Harlina Sodhi

Self care is paramount. Unless the body, mind and soul are nourished, progress is impossible and breakdowns imminent. Maintain a balance between your ‘being’ , ‘thinking’, ‘feeling’ and ‘doing’. Set boundaries and stay true to them.

In situations such as these, having a Coach is extremely helpful. Their only bias is YOU! The coach will be your patient listening post (thereby allowing you to empty out emotions which obstruct clear vision), will share their perspective, (thereby letting you see the situation at wider angle), provoke your thinking (which will give you breakthroughs) on how to manage stress better. Also important to remember to stay focused on the problem or issue, rather on person or personalities when working with C suite.

What I would add is the importance of having a project plan or working using Six Sigma methodology. These are designed to keep project from derailing and/or miscommunications from happening. Critical to have a cadence of weekly/monthly/quarterly reporting so doubts are cleared faster, goals and tasks realigned…Also helps to get project regularly validated by the sponsor as in today’s time, often business priorities change which could mean pivoting on some of project tasks.

Agree 💯% Different platforms provide different opportunities to build one’s network. Leverage those that are most relevant for you. This is what I do: 1. Use LinkedIn for corporate connections, share learnings from my stories & engage with my industry professionals 2. Spend time on Facebook to learn from Marketplace (e-commerce) platform and engage with my neighbourhood communities 3. Use Twitter to share short bursts of insights with professionals from my domain 4. Use Instagram to show ‘who am I as a person’. Humanising self Key is to spend at least few minutes on platforms each day, be consistent & lean in!

Few other things to consider are: 1. Are you able to not only give but also ask from your network? Give others an opportunity to support you. 2. Plan for the ways in you will add value to your networks (engaging with their social posts, giving them recommendations and references, offering them seats/passes for events…) 3. Remember the “Law of Reciprocity” works silently and steadily as you network.

In addition think through an action oriented game plan that will lend credence to your focus on being ‘resilient ’. Start with being authentic and honest with self, reach out to your sounding boards, share what is no longer working for you, accept fresher perspectives and flex to embrace the new reality.