Resilience is all about bouncing back. It’s about risk-taking, too, because there’s not tons to bounce back from if you’re not putting yourself out there. Resilience is one of the five skills that make every leader better (Compassion, Curiosity, Communication, Vision, and Resilience).
How do you recover, and help your team to recover when things don’t go the way you’ve planned?
- Be flexible
- Stay positive
- Keep perspective
- Blow off steam
Be flexible.
It’s a given: things will go wrong. But you have some control over how many things could go wrong. Perfectionists can have a hard time with resilience, since there are so many ways to mess things up and only one way to be right. Being flexible can help you find alternatives. The more pathways you can find to success, the more opportunities there are to get there.
Stay positive.
Your team needs to know that you have their backs. If you’re of the mind that anything that isn’t a success is an opportunity to learn, the chances are pretty good that your team will indeed learn from things that don’t go as planned.
If they’re spending their energy on covering their asses or assigning blame, you probably won’t get the information you need to avoid or prevent the situation in the future.
Keep perspective.
As a leader, you need a thick skin. Not everything is about you (precious little is, actually), so try not to take things personally. What others say and do reflects primarily on who they are, not who you are.
And when you make a mistake, admit it! You’ll get a ton more credit for owning up to mistakes (as long as you have a plan to address them in the future) than trying to hide or deny them.
Blow off steam.
Resilient people find ways to manage their stress in healthy ways. Anything from exercise, to listening to music, to painting, to gardening can work well. Liquor may be quicker, as they say, but it won’t be as helpful in bouncing back from adversity on a regular basis.
That’s it: maximize your Resilience by being flexible, staying positive, keeping perspective, and blowing off steam. You’ll be a better leader for it!
What helps you bounce back? Chime in below!
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