Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2019 - 41

seeks solutions to improve our wellbeing. This ingenious ability to improve
our circumstances is, in itself, inspiring.
It's what we must use if we expect teams
to do great things under our leadership.

2 | Emotional Fitness
Meta-Strength: Humanity (Heart)
Character Strengths: Trust,
Empathy, Likability
When we feel appreciated and valued
by others for who we are, we're able to
work with them in ease and trust. Not
having to prove to others that we're
superhuman or perfect rewards us with
their acceptance. Being part of a team
and knowing that our contribution
matters motivates us to serve one
another. In modern brain science, this
is called the Reward Network, which
is the set of systems that continuously
seeks pleasure and avoids pain. Since
we are social beings, this part of us seeks
connection with others for pleasure
and experiences rejection as painful.
Indeed, our dependence on one another
for survival is an important behavioral
motivator.
Similarly,
emotional
intuition is crucial to our ability to lead
interdependent teams effectively.

3 | Instinctual Fitness
Meta-Strength: Courage (Gut)
Character Strengths: Integrity,
Boldness, Confidence
When we follow hunches that come
from well-informed instincts, we are
using heuristics (rules of thumb) to
make decisions faster. If we conducted
a thorough analysis every time we
made a decision, our brains would be
overwhelmed. Modern brain science
calls this the Affect Network. It activates
physical
responses
to
common,
previously experienced patterns of
incoming stimuli. The emotions that
result from those "good" or "bad"
experiences are much faster than
conscious thought. They apply meaning
to that stimuli, which helps us determine

whether it will ultimately make us
feel good or bad. These hunches are
shortcuts based on a database of good
and bad experiences over a long period
of time. They play an important role in
our decision-making if we learn when
to trust them and when to re-examine
them. Fit leaders need to stop and
listen to warnings from a variety of
perspectives instead of moving forward
impulsively on a hunch alone.

FOCUS WHERE YOU
HAVE THE MOST
CONTROL: OVER
YOURSELF AND THE
WAY YOU LEAD.

4 | Rational Fitness
Meta-Strength: Wisdom (Head)
Character Strengths: Perspective,
Focus, Discipline
When we use our minds to focus on
goals and use rational judgment to
weigh the long-term consequences of
our impulses, we are selective about
how to use our limited resources. Since
we cannot possibly solve every problem
in the world, we must be wise enough
to focus our resources on those we most
need to accomplish. In brain science,
this complex self-regulation process
is referred to the Control Network. It
enables us to align our behaviors with
our most important goals and hold
conceptual goals in our minds while
organizing and completing tasks that
require in-the-moment concentration.
Developing mindfulness practices
helps us accomplish goals through
mental discipline. As we focus on the
task at hand, we can simultaneously
and selectively search for new stimuli
and decide whether it's useful to the
overarching goal and should be quickly
incorporated. As leaders, this selectivity
allows us to delay gratification in service
of a longer-term outcome.

The Ultimate Character
Strength Challenge
These four dimensions of character
fitness enable human creativity,
accomplishment and sustainability over
time. Without balanced strength in each
of them, we fall prey to our ego-fears
about loss of approval, status, power and

recognition. This wastes precious time
that could be applied to our goals. Being
fit leaders requires each of us to commit
to building our own character strengths
so that we can evolve and adapt to our
ever-changing environment.
Remember that whenever we are finding
fault in others, we are likely avoiding our
own shortcomings. Instead, focus where
you have the most control: over yourself
and the way you lead. Everything you
do to become more fit and agile in each
dimension of character fitness shapes
your team's climate and ultimately
determines whether your team will
thrive and flourish.
Pam Boney is a team agility coach, a tech
startup founder and business strategist with
over 36 years of professional experience in
leading, advising and coaching individuals
and teams to achieve exceptional
performance. She is the designer and author
of the Tilt 365 framework. Email Pam.

T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

| 41

http://www.tilt365.com https://www.trainingindustry.com/magazine

Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2019