Resilience is essential for outstanding leaders. Resilient leaders can handle stress, overcome failures, and prosper in uncertain settings. Today’s ever-changing workplace requires even greater resilience.
One trait of effective leaders is the capacity to deal effectively with uncertainty, disappointment, and difficulty. Focusing on the big picture and showing optimism as a leader are essential. Leaders that are able to adapt well to adversity and motivate their people to do the same are considered resilient. This article discusses resilient leadership and how to build it in yourself and your team.
The PERMA Model
Positive psychologist Martin Seligman devised the PERMA model as a means of assisting individuals in becoming happier and more resilient in their lives. The model is made up of five main aspects that make people feel that their lives have meaning and purpose:
- Positive Emotions: Positive emotions refer to those that increase feelings of contentment, pleasure, and health. Boosting one’s ability to deal with stress and difficult situations can be accomplished through the practice of cultivating happy emotions. Expressing gratitude or experiencing enjoyable activities can boost positivity and well-being;
- Engagement: Being engaged denotes that you are actively involved in something. Participation in active activities can be beneficial to both individuals and organizations, assisting them in overcoming challenges;
- Relationships: Social and emotional well-being can be gained from friendships and family. The sense of community and support gained from close friendships can be invaluable in the face of tragedy, helping both people and groups to persevere. Strengthening bonds between people and groups through activities like team-building exercises and social gatherings can help people feel more connected and supported;
- Meaning: To give your life meaning means to give it a feeling of direction and significance that will make you happy. Building resilience and overcoming adversity in the face of stress and hardship can be aided by cultivating meaning for oneself and one’s team. Giving people and groups purpose in life requires assisting them in defining their most fundamental values and goals and then encouraging them to strive toward them;
- Accomplishment: The reward for one’s efforts and the consequences of those efforts is the feeling of accomplishment. A sense of accomplishment can boost resiliency and general pleasure by bolstering a person’s sentiments of pride and capacity. Feelings of success and accomplishment can be increased by encouraging people and organizations to create and achieve goals and then celebrating those accomplishments after they have been reached.
The ABC Model
As a cognitive-behavioral strategy for building resilience, the ABC model entails spotting and disputing erroneous ideas and assumptions that can amplify unpleasant emotions. There are primarily three parts to the model:
- Activating Event: The activating event refers to the external event or trigger that leads to negative thoughts and emotions. This might be a tough deadline or a difficult talk with a coworker;
- Beliefs: Negative beliefs are those that are sparked by the triggering event. Anxiety and tension are exacerbated when negative thoughts are held unconsciously and automatically. If a frustrating coworker conversation triggers the notion, it may be “I’m not good enough” or “I’ll never be able to fix this problem.”;
- Consequences: The effects are the feelings and actions that follow from holding unfavorable ideas. Consequences including tension, anxiety, avoidance, and other unfavorable states of mind are possible outcomes.
The 4 Rs Model
The 4 Rs model, developed by psychologist Linda Graham, is a resilience-building framework that consists of four key practices:
- Recognize: This requires maturing in self-awareness, mindfulness, and feeling recognition and naming;
- Reframe: This involves the rejection of unhelpful ideas in favor of those that are more rational and constructive. Cognitive-behavioral techniques like reevaluating the validity of negative thoughts and shifting one’s attention to the bright side of a circumstance are examples of ways in which one might reframe an issue;
- Resource: This entails bolstering one’s own resources, such as social support and self-care routines. Self-care involves exercise, meditation, relaxation, and social support. By resourcing themselves, individuals and teams can build resilience and cope with stress and adversity more effectively;
- Regulate: Emotional regulation means being able to manage your emotions effectively. Mindfulness and other methods can improve your emotional control. Mindfulness meditation, breathing exercises, and other relaxation practices reduce stress and improve emotional control.
The Three C Model
The Three C Model is a resilience-building framework developed by psychologist Steven Southwick and psychiatrist Dennis Charney that focuses on three key elements:
- Challenge: Look at difficulties as tests, not obstacles. To do so, one must adopt a growth attitude and view setbacks not as failures but as stepping stones to future success. Those who embrace hardship as a test of the mettle are the ones who come out on top;
- Control: Build up your confidence that you can influence your situation. Step one is realizing that one can only control so much and shifting one’s attention there. An individual’s sense of agency and resilience in the face of hardship can be enhanced by refocusing attention on those things over which they actually do have some say;
- Commitment: Continually show dedication to one’s ideals and actions. Having a strong sense of why you’re here and being true to your beliefs and ambitions even when things get tough are essential components of this process. Committed people are more likely to keep going even when they encounter challenges.
Conclusion
In today’s unpredictable workplace, the capacity to recover quickly from setbacks is crucial. Successful people are resilient, calm under pressure, and optimistic even while facing difficult situations. Individuals and groups can strengthen their ability to bounce back from adversity by committing to lifelong learning and growth and viewing setbacks as chances for expansion.
The good news is that many theories, strategies, and resources have been developed to build resilience in individuals and groups. Some of the key tenets shared by these methods are an emphasis on feeling well, doing things that matter, surrounding oneself with supportive people, and learning to exercise meaning in one’s life. Incorporating these practices into regular routines can help individuals and groups become more resilient, increase their sense of well-being, and succeed despite facing challenges.
