3 Tips to Turn Around Setbacks and Regain Your Leadership Momentum

It’s the end of January. How are you doing at staying on track with new habits for the new year?

Even if you don’t set New Year’s resolutions, what area of your leadership are you working to be more effective and impactful with your team?

Maybe you’re committed to giving clearer feedback.
Perhaps you’re trying to be less reactive in meetings.
Or maybe you’re working on listening more and talking less.

Life constantly challenges us and nudges us a little off-center as we stretch ourselves. 

It’s normal to have days when you nail it and days when you fall flat. The question isn’t whether you’ll stumble. The question is how quickly you can get back up.

The Moments That Knock Us Off Course

We all have those moments. You snap at a team member who didn’t deserve it. 

You avoid a conversation you know needs to happen. 

You make a commitment you can’t keep because you were trying to people-please. 

You react defensively when someone questions your decision.

These moments happen to every leader. They’re not signs of failure, they’re part of the messy reality of growth.

What separates effective leaders from everyone else is that they don’t stay stuck in those moments. They recover quickly and move forward.

Psychiatrist Phil Stutz has a brilliant way of describing this recovery process. He says the real skill isn’t avoiding setbacks altogether, that’s impossible. The real skill is in how fast you can bounce back and reconnect with the leader you want to be.

I call these moments “leadership disconnects”, those times when you’re not showing up as your best self. And learning to recover from them quickly is one of the most practical skills you can develop.

3 Tips to Bounce Back Faster When You Get Knocked Off Course

1. Expect That You’ll Get Knocked Off Center

Setbacks are actually part of growth.

When you expect challenges, you don’t spiral into shame or self-criticism when they happen. You simply acknowledge, “Okay, I got knocked off balance. That’s normal. Now, how do I get back on track?”

This mindset shift alone can shift everything. Instead of thinking, “I’m terrible at this. I’ll never get better,” you think, “This is exactly what growth looks like. What’s my next move?”

The leaders I coach who make the most progress are the ones who stop being surprised when they stumble and start getting curious about how to recover.

2. Catch Yourself in the Moment

Most leaders don’t even realize they’ve been knocked off course until hours or days later when the damage is done. By then, the tense conversation has already happened, the email has been sent, or the trust has been broken.

The key is awareness. Start paying attention to the moment you lose your center. What does that feel like in your body? Maybe your jaw tightens. Your breath gets shallow. You feel heat rising in your chest. Your thoughts start racing.

When you can catch yourself in real-time… “Wait, I’m about to say something I’ll regret”, you give yourself the power to choose differently. You create a small pause where transformation becomes possible.

That pause is where your leadership power lives.

3. Focus on Speed of Recovery, Not Perfection

Instead of beating yourself up for getting off track, make it a challenge to see how fast you can get back on.

You snap at someone in a meeting? Acknowledge it immediately: “That came out harsher than I intended. Let me rephrase.”

You avoid a tough conversation on Monday? Schedule it for Tuesday and show up prepared.

You lose your cool when a project goes sideways? Take three deep breaths, reconnect to what matters most, and respond from that grounded place.

The faster you recover, the less damage is done and the stronger your leadership resilience becomes. You’re literally training yourself to recover.

Building Confidence Through Recovery

True leadership confidence doesn’t come from the belief that everything will always go smoothly. That’s unrealistic, and it sets you up for disappointment.

Real confidence comes from knowing that when challenges arise, and they will, you have what it takes to handle them. You trust yourself to recover, recalibrate, and keep moving forward.

As leaders, we must be willing to navigate uncertainty and tolerate setbacks to reach our full potential. The pattern becomes familiar: stumble, recover, stumble, recover, stumble, recover.

And each time you recover a little faster, you build a little more trust in yourself.

Your Leadership Challenge for This Week

The next time you get knocked off your center, instead of judging yourself, get curious:

• What knocked me off balance?
• How quickly did I notice?
• What helped me get back on track?

The more you practice noticing and recovering, the faster you’ll bounce back. And the faster you bounce back, the more confident you’ll become in your ability to lead through anything.

Want to strengthen your ability to navigate uncertainty as a leader?

I’m excited to be part of the upcoming Navigating Uncertainty Summit, where leaders come together to learn practical strategies for staying grounded, making clear decisions, and leading with confidence even when the path ahead isn’t clear. 

Click here to learn more and register.

Struggling with a leadership challenge you can’t seem to shake? Schedule a complimentary consultation to discover how coaching can help you turn things around and create breakthrough results with your team.