Spotlight on resilience

1. RESILIENCE
SPOTLIGHT ON:
Lucinda May

2. The Library is a challenging workplace
Library roles require significant effort,
attention, ingenuity and skill
Library staff deal with complex situations,
make difficult decisions and cope with change

3. RESILIENCEBE OBJECTIVE
ADAPT
BOUNCE BACK
DON’T GIVE UP
“Success is not final, failure is
not fatal: it is the courage to
continue that counts.”
Winston Churchill
“All failure is failure to adapt.
All success is successful
adaptation.”
Max McKeown
“I have not failed. I’ve just
found 10,000 ways that won’t
work.”
Thomas Edison
Developing personal resilience is important to work
effectively in a demanding, changing environment

4. The Library’s Leadership Development Network (LDN) took part in a
workshop on personal resilience in July 2015.
The Staff Learning and Development Unit offers a course on Personal
Resilience.
BUILDING PERSONAL RESILIENCE

5. For this Spotlight piece, members of the Library’s Senior Leadership
Team have reflected on challenging situations encountered at work, and
how these have helped them to develop their skills of personal
resilience.

6. EXPERIENCEREFLECTING ON RESILIENCE
A major challenge in my career has been taking on
something that I don’t feel expert in! I’ve had to do
this quite a lot and always end up looking back on
the experience wondering what I was worrying
about.
I find it’s important to be open about what you
don’t know and to call upon others for help in
forming your views in the early stages. A network of
trusted people is really important – and not just
peers – I benefit from the expert or front line
knowledge of so many of my team on a daily basis
to help me shape my views.
KATY WOOLFENDEN
Head of Teaching, Learning and
Students

7. EXPERIENCEREFLECTING ON RESILIENCE
Another challenging aspect of work is
tricky HR issues. As a senior manager
you can’t avoid theseand they are
always difficult to deal with because
every one is unique, and they often
involve people’s feelings and their
futures. A tip I picked up years ago was
to frame every issue in the most
objective terms possible – look at the
bigger picture.
So for example, in a potential
disciplinary case, I spend time focusing
on how the individual’s behaviour
affects other people, the team and the
organisation more generally – what
would be the impact of doing nothing?
That’s not to say that you don’t still
take the individual’s perspective and
the “softer stuff” into account, but
going through that process really
helps me to see things from the
perspective of “the greater good”
and to limit the emotional impact
these cases can sometimes have on
you. Whatever the outcome, feeling I
have been fair to the organisation,
the team and the individual in
making an HR decision, is all
important.
KATY WOOLFENDEN
Head of Teaching, Learning and
Students

8. EXPERIENCEREFLECTING ON RESILIENCE
The Alma project was a great challenge for many
people in the Library and it certainly required me
to be resilient to deal with the challenges of being
the project lead.
What helped me deal with this was being honest
and open with colleagues about the issues we
were facing and working together across teams to
find solutions. I found this approach improved
relationships and built trust with other teams
through sharing the problem, while supporting
each other when things got tough.
LORRAINE BEARD
Head of Digital Technologies and
Services

9. EXPERIENCEREFLECTING ON RESILIENCE
As a trainee accountant, I was asked to take charge
of a Finance department at Rolls Royce after the
Management Accountant left suddenly.
Although I wasn’t qualified and had less than 6
months experience I said I could cope with the role,
but it didn’t take long before I found myself out of
my depth, working long hours and feeling very
isolated. It all came to a head one day when I
somehow ‘lost’ £8.5Million of income from the
accounts.
I remember crying for a very long time in the Ladies
(I don’t cry very often so it must have been bad!)
before I had a long talk with myself and decided on
a plan of action…
CAROLINE RICHES
Head of Finance and Planning

10. EXPERIENCEREFLECTING ON RESILIENCE
I went straight to the Director of the department,
explained what had happened and that I wasn’t
really coping. He was very understanding and more
concerned that I hadn’t spoken up before.
Everything got sorted out: the £8.5Million was
found, I worked with a colleague to understand my
priorities and was encouraged to speak up when
things weren’t going right and to ask lots of
questions if I didn’t understand. To be honest this
advice has stayed with me ever since and I think
back to that day when sometimes everything feels
as though it is out of control.
CAROLINE RICHES
Head of Finance and Planning

11. TOP TIPSFOR BUILDING RESILIENCE
LET OFF STEAM PLAN AND MEASURE
“Letting off steam in a controlled way
outside of work helps me stay resilient.
I find that a good boot-camp session or
a long run often helps me to relieve the
tensions of the day!” Katy
“I plan my work daily, weekly and
monthly, setting time aside in my diary
to complete tasks – there are a lot of
lists in my life! I set myself two
objectives at the start of the day (this is
for both work and home life) so that
large tasks are ‘chipped’ away at, and
don’t overwhelm me.” Caroline
“Having a balanced life really matters
to me and enables me to perform at my
best while at work. Outside work I try
to maintain an active lifestyle through
the gym, yoga as well as walking my
dog, Dylan.” Lorraine

12. TOP TIPSFOR BUILDING RESILIENCE
MOTIVATE YOURSELF SUPPORT NETWORK
“I have quite a few cheesy postcards on
my wall which help to keep me in check
when I have a wobble on the journey -
‘Trust yourself you know more than you
think you do,’ ‘Life begins at the end of
your comfort zone,’ etc. (Told you they
were cheesy!)” Katy
“Seek out colleagues, friends and
family who can help you gain a
different perspective on difficult
situations. Also be prepared to do the
same when others need you.” Lorraine
“If I am struggling with my work load I
will raise it with my manager so we can
discuss a way forward.” Caroline

13. TOP TIPSFOR BUILDING RESILIENCE
GAIN PERSPECTIVE SWITCH OFF
“I like to talk to others about what I am
working on so as to get another
perspective or just as a sounding board,
especially with difficult situations or
challenging decisions.” Caroline
“I try to see the positive side of
situations, and work with people to
find solutions that work for both sides.
Being able to see the funny side is also
very important to me, never take
yourself too seriously!” Lorraine
“I use my journey home to clear my
head of work things (by listening to
music or reading) and to start thinking
about my home life so that I don’t take
work home with me. I draw a very
distinct line between home and work
and when I do work in the evenings it is
never when my children are awake, or
around, as I want to be Mum when
they need me.” Caroline