Mastering the 3 Components of Resilience

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We are all are experiencing trauma right now, at all ages in all generations. But as we struggle, at least we are all together. No one is unscathed by the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. We must all pivot our businesses and ourselves, and lead our teams through the trauma. We’re lonely, grieving, depressed, sad, in shock, uncertain, anxious – in short, we are overwhelmed, exhausted, and scared. And we wonder constantly how and if we’re going to make it through.

I’m here to tell you that you ARE going to get through this. It won’t be easy, it’s going to hurt, and you’re going to be challenged more than you’ve ever been challenged in your life. But you will make it through so long as you cultivate this one crucial skill: resilience. 

Also sometimes called “grit,” resilience is defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.” It’s a measure of how well you can bend, flex, and bounce back when you get knocked down. It’s a measure of your ability to triumph in adversity. And it’s all about shaping your mindset though training. We need this trait right now.

But fear not because science shows us that resilience is something you can cultivate and teach to others. So for your teams, families, clients, and the world let’s start with identifying and mastering the three components of resilience:

1. Confidence

When we talk about confidence in relation to resilience, we’re really talking about the unwavering belief that you can influence outcomes in your life. That you DO have control, even when things feel completely out of your control. Of course, you can’t control everything. You can’t control when the current pandemic will end, when we’ll get to go back to life as normal, or even whether you get sick or not. But you can control yourself, your emotions, your decisions, and how you show up when things get touch.

To master the confidence component, focus on this simple list daily:

-Check-In: Check in with yourself about how you’re doing. Be honest about what you’re feeling, then set aside the beliefs that don’t serve you.

-Breathe: When things get tough, we get tense. When we’re tense, we often forget to breathe. But our brain needs plenty of oxygen to do what it does best: think clearly and find the opportunities. Make sure you’re taking deep breaths throughout the day. You might even pick up a practice of meditation.

-Mindset: What you think, you become. If you’re thinking negative, unhelpful thoughts about yourself, your team, your business, or the current crisis, get rid of that talk track. Replace destructive thoughts with things that are positive and empowering. Be mindful of your power to be present.

-Accountability: Hold yourself accountable to shaping your mindset every single day. Do not let yourself slip into bad habits or ways of being. You get to choose how you show up every day, so choose to be a leader.

-Hardiness:  Understand that some of us are innately more positive; however, learn what you can about yourself to be strong. Move through your negative feelings and practice the act of reframing your own power. Use whatever you can to thrive. No judgment! Face the reality, seek tools, and push through it.

2. Commitment

When things get tough, it’s easy to take the easy way out. To shrink back from whatever is causing our stress and look for the path of least resistance. But when things get tough, we need to recommit ourselves to our lives, to our relationships, and to our work. Resilience by its very definition means that we are staging a comeback. That we got kicked in the teeth, we’re down, but we’re not out.

To master the commitment component, you need to first start with your belief system. What you believe in and what provides you with purpose, interest and meaning. The belief that your work and effort have real meaningful impact. This is best when it also serves others because as humans we want to contribute. Use these tips to help:

-Context: In the midst of crisis, it’s easy to lose the context of our work. But we can’t lose sight of to how we fit into the bigger picture. Whether as a member of a team or the CEO of a business, we must connect ourselves into the larger context to find engagement and meaning, which are the next two items on our list.

-Engagement: With everything that’s going on and the constant stream of news updates, it’s hard to stay engaged with our work. But if we want to increase resilience, we must be able to filter out distractions and stay engaged. Set limits for yourself when it comes to looking at the news and social media so you don’t go too far down the rabbit hole.

-Meaning: To increase our commitment to ourselves and our own future success, we must find what we do meaningful. We need to connect back to our why (per Simon Sinek) in order to find our way through the chaos. Why does what we do matter? What is the benefit to people or society or industry? Who do we help?

-Authentic: Adversity can bring out the worst in us or worse, cause us to put on a mask and show up inauthentically. But that’s not what our people or our customers need from us. They need us to be real with them, to be honest and vulnerable so that we can build greater connection. People need people. Be the person that people need.

