Ilkka Rajala in a dark suit
Ilkka Rajala
FIEN

Mental resilience training

Cool Head when the ground isn't stable.

Uncertainty doesn't weigh on people as much as what they think about it. Resilience starts when a person notices their thoughts as thoughts. Then they can choose whether to act on them.

Ask about available datesFive formats

Where we are

Stress doesn't end when the situation ends.

Redundancy negotiations, a tightening economy and the security situation weigh on people even when nothing has happened yet. The mind rehearses the worst in advance, and the body reacts as if the threat were already here.

Stress takes away thinking exactly when it is needed. Under pressure judgement narrows, and decisions come from reflex.

The cost also shows in the numbers. In Finland, sick leave due to mental health costs more than a billion euros a year in lost work. Long absences due to anxiety and stress disorders kept increasing in 2025.

Sources: Kela 2024. Kela 2026.

In the middle of a workday. In the middle of a crisis.

Cool Head is practical training. Soldiers and elite athletes use the same skills, and you can use them in the middle of a meeting.

If someone's situation needs treatment, I refer them to occupational healthcare. Coaching is not a substitute for treatment.

Five skills

Five skills for keeping a cool head.

In a keynote each skill is tried once. In the training day and the programmes they are repeated until they work even when your heart rate is up. Services for managers and leadership teams also cover leading through uncertainty.

  1. Notice a thought as a thought

    When you notice that you are thinking, the thought becomes an event in your mind and no longer feels like the truth. Its grip loosens. This skill is called metacognition.

  2. Stress comes from thinking

    The mind triggers a stress response from a thought alone. The body also reacts to a remembered or imagined threat. You learn to release stress from the body in a few minutes.

    Research. Worry and rumination keep the body in a state of stress even when the threat is gone. (Brosschot et al. 2006)

  3. When the mind rehearses the worst

    Worrying feels like preparing, but it repeats the same picture without a solution. You learn to break the loop so that worry doesn't take your sleep or your workday.

  4. Past and future

    Everyone places the past and the future somewhere in their mind. Under pressure the future seems to come too close, and the past won't let go. When you learn to move them, the same situation feels lighter.

  5. A clear head for decisions

    Under pressure the brain shifts from judgement to reflex. You learn to bring judgement back in a few seconds and make a decision that still holds tomorrow.

    Research. Even mild stress that a person feels unable to control quickly impairs the prefrontal cortex: working memory, flexibility and judgement. (Arnsten 2009)

For managers and leadership teams

Leading through uncertainty

When an organisation is living with uncertainty, people look to their manager and the leadership. Their calm spreads to others. That is why managers and leaders practise the skills themselves first and then learn to talk about uncertainty honestly.

Research. When pressure was practised in advance, performance anxiety decreased and performance under pressure improved. The result is based on a combined analysis of 37 studies. (Saunders et al. 1996)

Ilkka Rajala in a blue blazer, gesturing with his hands

Why me

I teach what you need under pressure.

I have coached special forces soldiers from several countries, elite athletes and leaders to perform under pressure. The same skills work in the office when redundancy negotiations are under way or the situation changes fast.

I have taught thinking skills for more than 20 years and trained more than 50,000 people. Under pressure the most important skill is noticing your own thinking in time.

A heavy subject can be talked about in a way that keeps people listening and willing to try. I use a lot of examples and humour.

From a keynote to your own trainer.

Five formats, the same content. You can start small and expand once you see results.

0145–60 min

Keynote

For All staff, a kickoff or a staff day
Price from €2,500 + VAT

Uncertainty follows people home and into their sleep.

In the keynote I go through five skills that keep your head cool even when the ground isn't stable. They work in the middle of a workday.

The audience tries the effects for themselves in the room. At the start everyone thinks for a moment about an email they don't want to open on Monday, and notices a reaction in their body even though nothing happened.

  • Notice a thought as a thought: how a thought stops feeling like the truth.
  • Stress comes from thinking: how to release stress from the body in a few minutes.
  • When the mind rehearses the worst: how to break the worry loop.
  • Past and future: why the same situation feels heavier on one day than on another.
  • A clear head for decisions: how to bring judgement back in the middle of pressure.

