Resilience is known as the capacity one develops to overcome something and bounce back from the adversity. This resilience may be a natural trait in certain people, but despite this it has been proven that it can also be developed in those who don’t have it.

1. +
How Developing
Resilience Can Make
You a Better Leader?
By David Kiger
Image courtesy of Ken Whytock at Flickr.com

2. + Resilience is known as the capacity one develops to overcome
something and bounce back from the adversity. This resilience
may be a natural trait in certain people, but despite this it has
been proven that it can also be developed in those who don’t
have it. It has actually started to become a common workplace
trait companies look for when finding new talent. An employee
who is defined by resilience will most likely deal well with
situation where he or she is put under stress and especially in
today’s workplace this is essential. Flexibility, strength, speed of
recovery and durability are just some of the words that are used
to bring context to resilience in the many online sources. People
with this trait can deal better with the demands and tasks they are
asked to undertake. These people would be ideal for positions
that require constant shifts of priorities and a heavy workload.
This quality, which should be active rather than passive, can be a
lifelong process at a personal and professional level. When put in
the right position, anyone can develop a series of habits that
allow them to perform better under pressure. A resilient person
within a company, especially one in a position of leadership will
guide those around them towards the light at the end of the
tunnel.

3. + Being a characteristic most companies want their employees to
have they should all start setting in place a variety of aids that
can enhance their employees’ resilience. Initially, consider
including resilience training programs that can focus on teaching
the workforce to deal with work-related stress, as well as
challenges that may present themselves along the way in a
positive and proactive manner. Coaching and mentoring will also
be a must, so that you can really focus on the development of
each key employee. A coaching process will be more about
monitoring current performance and skills, whereas a mentoring
process will be about long-term career development. Lastly,
create spaces where employees can engage in physical activity,
be it an active pause or create a sports tournament. There has
been a known direct correlation between their mental health and
exercise, which at the same time generates a high level of
resilience. Another consideration is that in some cases a person’s
lifestyle can have a direct influence on their capability to have
resilience in difficult situations.

4. + In your workplace, if resilience becomes a trait that is needed in
your organization, you will need leaders that are able to lead by
example. If they are not naturally resilient, you can go about
developing and honing their skills to improve this and allow them
to become the kind of leader that can help your organization’s
performance and capacity to work under pressure, meet
deadlines and set priorities based on the needs of the company.

5. + As a company you can help your employees as a whole become
more resilient, but this will have to begin from the top. Initially your
leaders will need to create a support system that generates good
relationships and motivates interaction. Their view of how to deal
with problems will need to turn into a learning process that can be
used to create opportunities to master skills and build achievement.
The only way that this will happen effectively is that the leader of
your team avoids turning every crisis into a dramatic situation that
only creates stress. Besides avoiding conflict, the leader must also
celebrate success not only of others, but the administrative or
leaders as well. This will keep your mind frame positive and away
from negativity and failure. Goals that are set must be realistic and
have a purpose, the smaller and more tangible the better. Positivity
in all its shades is necessary for leaders, from the position they take
when making decision to nurturing a positive view of employees and
their work, skills and shortcomings. When analyzing challenges,
leaders must be realistic and place these on the big picture context
that will be put on the list of lifelong personal and professional
development. And finally being optimistic, will allow them to see the
good in every bad situation, and have this directly influence how you
think about it. If you have good thoughts, your actions will most
probably follow suit.

6. + Thriving in the midst of adversity as leaders will bring with it many
different characteristics, as you can read more about on the
David Kriger on the SlideShare page, including resilience. So, as
was said before it all has to start from the leaders. But if the
leader needs to develop resilience as well, there are certain steps
you can take as a company and as a leader to ensure this
occurs. First of all, the leader must realize it’s not all about you.
When a negative event occurs there must be a realization that
simply sometimes bad things happen and it’s not necessarily
someone’s fault. So as a leader learn to control what you can and
accept what you can’t. Always pay attention to the relationships
that are forged with your teams and employees to ensure that
you can lead by example under difficult situations. Resilience will
lead your company into a new mind set that will for sure bring
productivity, high levels of performance, and collaboration.