“Build your resilience before you need it.”
– Russell Wilson, NFL Quarterback, Seattle Seahawks
Resilience in leaders requires strong will, competent action, humility, and humanity.
Once a crisis is at your doorstep, you have neither the time nor mental state to prepare to be resilient.
You’ve got to be ready.
Resilience Ready leaders know they will often face daily unexpected challenges that must be immediately addressed, and they are equipped to deal with them in a resilient manner. Resilience becomes second nature, an intuitive response to adversity.
You’re not born resilient.
Resilience builds over time and begins development from experiences at the earliest stages of life and continues through adulthood as we encounter and work through challenges and crises.
Situations children are exposed to in life, their environment, and the type of adult support they have when going through adversity, influence their ability to cope as they grow into adulthood. From these developmental experiences, some adults may have a greater capacity than others to effectively manage crises.
Resilience matures as we are tested and challenged to grow from engaging resilience principles and behaviors that cultivate capacity, skill, and ability.
Facing great challenges or traumas trigger higher levels of resilience. Your resilience level response capacity will influence your experience through the crisis, as well as its outcome.
Facing great challenges or traumas trigger higher levels of resilience.
Resilience can be compared to the elasticity of a rubber band, with the ability to stretch under tension, yet return to its shape as pressure is relieved. A rubber band can be stretched multiple times in multiple ways and still maintain its utility. But if a rubber band is stretched beyond its capacity, it will break.
The elasticity of a rubber band is built into its functionality. It’s what a rubber band is. It is designed to retain its form.
The ability to bounce back, to be resilient, is within our human nature. But our resilience must be nurtured in order for us to call upon it when necessary.
Resilience is a critical crisis leadership skill. However, leaders and the organizations they lead are falling short. This is cause for great concern.
Things to Remember:
➔ Futurists predict that the crises we experience will be more frequent and pervasive.
➔ How you lead through times of crisis will dictate not only the health of your operations, but, more importantly, the health and commitment of your employees, customers, and business partners.
➔ Most leaders are not prepared for the unrelenting crises that will only become more prevalent in the near future.
➔ Resilience in leaders requires strong will, competent action, humility, and humanity. You can’t wait until a crisis hits to get prepared.
➔Resilience matures us as we are tested and challenged.
➔ Resilience is a critical crisis leadership skill.
