The Key to Team Resilience: YOU

Hello, LinkedIn! Welcome back to A Moment To Think, a monthly newsletter with thought-provoking strategies, insights, and resources that will help you accelerate your professional and personal success.

If we’re meeting for the first time, welcome! You can learn more about me and the work I do by clicking here .

The last few years have taught all of us about our own resilience. Luckily, that capacity for resilience lies within all of us, it just needs to be cultivated. Over my last two newsletters, we’ve discussed how we can build that resilience and the strength that comes from surviving difficult scenarios . As leaders, though, we can’t only focus on our own resilience. For an organization to thrive, its teams must also be resilient.?

As a leader, you’re in a unique position to create the ideal conditions that build workplace resilience. Thankfully, like individual resilience, team resilience can be built. And with the help of several recent studies on the topic, we know what works -? and what doesn’t. Read on to learn more about how you can boost the resilience of your team!

Ponder this…

In 2020, Marcus Buckingham and his team at the ADP Research Institute completed a large workplace research study on resilience, involving 25,000 adults in 25 countries. While there are a number of interesting findings, here are two that I found particularly interesting. First, the higher one’s level within an organization, the higher their resilience. Second, any individual’s resilience level largely depends on how they feel about their team leader and their senior leaders.?

Resilience levels are highest at the top

So why do senior leaders tend to have higher levels of resilience than those lower on the ladder? This finding mirrors what we already know about engagement, and it’s based on a couple of factors. Senior leaders tend to have more autonomy and control, and they also have access to more information that allows them to reduce uncertainty.?

Think of a time when you have struggled with resilience. It’s likely that you were in a situation where you lacked autonomy and certainty, two primary stressors for humans. So, if you want to build your team’s resilience, think about how you can provide more autonomy and information to reduce uncertainty.

We also know that as someone moves up the organizational ladder, their ability to empathize with others decreases. Be cognizant of this as you navigate your team through stressful situations. Demonstrating more empathy will help you build better, more secure relationships with your team members and create a culture of trust.?

Trust boosts resilience??

Leaders, you have a direct impact on the resilience of the other people in your organization, and it’s largely dependent on how much they trust you. The ADP study shows that workers are 14 times more engaged when they trust their organization’s leadership, and the same is true of resilience. The most resilient workers trust both their team and senior leaders.?

Zenger Folkman’s extensive research shows that three primary factors determine how much we trust another person: competency, consistency, and strong relationships. Of those, strong relationships are the most important. Taking the time to build strong interpersonal relationships with your team can be a game-changer. Create these by showing your team you care about them as people, keeping lines of communication open and being clear and honest, providing quality feedback, and creating a psychologically safe environment.?

A change in perspective makes all the difference

You can also guide your team toward collective resilience by shaping their perspective. Like individual resilience , how a team views a problem is a strong predictor of how they will navigate adversity. One key aspect of this is how confident they are in their ability to face and overcome challenges, and you can help manage that. Emphasizing the team’s strengths and reminding them of other times they have successfully faced adversity can go a long way in creating that confidence.?

We’ve previously discussed reappraisal as a tool for individual resilience, and it works at a team level too. Reframe challenges the team is facing as opportunities for the group to learn and grow. Finally, share your vision and foresight with your team, and let them see you calmly and courageously lead the charge into the future. When your team knows they have a steady captain of the ship, they are more able to filter out external stressors and concentrate on their work.

Teams are the lifeblood of any company. And in this rapidly changing world with new challenges every day, resilient teams are make-or-break for an organization’s success. With these ideas and tools, you can take proactive steps to boost your team’s resilience, sustainability, and long-term success.?

Make sure you never miss an issue by clicking the "Subscribe" button in the upper right corner of the page. For more articles, tips, and insight, connect with me here!?

For more strategies and insights to help you shine at work, download my Top 8 Recommended Articles here!