We’ve all heard that leaders are not born, they are grown. But that growth does not happen overnight. The process of growing into your best leadership self is a process that takes time.
One effective way to grow as a leader is to grow in the area of resilience. A leader’s success is often measured by his or her resiliency. But just what is resilience? Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a resilient leader as a leader who has the ability to become strong, healthy or successful again after something bad happens. Also, the ability of something to return to its original shape after it has been pulled, stretched, pressed, bent, etc. A third definition is the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially compressive stress, an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.
Another word for resilience is grit. Angela Duckworth, a lead researcher in the area of grit, writes in her book by the same name, “Staying on the treadmill is one thing… but getting back on the treadmill the next day, eager to try again is grit. It is more about stamina”.
As leaders it is important that we develop our resiliency muscle, working to grow over time. Here are five ways to develop resiliency as a leader:
- Focus on your purpose. When we have a deeper sense of meaning about what we do, we are happier and more energetic which in turn helps us to grow resilience.
- Set realistic expectations. As leaders we often eagerly take on more and more responsibility. But we must also understand that we all have limitations and when we ignore them we set ourselves up for failure.
- Take care of yourself. Understanding how to tend to our own needs helps us to develop as resilient leaders. When we stop and take care of ourselves both physically and mentally, we then create an optimal environment for resiliency to develop.
- Establish your support system. We all know that leadership is often viewed as a solo act. However, resilient leaders understand that they are better when they can come together and work as a unified team to accomplish goals. When we know we have a support system as leaders, we can move forward more confidently.
- Take Ownership. As resilient leaders we must take ownership of the good, the bad and the indifferent. In doing so we lead by exhibiting accountability. By holding ourselves accountable, we show that we take our role as a leader seriously…but more importantly we exhibit that trait for others to see and it gives us confidence in our leadership ability.
Resiliency isn’t always easy, but is always necessary. It is exciting to watch a resilient leader. They keep going all the while believing that they have the power to be a part of the solution just as long as they don’t give up and continue to grow.
Contributed by:
Latrice Ross, DTM