18th Dec

RESILIENCE – SO, WHAT’S THE SECRET?

When we talk about leadership in the workplace, there are literally hundreds of buzzwords, new-age techniques and tricks of the trade that we’re told should be worked into our strategies.

Last week, I shared with you my views on resilience or, as I like to think of it, the ‘bounce-back-ability’ factor. To survive in today’s business world, you need to be resilient and open to change – but what’s the secret?

It all starts with the relationships we build for ourselves – they need to be purposeful. Within your team, there will be mentors, coaches and ambassadors. But, it may be time to question what the focus of such resources is. In my experience, they’re often mainly to do with the transactional side of the business; for instance, ‘how do we do X more efficiently?’ or ‘why isn’t X performing?’

These questions are all well and good, but they fail to address how we can create long-term, sustainable solutions to issues within our team.

Let’s take a look at how we might make mere connections into active, purposeful relationships that can help strengthen both your own professional development and your team as a whole.

• Your role
Your role is NOT to agree and stroke egos all day long. Whether we’re talking about the board director or the junior member of staff who needs encouragement, make sure feedback is given in a concrete, balanced manner.

• Reach out and be reachable
At some point in our lives, perhaps during our teenage years in secondary school, we convinced ourselves that asking for help was a sign of failure and inadequacy. This belief rolled over into our business lives and we’ve become conditioned that reaching out for a helping hand is a negative action and should be avoided. However, working with others and allowing them to support us means we’re much more likely to achieve our goals quicker and be resilient to any changes.

• Make a commitment
If we are to build these purposeful relationships, we need to commit time to staying in touch and engaging with such people. Whether it’s with a colleague, a manager or a junior team member, you should invest time in nurturing the relationship, taking interest in things outside a professional capacity – find out what their values and passions are, what inspires them and so on. Get to know them, not their job.

Of course, all of the above can only be achieved if you have strong leadership at the helm of your business to help guide and build resilience among staff members. Let me know how resilient your organisation is – or could be – and whether you may need to reboot your leadership. Drop us a message to find out more.