Today’s workplaces are fraught with disruptions, interruptions, and setbacks, even for the most successful among us.
Companies at the top of their game still have times when they are blindsided by market forces and must play catch-up. When faced with adversity, the difference between the winners and losers is often how they handle the upset.
That’s a key finding from Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s ongoing research on great companies and effective leaders. No one can completely avoid trouble, and potential pitfalls are everywhere, but resilience is the trait that helps us climb out of the hole and bounce back.
Recovering from the potholes of the workplace
Fortunately, resilience is a skill you can master, and it’s critical for thriving in a stressful business environment. Stress permeates the very nature of the bumpy road we travel daily.
Those who find the most success aren’t on a smoother road — just mastered the skill of recovering from the inevitable tumbles and potholes.
Much of what feeds our resilience is how connected we are to our organizational purpose and to each other—to our team, our company, and our brand. They’re all directed and reinforced by our corporate culture itself, and in highly successful and engaged cultures, their resilience and connection to work combine to reinforce each other.
Resilience thrives on a sense of community — the desire to pick oneself up because of an obligation to others and because of support from others who want the same thing. Humility and a noble purpose fuel it, and it’s manifested in actions—a new contribution, a small win, a goal that takes attention off of the past and focuses and creates excitement about the future.
Resilience draws from strength of character and from a core set of values that motivate efforts to overcome the setback and resume walking the path to success. It involves self-control and the willingness to acknowledge our own role in the defeat. While we might not be able to control every problem, we can control our reactions to them — choosing whether we give up or find an alternative path to our goal.
3 steps to get your organization going again
But flexibility alone isn’t enough — we have to learn from our errors. Those with resilience build on the cornerstones of confidence which underpin people, teams, and organizations that can stumble but then resume winning:
- Accountability – Taking responsibility and showing remorse;
- Collaboration – Supporting others in reaching a common goal;
- Initiative – Focusing on positive steps and improvements.
Potential troubles lurk around every corner, whether they stem from unexpected marketplace jolts or individual flaws and mistakes. Whatever the source, what matters is how we deal with them.
The keys to resilience
While surprises and uncertainty are the new normal, resilience is the necessary new skill.
- Make every mistake a learning experience.
- Create a culture supportive of risk taking so people learn when they stumble.
- Encourage people to try again for the good of the team — it will get them back in the game and strengthen their connection to their colleagues and the company.
What are you doing to ensure your team’s resilience? What measures have you put in place to learn from challenging times so your ability to bounce back becomes more skilled, focused, and sustainable?
This was originally published on the OC Tanner blog.