What happens when you exercise muscles that you haven’t in a while? Whether it’s hiking, skiing, or gardening, one thing is for sure… you’re going to be sore! But the more you stretch those muscles, the more flexible you become. With regular practice, you find yourself stronger and even enjoying the exercise.
The principle is the same regarding emotional and mental flexibility—essential leadership skills that can only be learned in action. Mental and emotional flexibility are cornerstone leadership qualities that enable more effective decision-making and organizational success.
Benefits of Mental and Emotional Flexibility
The capacity for mental flexibility allows leaders to see connections between seemingly disparate ideas and adapt their strategies based on changing circumstances. This cognitive adaptability enables them to solve problems more effectively by considering multiple perspectives and approaches simultaneously. If one approach isn’t working, they try another–or they look at the problem from a different angle. Leaders who demonstrate mental flexibility can more readily integrate new information and adjust their course of action when needed.
By the way, emotional flexibility is similar; it enhances a leader’s ability to build authentic connections with team members and stakeholders. Leaders who can adapt their emotional responses appropriately create stronger relationships through genuine empathy and understanding. This emotional adaptability also facilitates better conflict resolution by helping leaders understand and navigate the emotional dynamics at play in challenging situations.
5 Ways to Stretch Mental Flexibility
1. Raise Curiosity
Curiosity creates a posture of growth. It’s a small mental shift but it can be a tricky one. When you learned to coach, it took practice to shift from telling to listening and from solving to empowering. Staying curious helps us to set aside our own agenda and shift our internal drive into neutral in order to see what is happening around us more clearly. An important piece to remaining curious is to seek out diverse viewpoints that challenge assumptions and compliment strengths.
- Who do you know and respect that often has a different perspective or opinion than you? How does meeting with them help you?
- Where can you go, what groups can you join to build a more diverse network?
- What voices are missing from your inner circle? What can you do to build relationship with them?
- What aspects of ministry require strengths that don’t come naturally to you? How can you position yourself to learn from others?
2. Force Perspective
Image standing in front of a sculpture. What do you see? Now imagine walking to the side and around the back of the sculpture. Now what do you see? What can you no longer see? A change in proximity and position provides perspective to build a clearer understanding of the whole. Effective leadership requires the ability to understand those you are leading and how your decisions affect them. Stop to look at things from a different perspective as often as possible. Especially when it is inconvenient.
- What alternative explanations might exist for this situation?
- How might someone with a different background view this challenge?
- What feelings might be driving resistance to change in your team?
- How do others’ emotional reactions differ from yours in similar situations?
3. Seize Opportunities
When obstacles surface, its easy to be sidetracked or even give up. Looking for the opportunity in the obstacle can change everything and may actually produce greater than expected results, Encourage experimentation and learning from mistakes. Doing this would include both risk-taking and setting aside regular time for reflection.
- What assumptions are you making that could be limiting your options?
- What does this change (obstacle) make possible?
- How might you connect this to the big picture?
- What can you do today that you couldn’t do before?
4. Make Small Adjustments
Competitive swimmers understand the power of small adjustments. A slight bend of the elbow or an adjustment in chin positioning can make a marked performance improvement. Likewise, small adjustments to thinking and processes build overall mental flexibility and will come up against less resistance. As a coach, you can model flexibility by openly adjusting approaches based on new information.
- What is one thing you can change today that will make the biggest difference?
- How can you adjust the event to better align with your ministry goals?
- How can you break down the changes you need to make into manageable steps?
5. Get a Workout Buddy
Don’t try to lift more than you regularly do without a spot. Someone who can handle the weight, will notice the changes in you, encourage you along the way, and celebrate your milestones. As a coach, this may be your role. But everyone should have a few people in their court that they can count on.
- Who will offer you regular feedback on your progress and decision-making processes?
- What reminders will you put in place to continue to stretch your mental flexibility?
- By what metrics will you assess your ability to navigate change and uncertainty successfully?
How are you feeling about that?
Like we said at the beginning, the world is only becoming more complex. Remaining mentally flexible helps but it can still be overwhelming. If your client is having a hard time remaining flexible and adaptable, its time to explore the links between behavior and feelings. As a coach, you may see emotional ties in your leaders that they may not be aware of. The Emotional Intelligence Coaching Guide and Storyboard can help you raise your client’s awareness of their emotions in the situation and navigate them for better decisions.