Who inspires you to be the best version of yourself?

In the daily pressure cooker of leadership, Anchor Relationships™ act like a superpower. These relationships provide the emotional fuel, mental clarity, and stability to thrive in challenging times.

BOOST WILLPOWER WITH FRIEND-POWER

The concept of willpower makes us think that courage is a solo sport. However, Anchor Relationships teach us to draw strength from our most reliable relationships. Here are five resilience-boosting attributes of Anchors:

  1. Stress Reduction: Strong emotional connections serve as buffers against workplace stress, helping leaders maintain composure and emotional balance (Cohen & Wills, 1985).

  2. High Performance: Trusting relationships enhance problem-solving capabilities by providing diverse perspectives and emotional regulation strategies that prevent isolation and tunnel vision (Thoits, 1995).

  3. Improved Decision-Making: Meaningful bonds protect cognitive function by reducing stress-induced impairment, enabling leaders to make more thoughtful decisions under pressure (Kessler et al., 1985).

  4. Increased Confidence: Supportive relationships boost confidence and self-belief, helping leaders persevere through obstacles with renewed determination and resilience (Bandura, 1997).

  5. Reduced Burnout Risk: Quality relationships provide essential respite and recovery opportunities, preventing burnout by offering spaces for authentic connection and renewal (Maslach & Leiter, 2016).

The people we surround ourselves with have a profound impact on our personal growth. Learn to fuel your self-confidence, courage, and integrity by becoming more intentional about your relationships - at work and at home.

HOW ANCHORS FOSTER RESILIENCE

In interviews, leaders shared how they navigated particularly challenging moments in their careers with the perseverance, confidence, and courage they found within themselves thanks to their Anchors’ influence. Anchors provide a wellspring of resilience and self-efficacy that elevates each other’s performance and self-confidence during times of stress. These relationships catalyze inner strength so that leaders can make choices that reflect their virtues—despite external pressures to conform.

Below are comments from leaders about how an Anchor influenced them at a difficult time. These candid comments shed insight into the uniquely positive influence an Anchor can have on another person.

  • “Early in my career, I was doing something I loved but working with someone who wasn’t honest and was taking a lot of short-cuts. I was worried that if I pushed back, things would fall apart. I found my voice with the support of my Anchor who helped me realize that I don’t have to endure indignity. I can draw hard lines, and I can handle it.”

  • “[There was a time when I was leading organizational change and a lot of people were angry about the changes I was enacting.] My Anchor said to me: ‘you cannot take this so personally.’ That was part of the issue. She also helped me capitalize on an opportunity for transformative conversation with the protagonist and talk about the issue that we need to solve together. I might have left the job without a helping hand.”

  • “My Anchor provided clarity for me during a time when I was struggling. She gave me an a-hah moment that was like ‘yes,’ and then I realized how I wanted to handle that situation.”

  • “[I dealt with a long and painful work conflict for a number of years.] My Anchor helped me examine the issue and separate out what was me and what was real, or to see the difference between what was subjective and what was objective. Then I could deal with the emotions more consciously.”

  • “[At one point in my career, I had to leave a workplace that had become toxic.] I was internalizing the stress and developing extreme apathy. My Anchor gave me strength and support to get some daylight between myself and my job. He gave me the freedom to heal, to get perspective from a traumatizing experience. I ended up being a healthier person and was able to grow from this experience. Now I have a very different way of showing up for work.”

BUILD TEAMS FUELD BY TRUSTING RELATIONSHIPS

While leaders often talk about trust, the pathway for forging it isn't always clear. Trust is fostered at the interpersonal level, and then expands out to networks. When relationships are formed and nurtured with a shared commitment to each other’s growth and wellbeing, people have a mutual regard that extends beyond transactional benefit. These are the building blocks of trust. Without them, trust remains a superficial aspiration.

Because the Anchor Relationships framework facilitates a conscious shift in how people relate to and support each other, leaders and teams unlock their potential to rise to the most honest and generative versions of themselves—transforming work into a space for both achievement and personal growth.