"The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness."
We hear sports teams, politicians and business leaders use the term resilience a lot, especially in the current climate, however, in my practice, I come across quite a few folks who don't understand that resiliency is a process that begins at birth.
In the formative years of our lives, we're taught how to appropriately attach, detach and solve problems (or not), we're given social cues on emotional regulation and this starts to pave our path forward in terms of how we see the world and in turn, how the world receives us. This of course, influences our self confidence, and so the cycle of our development begins.
Resiliency has four pillars that help us navigate the world in a productive manner. These pillars are closely linked to our mental health and how we receive and manage change. The Pillars of Resiliency are:
Problem solving
Empathy
Emotional Regulation
Self Confidence
Each one of the pillars relies on the other - if one begins to crumble, all of the others begin to erode alongside that pillar. Recognizing when this takes place, especially during change, is particularly important. If for example, you find that you lose emotional regulation as a leader, it very likely impedes your ability to make good decisions, thus impacting your problem solving process. Once your problem solving process is hampered, it's likely that you'll find yourself further frustrated or agitated, perhaps even saddened by an outcome. This leads down the path of a lack of self confidence ("Gee, why did I make that decision. Maybe I'm not suited for this role after all..."), which leads to the potential of feeling sorry for yourself, and not leaving any mental or emotional capacity as a leader for others, therefore impacting your ability to be empathetic for others or your team. I'm sure we can all relate to this cycle, it's easy to fall into and sometimes very hard to come out from.
Mental health and resiliency can be impacted by a number of different factors, internal to work or otherwise. It's important to recognize where you are and what you need as a leader to be able to seek the support you need. This is particularly important if you're experiencing a lot of change; the world itself is in a constant state of change, and if we were to really be honest, the only thing that doesn't change ... is that change is a constant friend in our lives. Learning to master the change curve, understand your resistance points within change and of course, loving yourself through the process is crucial.
Keep your eyes on this page as we unpack the specifics of change and some tips and tools that you can leverage to help you strengthen your Pillars of Resiliency. We have a lot to share and look forward to continuing this journey with you!
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