At the end everyone picks one skill for the following week. Also available as a 30 or 90 minute version.

021 day

Training day

For A team or a unit
Price from €5,700 + VAT

When the environment is uncertain, people spend their energy on things that haven't happened yet.

In the training day each skill is tried on your own situation before moving on to the next. By the end of the day everyone has their own plan to use the following Monday.

  • Morning: a thought as a thought, and releasing stress from the body.
  • Afternoon: the worry loop, past and future, and a short pressure exercise done twice.
  • An anonymous survey before and after.
  • A reminder two weeks later and a five-minute audio exercise I recorded myself.
038 weeks

Manager programme

For Managers
Price from €14,800 + VAT

In an uncertain situation the team reads from the manager's face and tone of voice whether there is reason to worry.

In the programme managers take on the five skills themselves and learn to bring them to their teams. Results are measured before and after.

Leading through uncertainty

Managers learn to talk about uncertainty honestly: what we know, what we don't know and when we'll tell you more.

  • Baseline survey for the participants and their teams.
  • Week 1, half a day: a thought as a thought, and releasing stress. Your own pressure profile: what drains your energy and how the team sees it.
  • Weeks 2–3: five minutes of breathing a day and your own worry time.
  • Week 4, three hours: the worry loop, past and future, and how to talk to the team about uncertainty.
  • Weeks 5–6: managers run a 30-minute session for their teams, using a ready-made outline.
  • Week 8, three hours: a clear head for decisions as a pressure exercise, a debrief, the final survey and a report for the leadership.

I can also offer participants personal sparring.

04Half a day

Leadership team pressure exercise

For A leadership team or crisis team
Price from €6,500 + VAT

A contingency plan tells you what should be done. It doesn't tell you how the leadership team thinks when information is incomplete, the phone keeps ringing and social media is on fire.

In the exercise the leadership team faces a situation tailored to your risks twice: first as it is, and then with the skills they have learned.

  • Beforehand: the situation is tailored to your risks, for example a long power cut, a cyber attack or the loss of a key person.
  • Round 1: the situation unfolds in real time and takes a new turn every five minutes. An observer records how decisions are made.
  • Skills: breathing out and asking questions before deciding, and clear roles.
  • Round 2: the same situation, made harder.
  • You get an observation report and a list of changes, which also serve as preparedness documentation.

Works well as an annual exercise. Comparing the reports shows the progress.

052 days + materials

Trainer licence

For Large organisations with their own training or HR team
Price €17,500 + VAT

When the goal is to reach all staff, your own trainer is often the most sensible route.

I train your trainers to teach the five skills in their own voice and on their own schedule.

  • Two-day trainer training: the five skills, the exercises and how to run the demonstrations.
  • Materials: slides, exercises, a team discussion outline and a survey.
  • The price includes a licence for the whole organisation and training for one trainer. You can bring more trainers to the same training for €1,500 + VAT per person.
  • The licence covers training your own staff.

Also works as a next step once the manager programme has shown results.

Preparedness

Practice is part of preparedness.

In Finland, organisations that provide critical services must describe staff training and competence requirements in their resilience plan (Act 310/2025, implementing the EU CER Directive).

The leadership team pressure exercise and the manager programme produce a written report. It can be part of this documentation and shows how preparedness develops from year to year.

Source: Finnish Act on the Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Improving Resilience 310/2025.

Measurement

Change is measured.

In the manager programme the same survey is done at the start and at the end. We ask, for example, whether people noticed their thoughts as thoughts when pressure rose, whether they could stop worrying when they decided to, and on how many nights worry disturbed their sleep.

The organisation can also compare the number of short sick leaves for six months before and after.

Guarantee

If you're not satisfied, I won't invoice you. That is how I have always worked.

Ask about available dates. I'll tell you where to start.

Ask about available dates ilkka@ilkkarajala.fi +358 40 508 5615