe Bryant in a fatal helicopter crash.  And in a very short period of time there have been losses around the world from the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Kobe had a love for sports and for life, and he had pure talent. Everyone who has transitioned and passed also had lives that was lived with fervor, lightness or even challenges. My heart goes to all who have had losses lately and to those who may have some in the near future. 
 
What is extraordinary about these times is that this could be you or me--anyone of us could get the virus and transition and pass. It’s a reminder to be grateful for the time we have.
 
Recovery  
 
I had been doing physical therapy for my knees just before the coronavirus stepped into the US. My new knee doctor was able to uncover that my knees were basically fine but needed help through physical therapy. My physical therapists, SportsCare https://sportscare1.com/locations/nj/physical-therapy-hoboken/, explained that if the right muscles are not activated and working, then my knee function can be affected. I am now doing daily exercises to strengthen targeted muscles three times a week. My knees are feeling better.
 
This situation makes me think of all of my clients who need to repair relationships, rework a project, re-assess their strategy, re-evaluate their budget, or just heal mentally, emotionally, or physically.  Sometimes, as American Tibetan Buddhist Pema Chodron says in her book  When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, confronting problems can open us so that  healing or repair can happen. Now things are falling apart. We must remember her advice during this difficult time. 
 
Adaptation
 
As circumstance change, so must we. All my in-person, coaching client meetings have been transitioned to video conferencing (https://zoom.us, https://www.webex.com) or phone calls from  my apartment in Weehawken, New Jersey overlooking New York. It is an honor to support my clients as they step into their leadership in ways that they’ve never had to do before. I’m impressed by their desire to support their direct reports, support their management in transitioning  part or all of their workforce to work from home, and assess daily the next decisions they have to make as well as anticipate and plan for future needs. 
 
Gratitude 
 
Swimming has always been my “go to” activity for healing and recovery, and it’s also great overall exercise. This year I was back training for the Swim Miami 5k swim in April, and I had made the lottery again for the Chesapeake 4.4 Bay Swim in June.  It was exhilarating to be training again. I just plain love it. When you love something and have passion for it, focus and discipline follow easily. 
 
But the Coronavirus is here, and all of that has changed my sports training. First, I am grateful that I had been swimming and that my knees are feeling better. I was able to go for walks daily, but now that the virus is in Weehawken it looks like that I will be indoors for a while. I am lucky to have an indoor bike on a trainer. My sports coach, Rob Colburn from http://colburnbodyconcepts.com, was excited about my progress. But he is now changing not only my training program but also the online training program on Training Peaks https://www.trainingpeaks.com for himself and all of his clients. 
 
Before the novel coronavirus struck, my clients--like me--were getting energized working on projects they’ve been dreaming would come their way. Some were promoted lately and were adjusting to their new roles, while others had just held all-employee meetings discussing their strategy and goals for the year. Now they’ve all had to adjust and adapt, and their goals are focused on the challenges at hand for their business and employees. 
 
I am grateful to be alive, training and serving my clients. What are you grateful for? How have you had to adapt? How are you stepping into your leadership and adjusting to the current challenges?
 
If you are in the process of reevaluating, readjusting,  or would like to have a coach next to you to help you think through and adapt to current challenges, reach out to me lyne@desormeauxconsulting.com. I or one of my associates could help you navigate these challenging times. 

None of my end-of year challenges were planned.  But they all happened, and in the moment I did not quite understand what it was all about. 

Disruption 

I intended to run the NY marathon in November and the Honolulu marathon in December last year, 2019. These were big events to mark the end of the year and the end of the decade. But I also had overbooked myself with travel, trainings, and a lot of work. My training became sporadic and less effective than in the last few years. I also had so much work in October--days, nights, and weekends, plus travel--that by the time the third week of October arrived I was exhausted, and my knees were bothering me. What a disappointment that I had to cancel my participation in the marathons! 

Tuning In

I’ve been called “the queen of self-care,” but somehow I had bitten off more than I could handle. It was clear I had to regroup and revise my self-care and training regimens. 
First, I took three days off (including a spa day) so I could rebuild enough vitality to continue delivering to my clients in November with good energy. 

Second, I sought a sports acupuncturist for my knees, stopped running, started a short yoga routine every morning, and began swimming more often. 

Third, I had an upcoming trip to Honolulu and the North Shore and decided, during my holiday, to take surfing lessons, practice yoga, and do a bit of hiking and swimming. The surfing was so exciting.  My preparation --the weight training, the practice of getting up as if on a surf board, and the Portugal surfing trip last June--had helped. I was standing up almost every wave and was exhilarated.

