Equanimity

One of the most powerful skill sets for a facilitator/consultant to have is equanimity. It’s defined as the ability to remain calm and alert in all matter of situations. In Aikido, we refer to this as keeping “one point.”

We expect nothing, and yet we’re ready for anything. Kipling’s work, “If” gives us a great working definition of equanimity in practice.

As consultants to executives in difficult situations, we are often used as a sounding board for difficult decisions. We need to model through our actions, a sense of deep calmness in very stressful situations. Sully Sullenberger comes immediately to mind. Under a lot of stress, it’s been proven that executives are more likely to make poor decisions. Our ability to reflect calmness can be a tremendous help to these executives. This ability is especially important when we publish the results from our action research design where we work hot data, in real-time, with the executive and the team.

We must look carefully at the metaphors we create to describe what we see going on. More importantly, we need to ask for their metaphors to describe what they see, how they feel, and what the team might do. This is not easy work and it requires a lot of training and practice to get good at remaining calm and designing on the spot.

What do you do to train for these situations? What helps you remain calm, alert, and focused under stress? Where do you get a chance to practice this? How do you hold the center pole?