How to Use the Hardiness Resilience Gauge to Increase Your Leadership Abilities

Wondering how to become a resilient leader? Looking for ways to build your skillset and bounce back faster from times of stress, trauma, and disaster?

In this article, we’ll discuss how to use the Hardiness Resilience Gauge (HRG) to increase your leadership abilities. Leaders who develop resilience, which is defined as the ability to withstand, adapt to, and recover from adversity, are more effective at rallying and inspiring those around them.

What is Resilience?

Resilience is defined as a series of characteristics and contributing factors that allow someone to withstand adversity and recover quickly from challenging life events.

Being resilient doesn’t mean that you don’t experience stress – rather, you experience it, process it, and frame it in a positive and constructive light that helps you move forward.

The Three C’s of The Hardiness Resilience Gauge

There are three components that make up a person’s hardiness level:

Challenge

Challenge is seeing change as new and exciting. People who have high challenge scores see novel situations as opportunities to learn and grow.

Control

Control is the belief that we can influence the outcomes in our lives. People who have high control scores feel empowered to make changes and stay “in control” of their lives despite setbacks.

Commitment

Commitment is how invested we feel in our own lives. People who have high commitment scores see their lives as interesting and meaningful.

Each of these components facilitates a passionate, flexible, and confident approach to life. Understanding where we score in each of these areas can give us insights into how to develop or enhance these qualities and apply them to our leadership approach.

Becoming certified in the Hardiness Resilience Gauge will give you a common report framework to talk about resilience with your teams. Most importantly each person will be given strategies to enhance it. Certification is self-paced and takes only 3 hours. Click here to become certified.

How to Use the Hardiness Resilience Gauge to Increase Your Leadership Abilities

Between the COVID-19 pandemic, work-from-home becoming the norm across North America, and increasing changes in technology and processes, there’s never been a better time to start developing your resilience.

Here are a few ways to use the Hardiness Resilience Gauge to improve your leadership abilities:

Embrace change and lead by example

Your HRG score will help you understand how you react to change and the steps you can take in your daily life to feel more secure by stretching yourself to step out of your comfort zone.

In your daily life, this could be as simple as using a new piece of technology or trying a new dish from your favourite restaurant instead of having the usual.

At work, an openness to change can be embodied by volunteering to take on a project that’s different from what you would normally do in your role.

Change your leadership style to be more open to change

Resilient leaders aren’t afraid to admit when they need to pivot away from an unsuccessful strategy and can do so without blaming the outcome on themselves and others.

If your current course of action isn’t getting you closer to your ideal outcome – whether that’s learning a new skill or completing a big project – understanding when to pivot or persevere can make all the difference.

At work, consider implementing Monday-morning check-ins with your team. This allows you to track your progress towards the goal and can identify any barriers that might be keeping you from your collective achievements.

Reframe failure as an opportunity to learn

Failures happen, and it’s unrealistic to expect that everything we try to do will result in desired outcomes. Resilient leaders know this and can communicate with their teams about failure in a way that is constructive and supportive.

Talking about failure as a team helps to avoid blame and defensiveness, and allows you to apply the lessons learned to find a new approach or solution that will result in a positive outcome bringing everyone together.

Want to Learn More About The Hardiness Resilience Gauge?

Learn strategies aimed at improving your hardiness and resilience, and develop the insights needed to help your team thrive during times of change. Click here to learn more, and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to receive articles like this one delivered to your inbox once a month!