​This whole experience was a reminder about how important it is to be in tune with our body. Our mind can want us to take on more than we think. I believe in stretching, but I also believe in knowing your body and understanding when to stretch and when to renew and refuel. 

Compassion and Self-Acceptance

This self-awareness we gain from our bodies also deepens our confidence, helping us to develop more compassion and self-acceptance, to set more realistic expectations, and to lead ourselves better.
My last webinar on the “Body and Coaching: Power, Focus, Control, and Rehabilitation” for the Institute of Coaching https://instituteofcoaching.org/resources/webinar-body-coaching-power-focus-control-and-rehabilitation discusses how to support leaders and how to use the body to support leadership growth. The body can play a key part in coaching leaders who are working on addressing leadership challenges such as presence, empowerment, and self-management as well for clients recovering from health challenges or injuries. 

I’ve ran 8 marathons in total, 7 of them in the last 4 years. I’m proud of that.  But I want to keep my knees working in good order as long as I can, so I’ve decided to keep running small runs for now.  My new and continued focus for 2020 will be on ocean and bay swims (5K Miami, etc.), yoga, and continuing to learn surfing around the world.

What will your focus be in 2020?

If you would like some information about coaching, training, or facilitation services, feel free to reach out to me at lyne@desormeauxconsulting.com. 



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My sports training is keeping me busy and excited as well. Between work and travels, I’ve  dropped  triathlons this summer and focused instead on marathon training, preparing for the NY marathon for the third time and the Honolulu marathon for the fifth time. I’ve also had to streamline my marathon training: two short runs during the week and one long run on weekends. 

But wait, as I was conceiving this blog--coming back from a run--I spoke to a new colleague who suggested that I add a bike session and a swim session to my training. These workouts already were in the schedule suggested by my coach, Rob Colburn from CBC Endurance Training http://colburnbodyconcepts.com/activities/training-options. Yet I had dropped them because my schedule was too full of work. My new colleague explained how the bike training would help me build more stamina and strength. I had forgotten the importance of these extra trainings and why they were included. I also thought they were recommended for when I do triathlons and ocean and bay swims rather than marathons.  Then I remembered that in the last few years, when I have crossed trained, I could feel my strength and stamina build fast. 

People Get Smarter By Rising To a Challenge

Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, says “people get smarter by being challenged” . . .  and persisting in the face of those challenges. Yes, I’m busier and busier, and dropping the wrong training could cost me the extra energy and stamina I may need to finish two marathons this year.  I’m now taking a second look at my training schedule and over the next few months will be re-inserting my bike rides and some swims. 

A lot of the clients I work with also are getting busier and busier. Quite a few right now had let go of building their networks, within their organizations as well as externally. They knew that they needed that network and yet had put it aside. The lesson of “grit” is to stick to it. As they are picking it back up, some are getting support from their supervisors, starting to connect with different parts of the organization, and using that network  to leverage these relationships to move their business and career goals forward. One of these clients said, "I realize that I let myself get derailed from pursuing my own networking goals while I helped direct reports and peers with their goals.  But now that I see that, I'm getting back on track and will refocus on building my network."Persistence is paying-off, she is already seeing results. 

Tenacity Over the Long Haul Is Everything

As part of her research on qualities that lead to success, Duckworth discusses the importance of deliberate practice: “This is how experts’ practice. First, they set a stretch goal, zeroing in on just one narrow aspect of their overall performance. Rather than focus on what they already do well, experts strive to improve specific weaknesses.” 

This sport adventure I started back in 2013 after a disappointing personal work setback has evolved over the last 7 years. I never imagined that the short run I had been doing in Central Park or along the Hudson River on the Jersey pathway and the 1.4 mile swim I did every September on Cape Cod for the last 12 years would turn into accumulating 7 marathons, multiple bay and ocean swim (5k Miami swims, 2.4 mile Nav-E-Sink Rumson, NJ swims), and even attempting the 4.4 Chesapeake Bay Swim twice (not yet completed). The Chesapeake Bay Swim… it’s been just out of my reach. Projects I’ve taken on in the last year have felt like that as well--just a little ahead of my learning curve, so I can stretch myself. 

I love seeing my clients stretch themselves as well. The coaching clients and leadership program clients who are excited about learning, growing, and challenging themselves really enjoy the journey. Stretching usually brings fear and excitement all at the same time. Some of these clients are learning how to be more strategic, how to create, design, write, and present their new strategy, goals, and/or innovations. Others are pushing themselves to be better team leaders or learning to have crucial or difficult conversations. And still others are focused on building a stronger network, conducting more cross-functional collaboration, and partnering across their organization. 

