We’re told we make teams stronger than they’ve ever been.

We’re told by teams that they’re more honest and respectful than they’ve ever been.

We’re told teams have more honest, clear + assertive communication after our programs. 

So how are we able to help teams manage conflict and communication?

What we actually do is, get to the heart of what is driving people in any of these situations. Because the reality is, before anyone is in the meeting room, the thing that’s most likely to influence how they turn up, started hours before.

We call it the mental run up.

From the moment they wake up, their brain’s negativity bias has them practicing a worst-case scenario over and over again which means when they turn up, they’re closed off, withdrawn, not listening, and unable to hear what you have to say.

They’ve already decided how the meeting is going to go. And no one wins.

We’ve all got these mental run ups. They’re like automatic thought patterns. Some we’re not aware of, and some are easy to brush off as I’m an overthinker. But they’re a constant drain and distraction, pulling you further away from the impact you actually want to have. They’re happening behind the scenes without us even realising it, derailing your best intentions. 

No one wants to turn up to a meeting feeling closed off, withdrawn and defensive. But your mental run up takes away your choice. 

When we uncover them, we’re in a position to leverage them from overthinking and  defensiveness to feeling focussed and open to problem solving.

So if mental run ups play such a big role in team culture, why aren’t leaders talking about it?

We’re sold technical training as a solution to everything. But technical tips and tricks are just a band aid effect. They’ll only take you so far. 

On a quick Google search, one of the top conflict management tips is active listening, which we agree is important, but if you’ve spent your entire morning in a negative mental run up, active listening becomes more of a pipe dream when you’re already going in defensive and withdrawn.

As a team, when you focus on disrupting your automatic mental run ups, you don’t just learn those top conflict management tips, you learn how to hold each other steady as a team, to build trust, and you’re  open to solving problems you’ve never been able to solve before. 

This isn’t about learning one skill, it’s about leveraging neuroscience.

At Top Five, our programs cover how to take your mindset, levels of resilience, and ways of thinking to build more connected cultures, raise the bar, see problems differently and bring more value everyday, even during uncertain times. 

Click here to book a call in my diary.

Excited regards,

Clare Desira
CEO, Top Five Movement

:: 2022 TOP MENTAL FITNESS, LEADERSHIP + CULTURE SPEAKER ::
:: 2020 – 2021 INTERNATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR ::
:: NUMBER 1 CHARTING LEADERSHIP PODCAST – LEADING GENEROUS TEAMS ::