Developing Resilience in Yourself and Your Team
According to the American Psychological Association, resilience is “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences.” It’s recovering from those events and coming out on the other side hardier and more agile.
Change is constant. Our teams and organizations benefit from developing resilience. According to McKinsey, the advantages include faster and more dynamic decision making, greater efficiency, stronger and more adaptable leadership, and an environment that is more attractive to top talent.
How can you foster resilience in yourself and your team?
In Sheryl Sandberg’s book, “Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy,” she states, “We plant the seeds of resilience in the ways we process negative events.”
Psychologist Martin Seligman identifies the three P’s (AKA ways of thinking or processing negative events) that can stunt our recovery:
1. Personalization – you are at fault for everything that happens to you
2. Pervasiveness – this event will impact every area of your life
3. Permanence – this circumstance or feeling is everlasting
These ways of thinking are neither true nor helpful.
While taking accountability for ways we’ve contributed to a problem is important, we can accept and appreciate that there are some forces outside of our control. We can also still find joy and purpose in things even when facing a difficult or tragic situation. And while the event might leave a scar, the crushing feeling we experience directly following the event won’t always feel quite so heavy.
So what is a helpful way of thinking that can help us to develop resilience in ourselves? Psychologist Susan Kobasa’s research identified three key philosophies of resilient individuals:
· Challenge – you can view change and novelty as exciting opportunities to learn and grow
· Control – while some circumstances are out of your control, you can influence outcomes in your life
· Commitment – you can commit to seeing the world as beautiful and interesting
Interested in learning more about developing resilience in yourself and team?
Contact Elsey Consulting Group to learn more about the Hardiness Resilience Gauge assessment and to schedule a 1:1 or team session. We’ll help you:
· Learn about three components that make up a person’s hardiness level
· Discover your own hardiness level and how key qualities that you possess can enhance or undermine your stress resilience and agility across a range of circumstances
· Strategize how to maintain or improve these qualities to contribute to your overall resiliency
· Perform effectively in stressful situations and times of change
· Motivate, support and set clear expectations
· Influence the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of your team
· Promote hardiness in the people around you through listening, encouraging, addressing and debriefing
· Build a more cohesive, agile team that works through obstacles
