> KEEP YOUR COOL


Powell had a choice: to follow the directive … or read between the lines.


The Decision: Lead with Empathy Powell trusted her instincts, which ulti- mately told her that the mother wanted to see her daughter happy. “I just know a wedding is the most


special day to start a new beginning and chapter in life — you want everything to be perfect,” Powell says. “So to have that one big choice taken away from the bride, that broke my heart.” Drawing on years of experience


— including a previous career as a para- medic firefighter — Powell relied on her ability to read emotional cues. “You learn to read people and sense


their emotions,” she says. “You can see it in their eyes, in their body language, head down, arms wide open. There are emotional cues.” Weddings, like emergencies, are


emotionally charged — and Powell sensed this wasn’t just about the style of the bouquet. On the wedding day, Powell says the


bride was ecstatic with the bouquet. And the mother? “I don’t think mom remembered,”


Powell says. “When I delivered the bouquet, she didn’t seem to think any- thing was wrong. She was just happy to see her daughter getting married.”


Why It Works While acknowledging the risk, Bruce says empathy is where emotional intel- ligence becomes powerful. “If we can extend compassion, we


will be able to solve a problem far more effectively,” she says. “Recognizing human emotions is the hardest thing we do. Holding space for somebody is an incredibly powerful way that we practice emotional intelligence.” With weddings, or any event,


navigating conflicting visions is about holding space for a disagreement and then finding a solution where all parties can see themselves. The dynamic between a mother


and bride can be particularly fraught because while they are arguing about bouquet styles or ribbon colors, the heart of the argument likely lies in what isn’t being said. “No mother of the bride comes and says, ‘I don’t want to lose my daughter,’” Bruce says. “They just say, ‘I hate the ribbon color.’”


The Setup Standoff When the crew at Botamer Florist & More in Ohio arrived at the venue with everything in tow for the evening event, they began unloading the cen- terpieces onto a large staging table — right on schedule.


But the room wasn’t ready. Tables


weren’t arranged properly. There were no linens. The venue’s setup crew was running late, and they didn’t want help, specifically asking the florists not to touch anything. With the clock ticking and labor


costs rising, they had a choice: push, wait — or walk away.


The Decision: Self-Regulate Under Pressure “We left,” recalls owner Connie Butler. “Sometimes it’s better to walk away than stand around frustrated. What else could we do?” It’s a lesson that Kaylee Stimmel, the


store’s manager and wedding and event coordinator, continues to emulate when timelines unravel. While she tries her best to avoid


those scenarios — checking the timeline with the wedding coordinator — time- lines can go wrong, and that’s when she remembers to step away. “We’re there to do the job,” she


explains. “I try not to get worked up, so I breathe. If you come up as relaxed, then the rest of the team will see you aren’t worked up and it creates a much easier environment to navigate.”


Why It Works “I’m a big fan of the pause,” Bruce says. “I applaud them for actually stepping out.” This was a clear example of self-reg-


ulation, she explains. While walking away seemed best in this scenario, Bruce says sometimes a pause can be as short as taking 30 seconds to a minute to collect your thoughts and emotions before responding. “If we just give time to pause and


breathe and activate the part of the brain that is engaged, it gives us time to think and be considerate and respond appro- priately to a situation,” she says, noting that we don’t always realize how long 60 seconds can be. Immediacy fuels panic, she says. A


POISED UNDER PRESSURE Kaylee Stimmel (left), store manager and wedding and event coordinator and designer, alongside Connie Butler, president and owner of Botamer Florist, model steady, solutions-focused leadership under pressure.


36 FLORAL MANAGEMENT | May/June 2026 | WWW.SAFNOW.ORG


time crunch exacerbates that problem when we see a concern that must be addressed quickly. By taking an inten- tional pause, it allows the reaction to consider the other people involved, to consider more fully what’s happening. “The EI in this scenario is recogniz- ing that they were not needed in the


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