I just read about Runner's World's 9-step plan for returning to running after injury, and it serves as a good reminder. Last year, I spent weeks sidelined with foot pain I stubbornly ignored until I couldn't. Fortunately, it was only a little plantar fasciitis, but still warranted the same care.
The parallels to leading SE teams through setbacks are uncanny. When you're injured as a runner, every instinct screams to jump back to your old pace immediately. You remember being able to run 8-minute miles, so why start with 10-minute recovery runs? It feels like going backward.
I see the same pattern when my SE teams face major deal losses or technical failures. The knee-jerk reaction is to immediately ramp back up to full capacity—more demos, longer POCs, bigger technical commitments. We want to prove we're "back" by doing more than before.
But here's what that injury taught me: recovery isn't just about physical healing, it's about rebuilding confidence systematically. Those slow recovery runs weren't punishment—they were building the foundation for sustainable performance.
When my team lost that $500K deal because we over-engineered the technical approach, I didn't push them into three back-to-back complex POCs the following week. Instead, we started with smaller, simpler technical wins. We rebuilt our confidence in our ability to match solutions to actual customer problems, not just showcase our platform's capabilities.
The hardest part about leading through setbacks isn't the technical recovery—it's managing the psychological pressure to "get back to normal" immediately. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your team is to intentionally slow down the pace of recovery.
What does sustainable recovery look like in your team when things go sideways?