-Story: Recommitting to our work and ourselves comes from doing the deep work to understand who we are, articulate our story, and own it to demonstrate the value we have to give to others and the world.

3. Creativity

The third and final component of resilience you need to master is creativity – even in the face of challenge. We lose our creativity when we get stressed, when we get overwhelmed, when we get tired. But creativity is one of the foundational components of resilience for good reason. Creativity helps us be flexible, create new opportunities, and discover new pathways through the changing landscape. We need some of that now.

To master creativity, you must consistently demonstrate these things on a daily basis:

-Welcome Challenges: The name of this one says it all. Welcome Challenges. Instead of seeing hardship and challenge as something negative, we must welcome it gratefully into our lives as a catalyst to become better.

-Frame as Exciting: We must see all hardships as something exciting, as an opportunity to continue to live our purpose, and achieve even greater success.

-Growth Mindset: In Carol Dweck’s seminal book, Mindset, she teaches about the concepts of growth vs. fixed mindset in depth. But having a growth mindset simply means you believe you have the capacity to learn, grow, and change.

-Reinvention: Mastering creativity comes from our ability to reinvent our careers, our businesses, and ourselves. To adapt, survive, and thrive no matter what challenges we face. This is the way we learn to bounce back better than before.

I’ll say it again: resilience is something you can cultivate and teach to others. But it requires a focus on these 3 things: confidence, commitment, and creativity. As you begin to master the three components of resilience, focus on getting better every day. Better, not best. If you make small improvements consistently, you will develop greater resilience.

Need help understand the three components or any of their sub principles? Check out our keynote on the Path to Create Resilience for the Worker of the Future.  Want to learn how to better cultivate resilience in yourself and/or teach it to your team? Reach to us – we’re offering complimentary coaching right now during the pandemic to help you get through this. All you have to do is book your call with us.

3 Steps to Effectively Lead Your Remote Team Through Crisis

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Our employees are overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed out. And that was before the Covid-19 crisis! Now they have a whole new mess of problems to deal with: worrying about the virus, fear about what will happen to the economy, working remotely for the first time, trying to manage their kids at home, struggling to adapt to new technology, increased conflict with their partner from being cooped up inside…it’s A LOT. Meanwhile, we’re trying to get them to be as productive as possible and G.S.D (Get Shit Done).

If you’re anything like the clients we’ve been talking to over the last few weeks, you’re struggling just to keep your own head above water let alone be the kind of leader your remote team needs right now. While there’s no manual or precedent for dealing with a large-scale global epidemic in this modern age, we’ve been coaching our clients on how to pivot and adapt their businesses while leading their teams to success. No matter what industry you’re in or what catastrophe you’re facing, there are only three things you need to focus on as a leader to effectively manage your workforce and cultivate high performance.

1) Decrease Fear

Your people are scared. They are facing the unknown just like you.

As their leader your most important job is to decrease their fear. Even if the future looks bleak, your people want to know you have a plan to take care of them and see them safely through this storm. They want to know they can count on you, that you’ve got their back, and you’re here for them. 

One of the most effective ways to decrease fear is to ask your people what they want from you. Start by listening and leaning in. It may be different for every person, but you owe it to them to take the time to ask great questions, be an even better listener, and find a way to meet them where they are. Then authentically contextualize your mission and vision in a way that employees can relate to and find meaningful. And communicate, communicate, communicate. Take a look at our 4 C’s of Connection in Virtual Work – scroll down to get a free copy of our Remote Management Toolbox.

2) Increase Safety

Along with decreasing fear, you need to increase every team member’s sense of safety. When you start by turning your workplace upside down and listening to your people, you’ll have a good sense of where to begin.  Understand that people need people and that we are interconnected beings. The biggest challenge is the lack of community and perceived empathy.

But even more importantly, you’ll have taken a big step toward decreasing their sense of isolation. If your team is working remotely for the first time, they’ll quickly start to feel alone and adrift in the world. It’s up to you to make sure your team is connecting to you and with each other on a regular basis. Have at least two real connections per week that asks how they are doing.  And make sure to use video – verbal communication is only 7% of total communication!  Additionally, appoint a communication czar to make sure it works well with your team.

