Lifelong Learning @ UNB
UNB College of Extended Learning

For years, it seemed the focus of leaders was to develop speed and agility. Today it seems the new focus needs to be managing change, which is inevitable because it is fast and most disruptive to everyday life. It comes as an erratic pulse or in waves. Sometimes the waves seem more like tsunamis. Globalization, technological change, and socialpolitical upheavals are disruptive.

As we try to cope, there will be occasional victories intermixed with defeats. Some say that the difference between leaders and non-leaders is the ability to handle defeat. Every leader will, at some point in their career, get thrown off balance, in one way or another. Maybe you have experienced a loss, a failure, or are wrongly accused of some misdeed. This state of imbalance can manifest itself in a variety of ways. Some people experience depression, self-doubt. anger and even rage, projecting the blame outward. Leaders need a mechanism to cope and maintain self-control. Leaders need resilience.

What is resilience?

Resilience is the ability to recover from failures, fumbles, and foundering, and bounce back. It requires flexibility and an attitude of learning. Buddhism teaches us that life will be hard and the moment we think otherwise, our leadership journey can be stalled or shunted. Those who constantly remind themselves that they are on a learning journey have the advantage. Personally, I remind myself every morning that today will bring me lessons and that I will try hard again to learn. I will fight the fight, put in good effort and, over time, I will achieve success and be rewarded.

Resilience might best be described as the essential capability for bouncing back from leadership setbacks.

A resilient leader is a person who sees failures as a temporary setback from which they can recover quickly. They maintain a positive attitude and a strong sense of opportunity during periods of turbulence. When faced with ambiguity, a resilient leader finds ways to move forward and avoids getting stuck. Great leaders seem to be able to cope, and have somehow developed the aspect of emotional intelligence and self-control we call resilience.

Research has shown that people with a strong preference for resilience are quick to act and act independently. The most resilient people are more reactive than thoughtful, and more focused on action than relationships. They are also more willing to take risks and make decisions quickly. Being resilient as an individual. and being viewed as a resilient leader, requires that you bring others along with you. These actions, it seems, all help to take attention away from the failures and create a new energy to move forward.

The truth is resilience is hard. It requires the courage to confront painful realities. the faith that there will be a solution when one isn't immediately evident, and the tenacity to carry on despite a nagging gut feeling that the situation is hopeless. George Bonanno is a clinical psychologist at Columbia University's Teachers College. He heads the Loss, Trauma, and Emotion Laboratory and has been studying resilience for nearly 25 years. The good news is that his research shows that resilience is, ultimately, a set of skills that can be taught, and can be developed. Resilience can be a learned behaviour.

One of the central elements of resilience, Bonanno has found, is perception How you conceptualize an event as being traumatic or as an opportunity to learn and grow impacts how it affects you. Events are not traumatic until we experience them as traumatic. What matters is whether the adversity is allowed to traumatize. Positive interpretation of any situation can be taught According to Bonanno, we can make ourselves more or less vulnerable to adversity by how we think about things. Resilient leaders reframe adversity in positive terms when most people's initial response would be negative, and re-framing also involves staying less emotional. It turns out people can train themselves to better regulate their emotions given any set of circumstances.

Become a more resilient leader

Here are a few ideas about what you can do to better deal with adversity and become a more resilient leader:

Be Optimistic and at the Same Time Realistic

Great leaders don't just candy coat things with optimism. They adapt to the adversity by understanding what is within their control and knowing they have some choice in the response they offer.

Don't Underplay the Negatives

A resilient leader sees the risks and can account for the potential negatives but does not dwell on them. They are active in their awareness and make the necessary effort to filter out the abundant negativity by reframing issues as a learning opportunity and moving forward in a positive direction.

Face Your Fears

Fear can derail decision-making. All leaders have some degree of fear and will avoid unnecessary conflict. Understanding the root of fear and managing these emotions will help keep you on track.

Manage Emotional Dissonance

Resilience requires that you acknowledge and manage your emotions. Managing the visceral response is important while you take time to communicate and create influence within the group.

Expand Your Network

Social support is an important part of developing capacity to be a resilient leader. Making use of your network to communicate, listen, and feel supported will cultivate an environment conducive to becoming more confident and, as a result, resilient.

Complacency is an enemy of resilience, and arrogance can crowd out resilience. Approaching work and life with humility and magnanimity fuels resilience. Resilient leaders are those with an authentic desire to serve and are willing to settle for less now recognizing it is an investment in the future. Adversity, setbacks, and challenges can throw any leader off-balance, and therefore need to be managed. Action is required to stay grounded, intentionally bringing yourself back to an emotional and physical state where you can constructively confront your problems. Only then will you be able to react with the resilience necessary to overcome your struggle. If your life plan includes leading and succeeding, make sure your plan includes developing the capacity for resilience!

Glyn is a Regional Vice-President of Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. He is partner at EHS Partnerships Ltd. in Calgary and is a consulting occupational health and safety professional with 30 years of experience. He also provides program design and instructional support to the University of New Brunswick's OHS certificate and diploma programs.He can be reached at gjones@ehsp.ca.