subject: Emotional Intelligence, Control, And Test Pilots [print this page] Emotional intelligence provides us with strategies other than frantic attempts to control our situation. Consider the story of test pilots told by Tara Brach in her excellent book, Radical Acceptance, on page 49.
In the l950s air force test pilots attempted with new jet engines to fly at higher altitudes than ever before. In the rarified atmosphere, they found to their horror that a plane could skid out of control and start tumbling end over end. Pilots responded by frantically trying to work their controls to stabilize their planes. The more furiously they worked their controls, the more they tumbled. Screaming helplessly to ground control they crashed and died.
Does your plane feel out of control? Your own life or your companys? Is marketplace turbulence tossing your plane end over end? Leadership experts have been talking for some time about chaos that leaders face. Have you made frantic attempts to regain control? Before you crash and burn, consider some ways out of your turbulence.
The pilots learned that they had to relax and let go until the plane entered lower altitudes where they could regain control. This was very counterintuitive. Not frantic efforts to control, but relax and wait. Then stabilize the plane.
Can this be a metaphor for leaders? If you are in circumstances that you just cant seem to control, can you pause and relax? When you get centered, you can think much more clearly and make better decisions. How often are you able to do this?
Getting centered and resourceful is one of the benefits of our Executive Coaching. We help clients pause and set their frantic efforts aside for a coaching moment. As they answer our questions, they get more reflective. As they use us as a sounding board, they get more centered. Finally, they get more resourceful and see new solutions. This process helps leaders be resilient in the midst of chaos.
We also teach clients how to meditate if they wish so that they have another method of getting centered on their own. Meditation calms us and allows us to pause so that we can let go of our frantic efforts at control and slowly become more resourceful.
Our Executive Coaching helps you stay centered and resourceful.
Copyright 2009, by William R. Murray, President of Eagle Alliance Executive Coaching, LLC. Reprint rights granted to all venues so long as this article and by-line are printed intact with all links made live.