Start now. Implement daily or weekly video calls. Create a Slack channel where people can check in with each other during the day. And spend time demonstrating you care by coaching your team members through their specific challenges. Let them help each other and create a buddy system. 

3) Solve the Emotional Component

In times of turmoil, it’s normal for emotions to run high. As a leader, you need to make sure you’re helping your team process their emotions in a way that is healthy and productive. Make sure you’re regularly addressing these five areas on your check-ins with your remote team:

1) Self-Care: Discuss the importance of self-care and share strategies for individual success.  Routines, schedules, and how to deal with kids at home and connections.

2) Learn: Make sure your team has the tools and resources to support their learning and development with new skills for the virtual workplace and great communication tips.

3) Growth: If there is down time, encourage personal and professional growth along with real creativity.  What are some great ideas they can come up with for themselves to add big value for a future which will be super different and better than what we’ve experienced?

4) Mindset: Share practical ways each person can work on reframing their thoughts and help them through any mindset blocks. Remember, we need connection and help.

5) Connect: Illustrate the importance of connecting person-to-person and encourage team members to communicate over phone or video instead of email and text.

If you focus on just these three things and follow our hacks and tools, I guarantee you will see dramatic improvement in the performance and productivity of your remote team. While we are all being challenged to work differently, there is NO reason your team cannot continue to execute at a high level.

Need help implementing these strategies? Looking for personalized help for your organization? Reach out to us – the first session is always complimentary! We can deliver virtual keynotes, online workshops, and remote high-performance coaching to help your team continue to succeed and thrive. 

We also recently hosted a webinar on this same topic – click here to watch the replay. It will only be available for a limited time so don’t wait to watch!

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Two Predictions Shaping the Work(er) of the Future: Reality Hits Sooner

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Last year we made some predictions for the future workplace. We predicted (i) technology is going to continue to evolve and drive change, and certainly (ii) people will matter more than ever. Our new Coronavirus reality further demonstrates the importance of both these points.  So as we enter this next decade, we’re gratified to see that new interviews and evolving research continues to support our predictions for the future workplace.

 The Wall Street Journal recently published an article called, “The Workplace of 2050.” It featured interviews with five experts at the top of their game making bold predictions for the future. All five talked about the way evolving technologies will reshape their industries – and the important role humans will play in the future of work.  

David Baszucki, CEO and co-founder of Roblox Corp, talked about the gaming industry as a whole. Alongside tremendous technological innovation, he envisions teams getting larger and transitioning to remote work with employees spread out around the world. While not mentioned directly in his interview, we know that communication between humans will be critical. As teams stop reporting to the same central office and start logging onto Slack from their couch, being able to articulate your story, demonstrate your value, and build relationships will become key factors for success in this industry.   

In the medical field, the need for technological expansion is particularly great. Dr. Esther Choo, ER doctor and Associate Professor at the Oregon Health and Science University, expects we’ll see “a lot more options for communicating with patients, monitoring them, connecting them to needed care…and streamlining things.” She also expects increased integration among the many electronic health systems doctors and patients are currently using. Although these innovations will certainly help healthcare providers improve job performance, what’s really driving this shift is a desire for better communication between patients and doctors in order to create meaningful change.

 Other CEOs and founders echo Baszucki and Choo, predicting an increasingly prominent role for technology in industries ranging from restaurants to talent acquisition. But for all this focus on technological innovation, Free the Work founder Alma Har’el sums up it up best: “At the end of the day, the heart of the work is really about connecting on a human level, and that’s never going to change.” No matter how an industry is disrupted or what new technologies they choose to deploy, at the heart of all this change is us: people. We still matter.

To help you create success and shift to a culture of high performance, we introduced our 3-hack system. Many of our clients have already reported tremendous success after implementing it in their organizations. How will you keep the future workplace human? What choices will you make to make your employees matter? How will you empower and lead your people to high performance? Reach out to us for a free consultation. Through our dynamic keynote speeches, game-changing workshops, and bold coaching, we will inspire your people to up their game and help you create a high-performance culture.