Being a Resilient Leader
Across the country organizations are talking about the need for resiliency—especially for leaders.
As leaders we are experiencing change at a pace and complexity never experienced before, resulting in increased stress. Rich Fernandez, speaker, writer and though-leader in the areas of individual and organizational resilience looked at more than five decades of research. Rich says there are five ways to boost your resilience at work based on some of the latest neuroscience, behavioral and organizational research:
Exercise mindfulness
Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention to the present. When you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Mindfulness facilitates job performance, even after accounting for all three dimensions of work engagement – vigor, dedication, and absorption.
Compartmentalize your cognitive load
Be deliberate about compartmentalizing different types of work activities such as emailing, strategy or brainstorming sessions, and business-as-usual meetings. Compartmentalizing work is useful when you consider that switching from one type of task to another makes it difficult to tune out distractions and reduces productivity by as much as 40%, according to recent research published by the American Psychological Association.
Take detachment breaks
Throughout the workday, it’s important to pay attention to the peaks and valleys of energy and productivity that we all experience. Research suggests that balancing work activity with even a brief time for detaching from those activities can promote greater energy, mental clarity, creativity, and focus, ultimately growing our capacity for resilience throughout the course of the workday. The long-term payoff is that we preserve energy and prevent burnout over the course of days, weeks, and months.
Developmental agility
It is possible — without too much effort — to literally switch the neural networks with which we process the experience of stress in order to respond to rather than react to any difficult situation or person. This quality of mental agility hinges on the ability to mentally “decenter” stressors in order to effectively manage them. “Decentering” stress is not denying or suppressing the fact that we feel stressed — rather, it is the process of being able to pause, observe the experience from a neutral standpoint, and then try to solve the problem. The ability to pause, step back, reflect, shift perspectives, create options and choose wisely.”
Cultivate compassion
One of the most overlooked aspects of the resilience skill set is the ability to cultivate compassion — both self-compassion and compassion for others. Research by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, cites that compassion increases positive emotions, creates positive work relationships, and increases cooperation and collaboration.
