Today’s resilience exercise: FLEXIBLE/Thoughts. Read an article that discusses a topic you don’t agree with.  See if you can find any common ground.

Today’s resilience exercise: POSITIVE/World. Think about an obstacle that you’ve overcome. Make a list of the good that came out of it.

A team is more than just a collection of individuals. When people work on a shared task, a set of group dynamics develops that can enhance or diminish their ability to get things done.

Executing with Resilience

Linda Hoopes

In Managing at the Speed of Change, Daryl Conner suggests that we each have a baseline level of resilience, that this baseline can be increased through practice and development, and that, as we implement major change initiatives, we can create temporary surges in our own and others’ resilience by applying key principles that reflect our understanding of humans in transition.  

The first two articles in this series focus on understanding the elements of resilience and what individuals and leaders can do tobuild and support it. Here I’d like to focus on the third element in this model: What can we as change agents do to support and enhance human resilience as we execute critical initiatives?

Change agents are stewards of human energy. When we take on the responsibility of assisting an organization in transition, we are entrusted with a very precious resource: the life force of the humans in that organization. If we do our work well, that energy is multiplied; liberated; freed to flow more effectively. If we do our work poorly, that energy is drained; stuck; used in unproductive ways.

The link to resilience is direct: Change creates turbulence. Humans expend energy to regain equilibrium. The less energy people use to adjust to each change, the more change they can absorb, and—by definition—the more resilient they are. This means that everything change agents do to minimize the level of turbulence, increase the productive flow of energy, and decrease the energy needed to adapt for those involved in change without compromising the effectiveness of the change initiative raises resilience.

Here’s a list of some of the things that come to mind, with questions to think about for your current project:

Minimize the level of turbulence

• Evaluate the level of disruption the change is introducing. What elements of the change are most disruptive to the people involved? Is there a way to reduce the level of disruption without compromising the goals of the change?
• Provide as much direct control as possible. Lack of control is one if the key contributors to disruption. Are there areas where people can have options/choices?  How can we involve them in shaping the direction of the change?
• Where direct control is not possible, help people establish accurate expectations (indirect control). Are we communicating clearly, accurately, and honestly what will happen, when, and to whom? Are we trying to artificially protect people from disruption by withholding information?

Increase the productive flow of energy

• Pay attention to the flow of energy. It’s intangible, and can’t easily be quantified, but it can be sensed. Where are we seeing enthusiasm? Momentum? Engagement? Where does energy seem low?
• Tap into individual discretionary energy. When individuals see a path to achieving personally important outcomes (growth, learning, serving a higher purpose, etc.), they can contribute almost unlimited amounts of energy to initiatives that also benefit the organization. Do we understand what outcomes are important to individuals? Can we help them achieve these goals while helping the organization succeed?
• Identify things that are impeding the flow. I like the theory of constraints as a mental model here: Imagine energy as water flowing through a hose. The flow will always be limited (constrained) by blockages, leaks, or narrow places in the hose. Rather than trying to find and fix them all at once, we need to figure out which one is biggest issue, address it, and then look for the next one. What’s our biggest energy blockage or leakage right now? If we could change one thing right now (an unsupportive leader, a lack of resources, etc.) to address this issue, what would it be?

Decrease the energy needed to adapt

When we consciously take each of the personal resilience characteristics (described in more detail in the first article) into account in planning and executing the change, we help each individual engage their change muscles most effectively. In each area, I’ve included one or two sample questions for reflection; I invite you to create and share others as well.

• Positive: The World—Are we viewing and communicating the change, and the reasons for executing it, purely in terms of problems and dangers, or are we seeing and sharing the hope, possibilities, and opportunities that are also present?
• Positive: Yourself—Are we effectively aligning the talents and skills of individuals with the demands of the initiative? Are we helping people see where they have contributions to make?
• Focused—Are we clear about where this change fits within the organization’s overall set of priorities? Are we communicating these priorities to everyone involved so they can align their energy accordingly?
• Flexible: Thoughts—Are we getting out of our own habitual ways of thinking about things? Are we including time and space for people to participate in innovation, creativity, and playfulness as we identify new approaches and solutions?
• Flexible: Social—Are we using collaboration and teams effectively? Are we making it safe for people to ask for support and help from others?
• Organized—Are we creating clear processes and structures to guide us and others through uncertainty? Is everyone clear about what these are and how to use them?
• Proactive—Are we encouraging experimentation and risk-taking? Are we allowing people to learn from mistakes as they move out of their comfort zone and into new ways of operating?

