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WYLD Leadership: On Relationships

Consider all of the people in your life, and the unique relationships you have with each one of them. Partnerships, romantic partnerships, friendships, sibling ships, family ships, all the types of ships – no two are the same. But, the one constant is that in order to form relationships with others we must first have a solid relationship with ourselves. 

All relationships require communication, trust, and work in order to thrive – this includes your relationships with the people you work with. Think about it, you spend 40+ hours a week with your coworkers, wouldn’t it be ideal to get along with them?

Shantate J. Edwards is a WYLD Guide, Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at New York University, and a motivational speaker that believes everyone should live life courageously through bold action and take ownership of their story. Earlier this fall, Shantae met virtually with Getaway to talk about building healthy relationships in the workplace. Here are some of the key takeaways we learned from her. 

Begin with you.

It’s important to acknowledge the relationship you have with yourself. If you have a negative relationship with yourself, how do you expect others to have a positive one with you? Without self awareness we don’t know how we can serve ourselves, what we need and what we bring to relationships. 

Here’s how you can begin to understand the relationship with yourself:

Reflect. Self love, self compassion, self actualization, and self awareness causes an intimacy to happen internally, connecting you to who you are, when no one is looking. 

How are you showing up with you?
What are you saying to yourself?
What are you gifting yourself?

If you need a bit more help to self reflect, try writing a letter to your past self. Forgive yourself for things you didn’t accomplish – make peace with your past and forgive. Next, write a letter to your future self. Write about what you want for your future.

Identify your strengths. Think about all the things you’ve done in the past week – the people you helped, the work you accomplished.

What was slightly better than what you’ve done before?

What was slightly better than what someone else could have done?

What was easy and excellent for you?

We are all complex, unique, and multifaceted individuals. Ideally, we grow up encouraged to lean into what comes naturally, but when that isn’t the case, it becomes easy to lose sight of our innate gifts. Knowing your strengths you’ll be able to choose projects more effectively, perform your role better, have stronger relationships, and feel like you are growing and improving all the time.

Identify what you need. Now that you know what your strengths are, you can more easily identify what you need from your co-workers. Do you perform best when you receive positive feedback? Share that. If you crave constructive feedback but need to receive it in a certain way – like getting a heads up in advance that it’s coming – share that as well.

Being clear on what you need is an important step towards consistently being in your power. If you don’t protect your time, talent, or territory, you’re likely to feel depleted and won’t perform at your best. 

A few other ways to get to know yourself on a deeper level:

  • Take a solo walk in nature and notice what lights you up — which of your 5 senses feels the loudest? What does that tell you about yourself? How does this sense help you learn or grow, express who you are, relieve stress, share gratitude, experience pure joy, etc. and how can you lean on it more in your day-to-day?
  • Sit and reflect on your personal highlight reel — are there any common themes that come up in several of your best moments? What are you often recognized for? What specific talents can you identify? Any insights you can draw from the types of environments or circumstances that best set you up for success?
  • Journal about your personal values — what are your guiding principles that lead you through your day when it comes to the way you communicate, act, and show up? Where do these principles come from (ex. a childhood circumstance that made you want to act a certain way)? What does it feel like when those values are not honored and how do you recover? When and how would you like to share these values with others so they can best meet your needs?

Interested in connecting with a WYLD guide and exploring your strengths more? Email them at hello@wyldleadership.com to get your session scheduled and they will match you with a coach that fits your professional and personal goals. Mention promo code WYLD20 for 20% off (this includes a CliftonStrengths code to take the behavioral assessment). A coaching session with a WYLD guide will be tailored to your self development needs, whatever you lead… a business, a family, a team, or your own self through the day, gift yourself the time and space to reflect and grow.

Need an escape for some solo-reflective time? Book your Getaway today.

Features | Partnerships

Getaway’s WYLD Experience: On Stress

In June, Getaway’s marketing team took some time to recharge and learn about stress and wellness in our second workshop with WYLD Leadership. WYLD crafts incredible learning and development experiences – in person or virtually – customized to a team’s needs and goals, meaning no workshop is the same. WYLD’s mission is to draw out the unique greatness in people. They pull from a palette of psychology, nature, creativity, mindfulness, neuroscience, and ancient wisdom to curate a safe and fun experiential learning environment that feels transformative and sustainable. Getaway will be partnering with WYLD for the rest of the year to bring you tips, insights, and practices to help you find your own true nature.

Ahead of our WYLD session, our team had an intense meeting — you know the ones with the many moving parts and missing pieces that make it impossible to end on time. So the topic of stress was incredibly timely, and fortunately, we started with breathing and visualization exercises so we could try to shake off the previous call. 

We all know stress, but wellbeing scientist, Dr. Alexandra Crosswell, who helped lead the session, explored the science and spirituality of stress. We looked at not only how we regulate our own stress and wellbeing as individuals, but as a team, and how to tailor messages and environments for customers for a stress-free experience. Essentially, we learned that stress isn’t something we always need to tackle solo, but it’s something we can identify and work through as a team using our strengths, which will better serve our guests.

To put it plainly: Stress happens. While we all might think the solution is to just power through the task causing our stress, it’s more realistic to acknowledge that our lives are full of stressors — big and small, especially in our always-on world. The solution? Not to eliminate stressors, but to reframe how we approach and perceive those stressors.

And not all stress is bad. Dr. Crosswell  introduced us to the idea of stress being on a spectrum. For example, we’ve all worked hard on an important project and been in a creative zone where much gets accomplished. Dr. Crosswell  refers to this as “above the line” where certain stressors put us in place of positive contribution and flow. On the flip side, certain stressors can take us “below the line.” This puts us in survival response mode — fight, flight, freeze — or “disassociate appease reaction,” when we recognize danger signals and stay safe by complying and minimizing confrontation.

Dr. Crosswell  explained that when you’re really stressed and everything feels urgent, mindful moments can bring us back “above the line.” Part of this process involves identifying what brings you comfort, peace, and joy – these could include stepping away from the computer to chat with friends or family, sipping a cup of coffee, listening to a favorite playlist, or doing a short guided meditation. Making time for these moments, even scheduling them on your calendar throughout the day, allows you to recharge and reset between tasks or meetings.

After our second WYLD experience we felt recharged — the stress of the prior meeting had dissolved. We also brainstormed ideas to add moments of calm into our workday, including taking four deep breaths prior to starting a meeting. And our personal favorite: when a meeting ends early, instead of rushing back to work, we use that time to take a moment to enjoy a little extra free time.

As Jordan, our Email Marketing Manager said, “It was really helpful to do these workshops as a team, because learning these terms and techniques together, provided us a common language to start discussing stress and checking-in with each other during our workdays.” 

Interested in learning more about WYLD? Head to their Instagram or their website.

In need of an escape? Book your Getaway today.