What has kept me on my toes in the last year has been partnering with new international consulting firms and challenging myself to learn more. It’s been both exciting and a stretch. I also have been lucky enough to design and create a few leadership and career growth programs. These have challenged me as well as taught me so much more about leadership, learning, and transformational growth. 
If you would like some information about coaching, training, or facilitation services, feel free to reach out to me at lyne@desormeauxconsulting.com. 

Helping people improve. That’s my job. But how do you get better? Let’s take a look at three basic strategies that work in sports and on the job.
 
Assess Where You Are
 
I’m always interested by the circumstances of my sports training.  I pay attention to fluctuations of energy, conditions, and timing. Is it recuperation time after two marathons? What is my body calling for? I have to look at the whole year and know when I’m going to train and push hard and when I need to slow down and recuperate. If you have ever failed to achieve a goal, you know you may have needed to do something different but you may not know what that something is.  
 
So the first step in getting better is to stop and assess where you are. If you lead an organization, you might ask: What is the zeitgeist of the time? What is the organization facing externally and internally? What does it mean for me and for others? Where do I need to focus in the coming year?
 
Select Meaningful Training
 
With these new insights and understanding, you will be able to choose the right goals for yourself and how you will get there.  I did not get in the lottery of the Chesapeake Bay swim this year.  Instead, will I tackle an Olympic triathlon this year? How do I get ready for it?  Is this  a year dedicated to form? To endurance?  
 
Atheletes often drill, repeating certain movements again and again to improve. In business, too, you must train.  If you want to be an effective leader, what skills must you practice again and again? In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talked about needing 10,000 hours of practice to develop mastery. Mastery isn’t only a matter of practice, but it’s an important piece.  Then measure your progress.  The more you practice, the better you get. 
 
Challenge Yourself By Moving the Bar
 
Climbing higher, always climbing.  If you want to maximize your potential, you must continually reset the bar.  After all, once you achieve a goal, it’s done. You can plateau or set a new goal. The clients I coach usually focus on 3 goals at a time. They also revise their goals once met and look forward to seeing what might be their next level goals. Leaders help their direct reports do the same. Every year is different because every year the context changes. My clients change, their circumstances change, sometimes their supervisor or peers change, and many times the company changes. All of this affects the goals for the year. 
 
Our world is changing at such a rapid pace that we must continually cycle through this process of assessing where we are and what matters. What goal is next for you? What skills must you develop to get there? Once you’ve achieved mastery and attained the goal, how do you challenge yourself? If you are ready in 2019 to keep learning, growing, and deepening your leadership, please email me at lyne@desormeauxconsulting.comor visit my website at www.desormeauxconsulting.com.  
 

​I love ending the year with a trip to Hawaii.  Nothing beats running the Honolulu marathon and taking surfing lessons on the North Shore while watching the Billabong Pipeline Competition! 
 
Try Something New
 
Before this trip, I ran the NY marathon for the second time and started reading the book Let My People Go Surfing. Yvon Chouinard in his introduction says, “My company, Patagonia, Inc., is an experiment.” 
 
I love this quote. I think life is an experiment —as are business and leadership--and it’s a great philosophy to live by. When we try something new, we learn what works and what doesn’t. How alive I feel when I practice a sport and make a discovery, like during my surfing lessons! The water feels great, the view is pretty amazing, and it’s an experiment to see how each takeoff goes: will I be able to stand up? will I finally get it this time?
 
Starting a leadership program may feel the same way. Fortunately, a program that gives participants a chance to experiment can be a portal to better results. Sometimes leaders are surprised at how they finally are able to tackle a behavior they’ve been wanting to address or build a new skill. Yes, it feels awkward at the beginning.  So I advise participants to be patient and practice, take a risk and try out the new behavior without judging themselves. It’s new. It might take a few tries--or maybe a lot of them!--before getting it right. Just like trying to surf. 
 
Stop and Assess  
 
“I took a dozen of my managers to Argentina, to the windswept mountains of the real Patagonia, for a walkabout. In the course of roaming around those wildlands, we asked ourselves why we were in business and what kind of business we wanted Patagonia to be . . . ” p. 61 Yvon Chouinard
 
The beauty of changing setting to assess where you are is invaluable. New settings, meeting different people, and experiencing different cultures open us up to other ways of knowing and thinking. This is one reason I like working with leaders offsite. It gives them a chance to step away, pause, and assess with other leaders what is working with their leadership and what could be improved. 
 
Leaders all have strengths, and in group coaching they can share these strengths with their colleagues while also learning from them.  This is similar to sports. In lessons with fellow surfers this past year, we developed a camaraderie that deepened our learning; we were able to share feedback, successes, and failures, learning from each other’s experiments. 
I also experienced this kind of camaraderie earlier this year during a Telos Institute four-day Grand Canyon hiking and camping trip. These leadership trips can really deepen bonds among participants, giving participants opportunities to challenge themselves physically as well as to reflect upon their careers, leadership, and life. 
 
