Never ‘Just’ Bounce Back! Bounce Forward – Only!

Never ‘Just’ Bounce Back! Bounce Forward – Only!

Everyone is thinking about and focussed on how to “bounce back” after the Covid Pandemic. Real leaders are focussed on how they are going to Bounce Forward after the crisis. How are you going to bounce around after all this?? If Real Leaders Bounce Forward because it simply isn’t enough to just bounce back especially in those very hard and challenging times then it might be a wise move think and bounce forward too instead of bouncing back. We have to Bounce Forward in order to make progress and get things done so we can accomplish the Impossible and achieve the Unbelievable!

To come out of Covid-19 as a winner we simply need to bounce forward and Not back!

Actually we are born to bounce and move forward. Think about a baby learning to crawl and/or to walk. Baby falls back and down, gets up and tries again and moves, crawls and walks forward and not back! The analogy of a baby learning to move is brilliant to illustrate the undeniable science of bouncing forward. Baby falls down and often times back but then moves and bounces forward!

Life has not changed a bit! Bouncing forward is still the way to go in order to move on to better and stronger times in life. The transformative potential of resilience is far from assured. Too often, resilience is defined narrowly as a person’s capacity to “bounce back” after a disaster, setback or crisis. In order to avoid a narrow minded focus, interventions to build the right type of resilience can try to solve more than one problem. Old back bouncing thinking patterns needs to be changed and a forward bouncing mentality needs to be drilled in.

 The undeniable reality is, that everything is constantly changing around us, life is constantly changing and all of our experiences change our behaviours and our brain – the way we think, making "bouncing back" an impossible feat. McHenry, Sikorski, and McHenry (2014) discuss how we are different from one day to the next. Our brain is always changing, developing, and incorporating information from our experiences to help us make sense of our worlds. As such, all challenges, all setbacks and all experiences in general impact us and change us. With research demonstrating that trauma and adverse experiences can change our brain in powerful ways, the phrase “bouncing back” is not encouraging, and can feel unattainable. Hence Bouncing Forward is the much more logical way of handling hard situations, setbacks and crisis’s.

 Make it your Mantra! Don't Bounce Back! Bounce Forward!

Writing this article is close to my heart since Bouncing Forward is True Resilience, Grit and an applied Growth Mindset in a Nutshell - all combined - all in One! The winning formula so to speak! Numerous studies identify resilience and the ability to bounce forward as the essential life skills to not only help people of all ages overcome setbacks but also the key to making the most of opportunities and life in general. It’s probably safe to say that we’ve never been in a situation like Covid-19 before. While challenges & change are a constant in natural and social history, the pace, scale, and impact of change today is utterly without precedent. The Covid crisis will have a lasting impact despite the fact that more than any previous generation; we are connected by dense global networks of commerce and communication. Coming out of this challenging situation stronger and bounce forward is the goal we have to focus on at the moment.

Always Be Bouncing Forward!

Resilience is a journey not a destination. It is Progression, Obsession and Evolution on its finest!

Bouncing back is such a old fashioned, misleading and demotivating term all together if you really think about the concept of bouncing back to the past. Just considering all those people have faced serious financial hardship or even battled a long illness, or had dramas all over the place! Bouncing back to that??

What’s the point of getting back to Baseline (even though baseline might not have been too bad) if we actually have to keep moving forward in lightning speed – faster than anyone else to succeed on the highest level possible? To become the very best version of ourselves – the Best we can possibly be is the Art of Bouncing Forward in Action! We simply have to make it the New Norm to come back better & stronger after a setback, a mistake, a loss, defeat or disadvantage!

Resilience

Make Bouncing Forward the New Normal! I like to use the term Resiliator. This amazing super-word does not only sound a bit like Gladiator, Accelerator, Predator – Resiliator is strongly indicating that we are ready to Bounce Forward and willing to take action in the right direction!

Of course there is no doubt it all comes down to resilience, grit, growth mindset and a never give up mentality. Resilience has become the new trend - a real new buzzword in modern society. Wherever you look there are articles and posts on resilience in the advent of crazy and dangerous times as we are all facing now with Covid 19 or natural and manmade disasters.

