How to Lead By Modelling Resilience at Work

Businesses are only as resilient as the people who lead them. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to our work teams to model the kinds of behaviours we want to see, and to encourage the kind of communication that’s especially crucial right now to help employees feel supported and productive.

Now, more than ever, we need to be resilient.

What is resilience?

Resilience is defined as “the ability to recover from setbacks, adapt well to change and keep going in the face of adversity. Essentially, it’s your ability to frame setbacks as challenges and to stay motivated and positive in the face of adversity.

Why is modelling resilience important?

Anyone who has shared an office with someone negative, argumentative, or overly emotional can attest to how quickly a single person’s energy can be a drain on the team, and in some cases negatively impact productivity throughout the organization.

This is especially true if that person is in a leadership position. When leaders react emotionally and become visibly overwhelmed, it undermines employees’ confidence in the organization, which can negatively impact productivity and hurt their overall sense of well-being.

Leaders who model resilience can have a positive “ripple effect” through the organization where:

• Anxiety, inflexibility, and resistance to change are replaced by calmness and flexibility.
• Fear and doubt are replaced by courage and tenacity.
• Uncertainty and playing it safe are replaced by creativity and passion.
• Isolation and withdrawal are replaced by connection and engagement.

How to model resilience at work

Respond to stress vs. reacting to it 

One of the benefits of developing your hardiness and resilience is it will strengthen your “mental agility,” or your ability to switch gears in your mind from reacting to stress, to responding to it. Reacting is an emotional, knee-jerk reaction, whereas responding is more objective.

In most cases, modelling this kind of resilience to your team can be as simple as keeping strong negative reactions to yourself. Acknowledging what you have heard in the moment and then sharing your thoughts once you’ve had a chance to process them models self-restraint and maturity.

Encourage support networks

Find ways to encourage your team to be candid with one another and to share their feelings and frustrations in healthy, positive ways.

If your team is working remotely, check in on them and ask how they have you been doing. Making yourself available can go a long way.

It may be tempting to vent to colleagues about a stressful situation or bad news, but remember that as a leader, you help set the tone for the organization, so find healthy ways to vent that frustration to people who don’t work with you, like a family member or a friend, before discussing changes with your team. 

Lead your teams more effectively by clicking here to learn more about our resilience training programs.

Maintain a healthy work/life balance

A healthy work/life balance helps us remember that there’s more to life than just work. Even better: it’s also proven to increase productivity!

Especially during the pandemic while many of us are still at home, managing our families and our jobs, make sure to be respectful and understanding of your team’s needs. Talk openly and often about what you plan to do after work, or on the weekend, and encourage team members to do the same.

Be compassionate with yourself

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown many of us into a tailspin, and we need to remember to take care of ourselves and take steps to manage our mental well-being.

Taking breaks, being gentle with ourselves, and engaging in nourishing activities that calm and make us feel happy helps to bring our best self to work, which helps us lead and inspire our team members to do the same.

Start developing your resilience today

Resilient leaders are needed now more than ever, and we’re here to help. Sign up for our on-demand Hardiness and Resilience Online Certification and become certified to deliver HRG assessments and build hardy, more resilient leaders and teams.