Can we build resilience ?
Diego Moreira
Director of Product Management, Fortnite Developer|Creator platform ex:Meta | Facebook Developer Partnerships and Programs | CEO - Afterverse PKXD | Board member & Executive on demand helping companies grow.
resilience
[ ri-zil-yuhns, -zil-ee-uhns ]
noun
1.the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
"the remarkable resilience of so many institutions"
Is it possible to build resilience and even further build it as a team ?
Through the past years of my career in Big Tech or more lately in the startup space, one skill that I observed being a connector among those who can keep their heads out of the water and succeed during hard times is resilience. A lot is said and written out there about resilience but there is no MBA or Master class to acquire it, so how to deal with it is an open question for many entrepreneurs.
Unless you were faced with big adversities in life it’s very unlikely that these words were part of your formation on building resilience: Fear, Instability, Courage, Support, Mental health, loneliness, Empathy are terms that equalize sentiments for most tech employees or entrepreneurs as we speak.?
With stakeholders seeking positive EBTIDA at any cost and a bunch of amazing talents building products and trying to mature it while balancing their P&L, how can we find resilience to keep going ?
Consultants find it easy and natural to help companies in pointing out where to make changes and exercises to build resilience in the corporate world, but what about when it’s your own team, the people that surround you and go to battle everyday by your side that are struggling, how do we find resilience to keep going ?
This year I've made a compromise to help not only external professionals as I've done in my? career but to focus way more on taking care of the people around me. Below I’ve listed a few points and actions that are really helping me to think and act about the road ahead and dark skies for the tech world while keeping the horizon clear to build new ideas and keep minds thinking together, hope you enjoy the content and that great exchanges will follow up in the comments:
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1- ?Emotional Awareness: Understanding when you are at your best or when you need help before offering help to others. Leaders very often don’t understand how much the way we show up everyday influences the group's ability to build and sustain the resilience to cross the chasm. Be aware of your energy levels, routines and optimize to connect with who needs your support at the peaks of your emotional stability. Understand when it’s time to push and when it’s time to be pushed.
2- Engagement: Repeating a mantra and creating routines helps to find solid ground with your team but unless they observe you walking the talk and hustling together, it will be hard to build sustained resilience and sense of engagement.
3- Meaning: Say whatever but the only group of people that will stay by your side and run through the walls with you are those who find meaning in what we build together, with meaning comes resilience, a sense of belonging and a desire to reach that goal. Meaning is the fire starter and fuel for reaching objectives in life in its purest formula.
4- Accomplishment: If you can’t see it you have to trust it’s there, but if you can feel and make others feel it too, it's way easier to have joiners around you in the pursuit of a common objective. Providing a sense of accomplishment, tangible ways to check your progress helps a team to build the necessary endurance and resilience to take on bad results before things turn in your favor.
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5-Acceptance: Being true to yourself and those who choose to share the journey with you. No, everything is NOT going to be alright, it will suck most times, it will be difficult, you will want to give up and some will give up as the points above don’t connect to them and it's OK. Accepting facts as they are and not as you want them to be, turns out to be an amazing force to build resilience and help you support others in the journey vs projecting a future with no plan that won’t translate into actions or any force for good. We all want to live the hero journey but the truth is that very little pay attention to what’s needed in a winning plan and the points above, the result is not accepting reality and projecting failure into others vs taking leadership to steer the route and see your destiny (protagonist mindset).
But what to do when faced with self or team lack of resilience ? First it's no one's fault to suffer with it but everyone's duty is to build an inclusive environment of support. Start by identifying bias and not blaming it on an individual, generational conflicts and other stereotypes, second play it by strengths help individuals or yourself by identifying areas where you are really good and go with it first. This will help build confidence and clarity = meaning and acceptance, things hopefully will start to develop from there. Seeking out weaknesses at the same time you're trying to build resilience won't help much, but maybe this is a topic for our next discussion…
I hope some of those concepts spark discussions and resonate with my network. As we build a dialog I will learn in depth from specialists in each area and collectively we can better support those around us.
Diego Moreira
This really resonates, Diego, and I recall seeing you put many of these in action over the years. When I recall moments in which resilience was need, I always remember that what helped me the most is having someone in my corner who could share and understand the burden. This is mentioned and implied throughout your note, but I might even call it out independently. Similarly to how complex projects require strong collaboration amongst individuals, hard times require strong bonds built on empathy and solidarity. Two phrases come to Mind: “many hands make light work”, “if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together”
Software Architect | Engineer | AI Stanford | MBA | Inventor
1 年This post is a great reminder of the importance that we need to take care of ourselves, and each other, in order to succeed in the long run. Thank you! In addition, I'd say it is important to recognize that external resources, like coaching or counseling, can be beneficial in some cases. Sometimes a team doesn't have the resources, or experience to deal with an uncomfortable situation and extra help turns out to be the way out. But now, the $1M question. How do you know your team is resilient if they never faced a real challenge? It's when the real leaders show off and keep pushing ?? to prepare the team for the journey, not a sprint.
Senior Service Engineering Manager | Microsoft
1 年Great article Diego! People need to know that one important aspect of resilience is not just “bounce back” from adversity without addressing the root cause of the adversity itself. ? The most important thing is to address and dismantle those barrier and stressors rather than simply focus on cope with them. Here is where a great leader or a great team can help. Speak and offer help when you see someone in needing of it or ask for help when you are the one who needs it. ? Resilient team members don't see failures as the end, but an opportunity to learn from?failures and figure out what you can do differently next time. That's how winning is done!
Director of Product Management, Fortnite Developer|Creator platform ex:Meta | Facebook Developer Partnerships and Programs | CEO - Afterverse PKXD | Board member & Executive on demand helping companies grow.
1 年Looking forward the comments, agreements and diverging opinions here