But real & high level resilience is not just coping and surviving! The benchmark for an insane level of resilience is Bouncing Forward rather than just bouncing back to baseline! The increasing pace of change and the uncertainty it brings, requires the investment in building a resilient workforce if we are serious about reducing illness, sickness, fatigue, stress, anxiety, depression, failure and burnout.

When we address these things in a serious fashion, we reduce mental health issues in the workplace and increase employee health, happiness & engagement, productivity, profitability, creativity, and innovation. All of which are paramount to organizational success & survival.

What does resilience actually mean?

Taking a look in the dictionary resilience is defined as:

“The ability to bounce or spring back into shape, position, etc. after setbacks, failure, loss, mistakes, defeat and so on”

Since the common definition of resilience is just talking about bouncing back to baseline I don’t think it is a good and accurate one. Getting knocked down and getting back up is certainly great! But just getting up and not advancing, moving, adapting, improving or changing means the next knockdown is waiting and programmed already.

Moving Forward – Bouncing Forward– Keep Moving Forward and not locking back is the only answer.

How can someone drive a car safely and maybe even driving very fast by constantly locking back? In order to drive safely at any speed we have to look forward and have to have our eyes and concentration on the street to see what is coming our way. Looking and bouncing back is therefore not a winning strategy!

That is not really resilience anyway! Remember if we stop learning, if we stop moving and if we stop rowing we will go backwards. Just holding baseline and returning to baseline after every setback will not get us anywhere. It’s a merciless process. Bouncing back might not do us any good at all but Bouncing Forward will!

So who is driving your” bus”? Who is in charge of your life and your decisions? Is your “bus” moving forward or backward? Is your “bus “stable? Are you in control?

Seriously who really wants to bounce back to 10 years ago? Most likely no one! The world has become such a fast moving rollercoaster world that I don’t even want to be in the position of last year. Looking back one year puts a compassionate smile on my face. If you are not embarrassed by yourself one year ago You have not grown, learned and improved fast enough!

Change

We have to stop bouncing back because nothing has changed. We just got back to where we were before we got knocked down. At some point, we are going to stay down. And that’s definitely not what we want at all because it would mean that game is over!

Therefore, real resilience is not about bouncing back; it is about bouncing forward! Resilience can be learned and practiced and to be truly resilient and capable of bouncing forward, we need to be equipped with the right resources, habits, procedures, tools, environment and techniques to do so.

Resilient Leadership

Resilient Leadership has Forward Bouncing Magic written all over it!

What are the steps to becoming a more resilient leader, a leader that is bouncing up and forward rather than ‘just’ bouncing back?

One important step towards resilient leadership is to surrender to Difficult and Challenging Situations. The more we seek the Uncomfortable the more we get comfortable with the Uncomfortable. To expose and surround myself with very uncomfortable situations on a daily basis I have decided to take on a crazy 400 Ice Bath Challenge this year. That’s every day one Ice Bath and on 40 days I have to take two.

We often resist the Tough, Inconvenient & Challenging Moments in our lives & at work. I often notice that some of my clients & customers don’t want to accept the reality of their challenging situation and therefore give in, give up & accept the unsatisfying outcome. There are many reasons why we do this, whether the situation is too painful, too challenging or we like our current & cosier situation. Often times we simply don’t see the blessing, the opportunity, the incredible chance or purpose of the new outcome or situation. As a result, we delay our actions or run away from them, which only makes them even worse. Whatever we resist persists. It is only when we accept that a situation is changing that we can do something about it. Change is good! Reframing your mindset to see the possibilities, opportunities & solutions is the way to go & most likely the better option to succeed in our modern fast moving world and Bounce Forward.

Focus on the opportunity in the setback & Bounce Forward!

Take off and Bounce forward like a fighter jet! Have you ever seen a fighter jet bouncing back??

Always remember resilience can be learnt. It is not something you have or don't have.

#resilience #mindset #bounceforward #resilientleadership #hrmanagement #hrdirector #hrmanager #growthmindset