The pandemic has been a clarion call for resilience. During a time when “pivot” is likely to be the word of the year, consider the organizations that are succeeding:
- Home furnishings retailers who saw that the “new normal” would mean lots of investment in home repairs and improvements, and acted — recently, Wayfair posted its first profitable quarter since going public in 2014.
- Some restaurants are offering their private dining rooms as clean, socially-distanced business meeting and work spaces with privacy, wifi, widescreen TVs, and breakfast and lunch served — especially for those tired of working from home!
- Airlines that have pulled seats out of their aircraft, quickly converting them from passenger planes to cargo planes — meeting surging demand in e-commerce delivery and keeping their revenues aloft.
Resilient leadership and resilient employees are driving these innovative responses. Meanwhile, many organizations seem mired in doubt and uncertainty and frozen by stress and anxiety, “staying the course” while the world rapidly changes. Underlying the pop-culture appeal of pivoting, is an important reality — we’re experiencing huge economic and social disruptors. Staying the course is much more likely to sink your ship than reach your goals. Resilience is imperative.
What is Resilience?
Resilience is the capacity to adapt and rebound in a positive and constructive way to adversity, stress, and threats. Resilience is more than simply tolerating, getting through a difficult stretch, or surviving. Resilience helps people and organizations optimistically re-energize, evolve, and move forward.
For more about how resilience has become a much more recognized and valued characteristic, read Arden Coaching’s blog, “Success in an Uncertain World: The Power of Resilience.”
Resilience is Crucial at Every Level of Your Organization
While resilience is a vital leadership characteristic, every member of your team and every employee in your organization must be resilient. Resilient people are better at adjusting to new and unexpected situations, learning from mistakes, and overcoming unexpected obstacles. They are quicker to initiate new strategies and go in new directions.
Is this the end of the conventional office? Are shifts in what and how your customers are buying permanent? Will the need to be more flexible about juggling kids, school, a partner’s career needs, pets, and more (and to be accepting of others’ needs as well), continue in ways that were unimaginable just a year ago?
And resilience isn’t just about pivoting a strategy or plan. Sometimes it’s about having the fortitude to maintain a good attitude on days when it’s hard, to remain hopeful amidst the challenging moments, and to keep at your work when your customers and clients are stressed and challenging. That’s the resilience we find ALL levels of an organization needing.
The advantages of a resilient, agile workforce — from front line workers to the CEO — are clear.
We Can Build Our Resilience
The good news is that resilience can be intentionally strengthened and developed. There are many ways to go about building resilience — see Arden Coaching blogs, “3 Keys to Greater Resilience,” and “5 Ways to Strengthen Your Resilience in the Coming Year.”
One effective, proven way to built resilience is to work with an experienced executive coach — to provide a structured process, a plan and accountability, and knowledgeable insights to help assure higher levels of performance and success.
Resilience can be defined, explored, and practiced. Employees, leaders, and organizations that are resilient will thrive in the coming years. As 2020 (and beyond!) will continue to present us with new challenges, the spotlight will shine on the importance and the value of resilience in every employee, at every level of your organization. It’s time to make resilience a priority in your organization.
To learn more about resilience, leadership, and team performance in an always-changing world, contact the executive coaches at Arden Coaching at [email protected] or 646.684.3777.