Negotiating Tip #26:
Learn Resilience from Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard
The Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard was the most valuable player in the 2019 NBA finals, but a year ago he missed almost the entire season due to injuries. When he joined the Raptors in 2018, they started him on “load management” which the International Olympic Committee explains is using “loads,” such as training and competition, to enhance performance while reducing the risk of injury.
We negotiators are not elite athletes facing strenuous physical loads, but we do face serious psychological loads, like stress, that can interfere with our performance. As Jamie Gruman, professor of organizational behavior at the University of Guelph, explains, “it is precisely when our loads are most intense and our stressors most extreme that we are least likely to participate in activities that allow us to recover. This is known as the recovery paradox.” what-the-toronto-raptors-have-taught-us-about-resilience
To be at your best as a negotiator, you have to learn to recognize when you are experiencing stress and take steps to combat it. For most people, the most effective ways to do that are to get lots of quality sleep, to engage in physical activity, and to enjoy leisure time. The last is really hard. Gruman warns, “when we experience stressful job situations that involve deadline pressures, conflict at the office or emotional demands, we are less likely to psychologically detach in our leisure time.”
We would all do well to follow Kawhi Leonard’s example: use load management to recover successfully from the numerous and persistent demands we face on a daily basis.