5 Leadership Lessons from Early Morning Coached Workouts
Several months back, I joined LifeSport Coaching's TriClub. I was starting my own business, which can be quite lonely, and I wanted to ensure I had a community to support and enable my fitness goals. While, the LifeSport coaches and community have certainly delivered that, I’ve also gained a lot of knowledge to make me a better cyclist and athlete.
Those lessons apply to leadership as well. Here are 5 lessons I’ve picked up while pedaling on my bike trainer on Zwift and Zoom with the Life Sport coaches.
1. Don’t pine for the end. Picture an interval workout. As soon as it started, I was in my head, doing my math. Only 4 intervals left, only 8 mins of hard work left, etc. And then Coach Lance said something that felt like a gut punch. “Don’t pine for the end.” Wait what? I’m always pining for the end. In races, in workouts, always. In leadership, if we are pining for the end, we aren’t in the moment. We aren’t here and now. We aren’t present. We aren’t having conversations, taking action in the present to enable a strong finish. This is a hard habit for me to break, both on the bike and in my professional life. But I’m conscious of it now and I’m seeing the fruits of my labor. I’m able to recognize issues, moods, missing conversations, potential conflict, before it’s a much bigger deal. What areas are you pining for the end? What are you missing by doing so?
2. Check in with the Body. One thing I really appreciate about the coached workouts is the cues the coaches give to check in with your body and your form. I tend to be an “intense” cyclist. Death grip on the handlebars, mashing the pedals. I’m learning to be more graceful, catching tension and intentionally relaxing. It saves energy!! I’ve started checking in with my body before key meetings, especially if I think there will be tension or deep discussion. Taking 2- 5mins before the meeting to do a quick body scan, do some box breathing, checking my mood and mind – where I am “bracing for the worst” in my body before the meeting even starts? Talk about wasted energy. I need that energy to show up in the moment! Where are you “death griping” your leadership journey? Do you mediate or do breath work? How do you prepare for intense meetings and conversations?
3. Poker Face. When I first heard coach Lance say “just because something is physically hard, doesn’t mean it has to be mentally hard.” I was confused. I grew up with the “No Pain No Gain” and “Embrace the Suck” mentalities. I didn’t think it was possible to smile through threshold intervals, but I’m getting there. I tell myself “I get to do this. I am able bodied, healthy, with the resources to choose to be here. I’m doing this for my future self.” How does this apply to leadership? Transitions are hard. Situations are challenging. Can you employees see your mood through your face and body language? I’m not saying be Pollyanna all the time, but say you finish a difficult meeting and then have a 1:1 with employee. How do you show up in that 1:1? That’s the employee’s time. Do you show up closed? Do you carry over your mood from one meeting to the next?Leaderhisp isn’t easy, we are always 'on' so to speak. How are you managing your moods?
4. Focus on What Has Passed. Before you stop reading, hear me out. Let’s say there’s a 4 minute interval in the workout. The coaches will always say “1 minute gone” and not “3 minutes left (see #1)”. While I’m not one to dwell in the past, I do think leaders often don’t pause to celebrate what we’ve accomplished. There’s something empowering and higher energy about “3 minutes gone” vs “1 minute left”. Where can you focus on the accomplishments of your team or even yourself? Where can you celebrate the “1 minute gone” moments?
5. Practice Race Conditions. During our workouts the coaches will often gently remind us, not to bother toweling off during the intervals, or focus on our body position while drinking from the water bottles. At first I thought it was overkill and didn’t apply to me since I’m not racing this season. But it’s an important point. I believe leadership is a profession. As such, I need to be practicing leadership frequently. If I don’t practice in the 'workouts' how can I expect to be an effective leader in the difficult 'race' moments? When the team and company really need me? Are there situations where you are taking it easy? Coasting? Are you practicing your leadership throughout the day, week and year?
Just like training with a community is helpful to achieve fitness goals, you can develop your leadership skills with a community. Reach out and let’s see how the Starr Leadership Group can help you on your leadership journey.