Decide What’s Next
 
The New Year 2019 is upon us, and I’m ready for more experimentation with the leaders I will be working with as well as with the sports I continue to learn (ocean swims, running, triathlons, and surfing). What about you? What will you experiment with this year?
 
If you are ready in 2019 to keep learning, grow, and deepen your leadership, please email me at lyne@desormeauxconsulting.comor visit my website at www.desormeauxconsulting.com. 
 
 

What a great summer this was. Why? My trips to Quebec and California, following on springs trips to the Grand Canyon and northern New Mexico, helped me achieve a goal, set in March, to be more in nature and make sure that all parts of me were nourished. As I reflect on those experiences and what it takes to be at our best, what comes to mind is a great book by journalist and business leader Tony Schwartz called The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Performance. His premise is that we have to create a life that is sustainable (physical), provides security (emotional), allows self-expression (mental), and has significance (spiritual). He gives inspiring examples of leaders who re-energized explored their lives in addressing one or two of these areas. 

1.     Find the Right Balance 
So where do you put your energy? Working with my clients, I see them sometimes needing to step back and look at what areas of their lives may need more attention. Many have invested in their mental/analytical selves, putting a lot of energy into day-to-day priorities and projects--but may have forgotten their bodies and sometimes their emotional selves. Others invest in their emotional selves, putting energy into nourishing those around them and paying attention to their relationships--but they might need to pay more attention to their mental side. For example, a new client I am working with is delivering on developing the Asian market but is feeling like she could be heading towards a burn out. She is ensuring the needs of everyone around her are being met but is forgetting herself in the process. Taking a step back and evaluating where to put our energies is a good place to begin and can lead to major benefits. 

2.    Do Something New and Get Inspired 
We all need renewal, and it probably looks different for each of us. For me, this summer was nourishing on multiple levels. I had a chance to go fishing with one of my uncles and his family in the north of Quebec. It was majestic, beautiful, refreshing, and I learned a new sport that I fell in love with. It was emotionally, mentally, physically (you need strength to reel in those large walleyes!) and spiritually uplifting. I also was able to go to Big Sur, California, which was so beautiful and re-inspired me. Sometimes I dream of becoming a surfer, and California has plenty of those. Mixing visiting friends while attending two conferences made it even more enjoyable. 

Likewise, the leaders I work with need inspiration or re-inspiration.  One client I had worked with in the past felt like his leadership was good because he always got good financial results. When I had a chance to work with him again, he finally realized that he could try to do something else, something new. He decided to join a board and ended up on one perfectly aligned to his passion. You could see his delight and excitement at making a contribution and enjoying himself at the same time. He also started exploring how he could extend his knowledge and his expertise to contribute more to the company. 

3.    Continue the Journey
How do we sustain high performance over time? Tony Schwartz suggests that integrating rituals into our lives can help us balance periods of intensity with periods of renewing ourselves. For me, that’s daily athletic training. Although physically I was not at my peak this summer, I did some great swims and a lot of running, with two sprint triathlons. Nothing too big or too fast, but just enough to keep it going. As I’m getting ready for two marathons I continue to learn, adjust, be coached, and grow. Clearly my physical journey in the last few years has had its ups and downs. Performance, motivation and learning is at the forefront as well as diligence, persistence, and practice. Let’s not forget joy and satisfaction! 

Complementary to the Tony Schwartz book is a another I’ve started to read and will be reading more of this fall-- Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey. This book reveals the myriad ways artists (writers, composers, painters etc.) work. The way the structure their day, the rituals they use, as well as how they use time and  tools. Currey reminds us to stay creative, find a rhythm, find a way to work, exercise etc. that is personal. The book is full of insights and inspiration on how to work. 
I love seeing leaders grow, stretch, and strive to be their best. They are all at different places in their leader journey and I feel blessed to be able to work with them. The ups and down of their careers is part of the journey. Every day they find their way to step into their work, with creativity or not. It’s up to them to find a rhythm, a way to work that fits them personally. 

Refueled by great summer adventures I’m hard at work in continuing to strive to be the best I can be. I hope you are feeling refueled by yours. Wherever you are on your leader journey--if you need a coach, a leadership program, and or a team alignment session--the consultants and coaches at Desormeaux Leadership Consulting are ready to partner with you. 

If you are interested in learning more about our services, you can visit our website at www.desormeauxconsutling.com or contact me: lyne@desormeauxconsulting.com.  

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! 
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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 lyne@desormeauxconsulting.com.  

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