Leadership Resiliency Is A Mandate For Organizational Resiliency
You can’t have organizational resiliency if you aren’t a resilient leader yourself - to model the way and hold the space for others.
I define leadership resiliency as the embodiment of strength, intelligent optimism, flexibility and resourcefulness that gives you the fortitude and buoyancy to bounce back from setbacks or significant challenges while attempting to realize your goals and dreams. Intelligent optimism is not just reciting pie in the sky affirmations but being hopeful and having faith BECAUSE of what you know to be true and DESPITE the facts. It means staying in the space of possibility. This is resilient leadership.
This is how all great innovations were spawned. Thomas Edison tried to create an incandescent light bulb anywhere from 1,000-10,000 times depending upon the source. (It's amazing how much (mis)information we can find on the internet)!Edison allegedly said, "I did not fail 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb." Whatever the actual number of tries, you get the point.
Persistence.
Where would we be if he gave up after 89 or 889 times? Yes, these are challenging times but if you can’t lead the way holding the space for the seemingly impossible, how can you expect your people to?
How do you hold the space for organizational resiliency – to change employee perspectives or morale, or to work with your team to reposition your value proposition as you look to maintain or grow while the economy tries to jumpstart itself? How do you continue to inspire your customers when their faith is waivering? How do you become the alchemist and transform a negatively charged situation today to hold the space for the possible tomorrow?