One last thought: I have seen many project teams focus most of their attention on the team itself and the work it is doing while spending far too little time on the people throughout the organization who must shift their mindsets and behaviors to operate in the new environment. It’s certainly important for the team to maintain and enhance its own resilience, because the demands of project execution can be high. But it’s also essential to pay attention to the resilience of the participants/targets/contributors in the change, including leaders at all levels. Their energy is required to achieve sustained success.

The first article in this series focused on personal resilience—how individuals can use their energy more effectively during disruption. This second article will explore the role of leaders in creating an environment that supports resilience. If you haven’t read the first article, please do it now, as this one builds on the language and concepts introduced there.

As a leader, you create the conditions under which people flourish or suffer during change. You are a sculptor and architect of human energy. In a turbulent world, this is arguably the most important responsibility you bear. Here are a few thoughts on how to lead with resilience:

1. Understand and manage your own responses to change. You are a human being first. If your energy is drained in turbulence, you won’t be much help to anyone else. In addition, once others see you as a leader, you automatically become a role model whether you like it or not. People will take their cues from you. If you are negative, unfocused, inflexible, disorganized, and risk-averse, they probably will be too. So it’s worth taking some time to become consciously competent about your own resilience.

It’s also important to know what to do if you are an exceptionally resilient person. In my experience, leaders in this situation face a specific and unusual set of challenges. They find change so energizing that they often stir things up without thinking about how others might react, and end up frustrating the people around them.

1. Coach and support others in their resilience development. Formally or informally, you are in a position to help others build their resilience. This can take a lot of forms. You can simply be helpful and encouraging to others as they work their way through disruption—a listening ear, an open heart, and a set of willing hands are wonderful resources. You can serve as a mentor or coach to people who have decided to strengthen their resilience. If you are in a formal leadership role, you can include resilience in the elements you hold people accountable for developing.

If you do any of these things from a position of judgment, however, your work will be counterproductive. Your role is to be a companion and guide. For this reason, one of the most powerful things I’ve seen leaders do to help others is to share their own development journey. What have you struggled with during change? What challenges have helped you grow stronger? What vulnerabilities do you feel?

1. Identify and leverage resilience strengths in team settings. If you lead teams, you know that individuals bring different gifts to their work. Apply this same thinking to resilience: Individuals’ change muscles can complement one another. You may have one person who is extremely positive, but not very organized; another who is organized but not very focused; and a third who is proactive but not very positive. If the weaknesses dominate, the team runs the risk of significant energy drains during change. By combining strengths, the team can be more resilient together than they could separately.

Sometimes you’ll find a team with a collective blind spot in one of the elements of resilience. For instance, you may have a group of people who all seek high levels of certainty before taking action. While this may serve them well in their day-to-day work, it is likely to lead to challenges when they are in the midst of change. In this case, you may want to work with the entire group to strengthen the “proactive” muscle, encouraging them to try small experiments as a way of starting to become comfortable with larger risks.

1. Create a culture that supports resilience. Culture is the aggregate of a hundred thousand individual choices about how to act in ambiguous situations. Do I send you an e-mail or walk down the hall to your office? Do I return the call from the customer right now, or wait until tomorrow? Culture is shaped by structures, processes, stories, examples, and rewards.

Because it’s so complex, shaping a resilient culture is the most difficult of the components listed here. But it’s also potentially the most powerful. What if every time an individual had to choose between viewing a challenge as an opportunity or a danger, they chose the opportunity? What if every time an individual had to decide whether to come up with creative options or stick with the tried and true in an unfamiliar situation, they got creative?

Your goal here is to think about how you can shape an environment that reminds people to be positive, focused, flexible, organized, and proactive, and that supports and reinforces them when they do, rather than punishing them for doing so. Let’s take one example: Focused. Do you as a leader articulate one clear set of priorities, link everyone’s individual priorities to those of the organization and the department, and honor people who say “no” to activities that are not aligned with those priorities? Or do you add new priorities every day, send mixed messages about what’s most important, and expect people to get everything done without questioning? Guess which one is more supportive of individual resilience.