Resilient Leadership in Troubling Times

From the East Coast to the West Coast, we have witnessed unusual climate phenomena on top of a continuing, explosive pandemic, racial injustices, and a Presidential election.  It’s intense, to say the least! Events like these can evoke a perfect storm of uncertainty, lack of control, stress, and anxiety.

For leaders, handling crises certainly comes with the territory. But how well do you manage when crises converge? And how can you sustain energy and build resilience in yourself and others in the midst of such trying times?

What is resilience?

Resilience is often thought of as the ability to meet adversity, to adapt, and to bounce back. Ideally, though, you don’t just return to the status quo, you learn from hardships and bounce forward.¹

Genetics plays a small role in how resilient you are. Other factors, such as your personal history and environment also factor in. Some may have gotten a head start—with strong family ties or mentors or an optimistic birthright, but many strengthen resilience through adversity.¹

That might be the best news of all right now: Resilience is a set of skills you can learn—and they’re often forged in the fires of challenging experiences.¹ Born to Morman survivalists, Tara Westover didn’t set foot in a classroom until age 17—and yet she went on to gain a PhD and to author a bestselling memoir, Educated.² She developed what the 1950s American psychologist, Julian Rotter, called an “internal locus of control.”

What are the traits of a resilient leader?

Zenger Folkman collected data on more than 500 leaders and found that the most resilient leaders were viewed as the most effective leaders.³ Traits that stood out were:

• Communicating well, especially about intentions
• Developing others
• Staying open to feedback
• Building positive, trusting relationships
• Being a bold and decisive change maker

Resilient leaders also tend to see failures as temporary setbacks, search for opportunity in the midst of turmoil, and don’t let ambiguity immerse them in psychological quicksand.³

How can you foster resilience in your team and yourself?

It’s essential to cultivate resilient traits in yourself before you can be successful cultivating these traits in others. Here’s a sample of practices that may help:

• First, don’t forget the essentials: Get enough exercise, rest, relaxation, and healthy food.
• Take one thing at a time—not the easiest thing in a period of urgent or conflicting priorities, which is why it’s a good reminder.
• Look for things to laugh about!
• Cultivate a positive mindset. Replace automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) with automatic positive thoughts (PSTs). One small, but effective, way to do this is to savor the simple pleasures and beauty in your life. Another is to brainstorm alternative thoughts to counter the negative ones. This kind of reframing can be incredibly powerful.¹
• Allow yourself to experience a full range of feelings. Yes, positivity is helpful, but it doesn’t work to push away the hard stuff.⁴
• Practice deep listening, first with yourself. Without an agenda or excessive mental “chatter,” tune into your own internal “weather systems.” Once you’re more grounded, you can extend a sense of safety and trust to others.¹

As for your staff, learn how to recognize signs of trouble—whether it’s a lack of motivation, not showing up, or the personification of Debbie Downer or the Hulk! If you see signs like this, gently inquire about what’s going on.

Now, more than ever, it’s important to emphasize personal self-care, celebrate even the smallest wins, and try not to drain people with too many initiatives. Questions like these may also help to foster resilience in your team:

• What lesson have you learned from this experience that you can immediately put into action?
• What strategies will you use to keep this challenge from getting you down?
• How can you derive energy from this problem?
• Which skills and knowledge can you contribute to this situation?
• What is missing that could help move this forward?
• What is your new vision for this new reality?⁵

Sources

1. Graham, L. Bouncing Back: Rewiring your Brain for Maximum Resilience and Well-being. New World Library, 2013.
2. Westover, T. Educated. Random House, 2018.
3. Forbes: “New Research: 7 Ways To Become A More Resilient Leader.” Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joefolkman/2017/04/06/new-research-7-ways-to-become-a-more-resilient-leader/#260092eb7a0c
4. IMD: “Resilient Leadership: Navigating the pressures of modern working life.” https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/resilient-leadership-navigating-the-pressures-of-modern-working-life/
5. ASCD: “The Resilient Leader.” http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec11/vol69/num04/The-Resilient-Leader.aspx