Today’s business world is constantly changing, more so than ever before. From markets to work environments, leaders now need to plan for both the expected and the unexpected. Resilience is playing an increasingly important role in a company’s ability to adapt to change and overcome the challenges associated with it.
We all know that no business, individual or team is perfect. There will always be challenges, tension and failure, no matter what role or business you’re in. In order to not only survive but to thrive you need to be resilient.
Building resilience is easy for situations where we have control, but it is far more challenging in situations where we are not in control.
Here are seven proven ingredients for building resilience:
Connectedness
Teams with strong relationships underpinned with trust and understanding always outperform those without. This is particularly true for teams facing obstacles.
Engagement
Connectedness leads to greater employee engagement. Engaged employees are more likely to bounce back from setbacks because they’re more invested and want to see your company succeed. They are also more likely to tackle challenges.
Review
Resilience is more than simply moving on. It involves reflection and review. Resilient teams ask questions such as ‘What worked and what didn’t work?, How can we do better next time?, What have we learned?’.
Future Focus
Maintaining a positive outlook towards the future is a crucial component of resilience. While learning from the past is important, dwelling on it is not. A leader’s mood has a huge impact on the mood of the team. It is easy to be positive and confident when things are going well. However, optimism has a greater impact in the face of problems. A great leader should maintain their optimism despite how they may be feeling.
Recognition & Growth
The majority of employees feel that their importance to an organisation is the main source of their commitment to a company. Recognising employees for their accomplishments is a great way to foster a culture of recognition, growth and resilience.
Vulnerability
Consistently demonstrating personal control and resolve is a well known leadership trait, however it is vulnerability that is most powerful in building team resilience. When a leader role models vulnerability and resolve in the face of vulnerability, they make it ok for their team to do the same and helps boost team resilience.
Identify Difficult People
Within each team in various situations there may be employees who are more difficult or who are bringing down the overall morale among team members. The negativity of even just one employee can have an impact on the overall resilience of a team. Good leadership and a healthy company culture means identifying these people early on and intervening. Addressing the underlying issues that individual team members are experiencing can boost their morale and in turn the resilience of the team.
Taking the steps to build resilience will put your team in a strong position when faced with inevitable challenges. Building resilience is something that all organisations need to plan for before the difficult times hit. Be ready so your people and organisation will reap the rewards.
