Twelve years ago, a grumpy organisational psychology professor told my class that he would automatically fail our assignments if they contained hackneyed phrases like ‘in these fast moving, unpredictable, times of change…’ How we sniggered back then.
Even he can’t deny that we are now in fast moving and unpredictable times of change. Some of us cope better with change and unpredictability than others. We roll with the punches, accepting life as it is, not as we might want it to be. We keep our heads and look for ways to turn adversity into possibility.
Hopefully you have already promoted people like this to lead others.
Individuals who lack resilience suffer more stress and anxiety when they face challenges. They often take longer to get over that stress and anxiety.
We become stressed when we perceive that we can no longer cope with the demands we are facing.
The crucial word here is ‘perception’. True leaders challenge their people’s perception of a potentially stressful situation, encouraging them to cope better, by adopting a more rational and flexible attitude.
Here’s some interventions to boost the resilience of your team members:
Lead from the front
Challenging times require more active leadership. Spend more time on the floor, inspiring the troops. You may need to recalibrate your own output commitments over the next few months in order to do this. You are a role-model in how you manage your own moods and energy.
Move the goal-posts closer
It is infuriating when political leaders appear to be working without a clear vision or plan: don’t be that leader. Share your strategy and make sure everyone is clear on where they can contribute to it. In the current context, shorter-term goals will be more motivational and realistic, perhaps taking 60/90 days to execute.
Put the fun back
We can’t control what’s happening in the broader political and economic climate but we can control what we do all day. Distract people from external stressors by dialling up the atmosphere. One of my clients has just introduced spot prizes for activity in both their sales and non-sales functions, in a ‘Beat the Brexit BS’ challenge.
Deal with the elephant in the room
Be as honest as you can if people are anxious about the effects of change on the business or their jobs. Schedule a robust ‘wallow and dump’ session to talk through possible options, even if you can’t give them all the answers. Encourage an evidence-based approach to prevent catastrophising. For the rest of the day, the subject is off the agenda.
Find positive news
Build space into the working day to share some good news. In his new book Create Space, Derek Draper of CDP Leadership Consultants suggests implementing a mandatory, first thing, fifteen-minute meeting called a Daily Huddle. It starts with each person sharing a positive story of good news and achievement. Then they discuss what they plan to do that day and what help they need. This becomes cemented as a team ritual, increasing collaboration, motivation and focus.
Distract them with a different challenge
Sometimes it’s easier to climb the mountain in front of us if we can see an even bigger one behind it. The Oxford EMBAs I coach seem to glide through the demands of their day-job now that they have a heavy study commitment to worry about instead. I’m not suggesting that you pile on pressure indiscriminately, but you could accelerate the development of your high-potentials by giving them an extra project. Find volunteers to build in more agile processes, fix systems, build client or cross-team relationships, conduct research, increase PR, run internal training etc. People like visible opportunities to make the business more robust whilst enhancing their own careers. Create some heroes. We need them.
What can I do for you?
I hope this helps you to roll with the punches. Please let me know of any successful interventions and don’t hesitate to make contact if you have any questions or concerns. I’d be delighted to run a workshop for your Managers on this topic, or coach them individually. For more information on my coaching and speaking please visit https://www.zenaeverett.com
If you want to read more about individual resilience, then I recommend Michael Neenan’s Developing Resilience: A Cognitive Behavioural Approach, published by Routledge.