(November 19, 2024 Newsletter)
I’ve been thinking a lot about resilience these days.
We need leaders who can weather storms, stay calm under challenging circumstances, and bounce back after setbacks and failures.
But it’s not enough for resilience to be a personal trait. We need leaders who are modeling this stance for others and encouraging them to develop resilience as well.
Why it matters
Maybe it’s always been this way, but it seems like the world is getting increasingly chaotic and unpredictable (if you haven’t heard of VUCA, there’s plenty of good stuff out there that explains the term).
Your team is looking to you for steadiness, reassurance, and guidance. Whether or not you feel it, you need to show it. Otherwise, someone will push the panic button and folks will start to jump ship.
How to develop resilience
Not surprisingly, you have to start with your own inner work before focusing on others.
The APA suggests four components – building connection, fostering wellness, embracing healthy thinking, and finding purpose.
Which of them speaks to you the most? What practices do you want to set for yourself to take steps toward becoming more resilient?
Modeling resilience as a leadership practice
As I’ve noted before, your team is watching you closely, whether you’re remote or in-person. Through interacting with you and observing your communications with others, they can be hyperaware of changes to your mood and are choosing their next steps accordingly.
As such, it behooves you to model resilience if you want them to remain steady, focused, and optimistic.
To model resilience, there are a few actions you can take:
When discussing challenges, focus on plans to overcome them. Acknowledge the challenges you’re facing and share what you’re doing to formulate a plan (or better yet, invite their input while indicating that it’s under control).
Use a learning lens. You don’t have to wait until an incident is over to learn from it. The best leaders incorporate feedback and adjust along the way – and it’s an excellent way to model resilience.
Keep everyone focused. Part of your job is to train everyone’s attention back toward the goal when it’s easy to get distracted or dejected. Eyes on the prize.
Highlight the strengths on the team. How do you know everything will be okay? Because of the people. Remind them not just that you think they’re amazing, but WHY you think they’re amazing. What qualities you see in them, what they share in common, what you’ve already seem to do individually and collectively.
Allow for active recovery. When there are down moments, let people rest. We can’t always be giving 110%. When possible, hold down the fort and let them recharge. And it goes without saying that you take your break last.
When you practice all of the above – during the highs and lows alike – you’ll be amazed at how your team can rise to the occasion. They’ll be willing to do so when they believe that you can steer them through the turbulence that lies ahead.
The Coaching Corner
Switch it up
Routines are important, but so is breaking them. Remember the anticipation when a teacher in school announced you’d be going on a field trip, or be watching something in class, or were going to start working on a fun project? My favorite class in all of college was the day when the drum instructor subbed in Jazz Theory and we jammed instead of transcribing or whatever else we’d been doing.
Point being, when you’re in a good rhythm with your 1:1 or team meetings, bring something special and different to keep it from getting stale.
Throw out the regular agenda for one meaty discussion question.
Go out for lunch (or bring in).
Let someone else lead the meeting.
Recommendations
My favorite commercial of the season: LeBron for Nike, “I Am the Pressure” – best 30 seconds I’ve seen on TV in a long time.
A tactical guide to managing up – 30 tips broken down into seven categories. Good stuff.
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