Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor. I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, where we help leaders activate performance and engagement without burning out.

Whether it's a boot camp, a keynote, or a pulse check, we help teams achieve meaningful change.

If that's what your organization needs, let's talk.

So I've been reflecting on something that comes up

in almost every conversation I have with leaders these days. It's this question of,

what do I do when the challenge my team is facing feels too big for me to solve? And I get it.

Sometimes, often really, the problems, whether it's lack of resources, frustrating processes, or tensions with

other teams, they can just feel out of our hands. But here's what I tell them. You don't need to fix

the whole system to make a difference. In fact, sometimes the most impactful thing you can do

is make things just a little bit easier. Small intentional changes can

create the kind of relief that boosts morale, that strengthens relationships and that moves your

team closer to thriving, even if the bigger challenge still exists. This mindset shift sits at the

foundation of the activation boot camps I run.

These boot camps are designed for cohorts of leaders within organizations that are looking to

gain the skills, the tools, the practice, and the confidence to find and resolve the obstacles

holding their teams back from their best performance.

And just convincing leaders that a low-stakes first step can have a meaningful impact

feels like a big win sometimes. It's the place where momentum begins. Instead of spinning on how

to solve the unsolvable, we focus on first steps. I recently wrapped in Activation Boot Camp

where I was pretty delighted by the actions I saw taken,

and I'd love to share some of them with you today, because maybe there's a mindset shift

you need to make, and this can help you make it. So here are five big challenges that were

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