Steps to Strengthening Your Resiliency as a Leader
The benefits of being a resilient leader are countless. As we discussed in my last article, resilient leaders are compassionate, respected, and able to see the lessons in nearly every setback. All this sounds pretty great, right? But, you may be wondering, what do I do if I realized I'm not that resilient of a leader? Fortunately, resiliency is not something you are born with--it's something you learn--and each and every person has the ability to increase their resiliency.
Whether you are already a resilient leader who wants to become even more so or you struggle with, as Brene Brown put it, 'rising strong', here are a few tips on what you can do to increase your resiliency in three key areas:
Mental Resiliency
Having an optimistic outlook on life and a generally positive attitude is crucial when it comes to resiliency. If you have not read Carol Dweck's powerful book Mindset, I suggest you do so. And if you've read it in the past, you might benefit from reading it again. Mental resiliency is all about learning from mistakes and allowing them to make you better instead of wallowing, blaming, or throwing in the towel. It's about believing in yourself and believing in your team--even if things aren't going your way. Of course, having mental resiliency is a little tough to accomplish when you don't have your social and physical resiliency also up to par.
Social Resiliency
To be truly resilient, you need a strong social support network. That means surrounding yourself with positive people who have growth mindsets and who are there for you in good times and in times when you are going through a lot of stress or upheaval. Friends, colleagues, family members, and your team at work are all part of your social network and they should, for the most part, be supportive rather than draining. If you have this in place, great! But that's not enough. You must also seek out support when you need it. Even the strongest social network is useless if you never tap into the resource and ask for help.
Physical Resiliency
It's tough to lead effectively if you're constantly exhausted or coming down with the flu every month. A healthy lifestyle is absolutely vital when it comes to being a resilient leader. This means putting your health (both physical and mental) first and making sure you're eating right, getting sleep, and utilizing effective methods of stress management. I've seen many a great leader burn themselves out because they didn't take care of themselves physically. It's not selfish to put your needs first as a leader. In fact, it's necessary if you want to be at your best to help those around you.
When you focus on your core mental, social, and physical support systems, you are much more prepared to be the strong, resilient leaders your team members need. Remember, resiliency is about keeping your internal resources abundant so you can face whatever the external environment demands.
Trish Cody is an Executive Awareness Coach and Speaker who focuses on optimizing results for business leaders. With over 20 years of experience as a strategic consultant for some of the world's top Fortune 500 companies, Trish Cody has coached and consulted with senior level teams in planning, designing, launching, and measuring the return for major initiatives. As a Certified Professional Coach and Energy Leadership Practitioner, Trish works with senior level leaders and business owners to raise their levels of self-awareness and create more trust, loyalty and success in their businesses and teams. Contact Trish at trish@trishcody.com.