Building Resiliency

How to Thrive in Times ofChange

Center for Creative Leadership
 RESILENCY

“More than education, more than

experience, more than training, a
person’s level of resilience will determine
who succeeds and who fails. That’s true
in the cancer ward, it’s true in the
Olympics, and it’s true in the boardroom.”
How Resilience Works
Harvard Business Review
May, 2002
 Definition:
Resilience means we can be
challenged and not break down. It is
the ability to bounce back, learn, and
even thrive in the face of adversity.
 Why is Resiliency Important?
Because change is so pervasive.
Organizations change mission,
strategy or focus. Staff turnover and
budget struggles all create change in
their wake!
Can You Become Resilient??
 Nine Areas of Resilience
1. Acceptance of Change
How can I succeed when the rules have changed??
This is the way I have always done it!!

• Pay attention to the people and the work around you.

Seek out new challenges that stretch your skill or
minimize your weaknesses
• Pay attention to your mental well-being. Take
discomfort as a signal to explore your feelings and
thoughts.
• Examine change on its own terms – what can you
control
 2. Continuous Learning
•At the end of each day write down one thing you
learned or one thing you knew already but had
confirmed
•Review a professional disappointment that occurred
recently (past 6 months). What is your perspective now.
•Look back on a professional success that occurred in
your career. What do you know now that you didn’t
know then?
 The Learning Curve

Learning
Performance

Time
Think about a struggle you’ve
successfully dealt with…
 3. Self Empowerment

• What are your strengths?

• Develop new strengths

• Create your own board of directors or advisors.

 4. Sense of Purpose

• Why?
• Why do you do the work that you
do?
• What gives it meaning?
• Flow
Is there a difference between who
you are
And what you do?
 5. Personal Identity
• Your job is just one facet of your identity

•Sense of personal identity creates links between:

feelings, beliefs, values and actions!

•"The essence of metaphor is understanding and

experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another."

• Develop a personal metaphor for your goals

 I’m forever hitting a brick wall
 I’m the captain of my fate
 1. Personal and Professional Networks

“Developing a good-sized network

is truly a transferable skill”

• Personal as well as professional relationships create

a
strong base of support.
 1. Reflection
• Establish Routines that build in reflection

• Rearrange priorities to make time for reflection

• Use your performance appraisal as time for

reflection

• Keep a journal
 1. Skill Shifting
• Don’t be afraid to change your definition

• Where else would your skills be appreciated?

 1. Relationship to Money
• Nowhere is it more evident how you relate to the
outside world than your attitude toward money!
 The Valley of Chaos

Learning
Performance

Time
Surviving a challenge
Fostering Individual Resilience

• Continuous learning
• Realistic optimism
• Sense of purpose and meaning
• Ritualized Ingenuity
• Social Network
Fostering Organizational Resilience

• Establish a learning culture

• Create a compelling vision or
“sticky” message
• Create opportunities to innovate
• Networks that extend across
boundaries
• http://kimandjason.com/blog/
• Cuteoverload.com