Allison Graham

In our fast-evolving business landscape, conventional stress management methods often fall short. The evidence is clear: mounting stress levels, rising burnout rates, and an alarming number of stress-induced absences are monopolizing headlines despite unprecedented access to techniques to foster well-being.

Throughout this conference, as we immerse ourselves in new learning and networking, it can feel like a refreshing escape from the daily work pressures, but soon enough, you’ll be back to the grind. During this keynote, Allison Graham will address common misconceptions about the best ways to navigate stress and introduce practical approaches that focus not on managing stress, but on stopping the stress reaction in the first place so that there is less stress to manage.

That will free capacity each day to focus on what’s important.

This session is not merely informative; it offers a proactive approach to balancing work pressures with overall well-being. Gain a clearer understanding of stress and equip yourself with strategies that prioritize both performance and well-being.

Allison will provide clear, actionable strategies that can be applied immediately, and will better prepare you to handle work-related challenges and to effectively integrate the insights gained from this conference. Additionally, you’ll be able to maintain and grow the professional relationships you establish throughout the conference.

Takeaways:

• Understand why delegating tasks, other productivity hacks, and healthy lifestyle choices are not complete answers to create breathing room in your days and discover a meaningful alternative.
• Be able to leverage empowering stress, better ride the waves of survival stress and stop creating destructive, overwhelming stress.
• Discover and easily be able to apply three simple techniques to neutralize destructive stress when it happens.

Traditional stress management strategies are failing us. If they weren’t, we wouldn’t be witnessing escalating stress levels, skyrocketing burnout rates, and unprecedented stress-related leaves of absence.

As this conference nears its conclusion, a sense of apprehension may be settling in as you contemplate returning to the demanding rhythms of your role at work. After basking in the camaraderie and enriching learning experience of these past few days, the grind of the day-to-day may seem overwhelming.

In our closing keynote, Allison Graham will unveil three myths surrounding stress and present three fresh approaches to not just manage stress – but rather to stop creating so much of it in the first place. Be inspired as Allison redefines stress management and shares insights that you can put into practice instantly.

Equipped with these transformative strategies, you’ll not only feel prepared to handle work-related stressors, but you’ll also have the bandwidth left to implement the exciting ideas you’ve collected during the conference. And yes, you’ll also find time to sustain and develop the valuable connections you’ve made here.

This isn’t just a speech; it’s your springboard toward a less stressed, more balanced, and productive future. Don’t miss this chance to transform the illusion of stress into a reality of thriving and resilience.

Takeaways:

• Understand why delegating tasks, other productivity hacks, and healthy lifestyle choices are not complete answers to create breathing room in your days and discover a meaningful alternative.
• Be able to leverage empowering stress, better ride the waves of survival stress and stop creating destructive, overwhelming stress.
• Discover and easily be able to apply three simple techniques to neutralize destructive stress when it happens.

It’s possible to reignite your passion for your work or to help others to do the same even when you have too much to do, too little time and too few resources!

Even when engulfed in the whirlwind of endless tasks, shrinking time, and scarce resources, it’s possible to rekindle your passion for work and life! As a professional in a high-pressure industry, your daily life is a balancing act on a tightrope.

When your plate perpetually overflows, the urge to flee the relentless pace and take a breather can be overpowering. Yet, you know the work waits for no one – and you’re passionate about your role in the industry!

If this resonates with you, remember that it is possible to do it all, without feeling like you’re suffocating on the stress of the daily grind of success. Don’t let destructive stress to chip away at your daily productivity, compromise your happiness, or threaten your emotional and mental well-being.

In this immersive session, Allison will arm you with innovative strategies to recalibrate your perspective of the surrounding whirlwind. By doing so, not only will you amplify your productivity and bolster your organization’s bottom line, but you’ll also safeguard your most valuable asset – your well-being.

It’s not about quitting when things get tough; it’s about learning to dance in the storm. Let Allison guide you in this transformative journey. The solution isn’t to escape the hustle; it’s to learn to master it.

Learning Outcomes:

• Why you don’t need to do less to feel better, but rather how to shift your relationship with stress and resilience to create mental and emotional space in your days.
• A clear path to minimize destructive stress so the day’s activities do not steal so much of your available resources.
• A strategy to address different challenges that arise each day in a way that gives you a sense of control even in times that are out of your control.

Honoring the Human Experience While Inspiring Top Performance from You and Your Team

World events have had an unprecedented emotional toll on even the most accomplished individuals. This in turn has impacted team dynamics and left many leaders feeling responsible for propping up the mood of everyone else – while neglecting their own needs. People are tired of having to be resilient. I call the exhaustion from having to be resilient ‘Coping Fatigue.’

While nothing can be done to fix the overall situation and intensity of challenges one faces, a fresh perspective and better problem-solving strategies and a fresh approach to micro-resilience can make the experience better.

Takeaways:

• Recognize how overwhelming stress is created and know how to stop it for you and your team.
• Quickly identify different types of challenges and know how to deal with each so that each problem drains less of your available resources.
• Strategies to create mental and emotional space in your days even when it feels like you’re pulled in a million directions.
• The various ways people respond to challenges and how to inspire optimal resilience and problem-solving.

Moving Beyond Solution-First Thinking to Solve Problems Better and Faster!

Each day we face a series of tasks, obstacles and adversities that need to be addressed. We’re often taught to focus on finding solutions, but after coaching and consulting for the last 17 years and being obsessed with personal development, Allison has seen how solution-first thinking can backfire when it comes to problems related to the human experience.

When challenges arise, if they aren’t approached in an effective way, destructive stress and further complications can follow. Often people are left repeating the same unhealthy patterns of behaviour.  Using my problem-solving framework, participants will uncover a systematic way to approach daily challenges – whether they are related to their own personal development or operational issues at work. By solving problems more effectively, they will free their personal capacity to be more creative, innovative, and engaged in their work.

Takeaways:

• Why solution-first thinking often backfires and how to quickly find solutions that will stick.
• Allison Graham’s Problem-Solving Framework and be able to apply it to your personal circumstances immediately to minimize the impact of challenges.
• A common language to effectively identify and address different types of challenges.

Creating Profitable and Meaningful Human-to-Human Connections Even When You’re Too Busy to Connect or Loathe Networking

The greatest asset in your professional life is your network. Connecting and building meaningful professional relationships with people from various sectors and within your organization who have access to different resources and wisdom, can be a challenging obstacle.

Overloaded task lists, heavy work demands, and comfort zones can mean that relationship development is reactive at best, and, at worst, non-existent. With the right tools, you can overcome this challenge in a fraction of the time it would take others.

Allison Graham will reveal the insights that she learned when she overcame her fear of networking to build confidence. She learned exactly what the most connected people do to evolve and solidify profitable relationships that lead to opportunities, instead of just being busy. You will learn what others have done to inspire trust while moving a connection from being just known to a loyal professional relationship.

Takeaways:

• The building your network to bolster your career and making the choice to coast or soar.
• The four motivations that create relationship momentum so that you can identify the easiest way to create meaningful connections with contacts.
• The four moments in a relationship that will have the biggest influence on trust.
• Simple tips to move beyond boring small talk to create deeper, more authentic interactions and more memorable conversations, even if you don’t love networking.
• How to find the best opportunities to network in order to expand your professional circles and debunk the myth that you’re too busy to network effectively.