Resiliency - How to Build It by Guest Blogger Caroline Hanover

Resiliency as defined by Webster’s dictionary is  – ‘The ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change’.  It can also be defined as the ability to bounce back from setbacks and move forward. 

We all know people who are resilient – they suffer personal tragedy or career setbacks and they bounce back.  Sometimes, they take a whole new course in life or simply adjust to their circumstances with an optimistic outlook.  Sadly, we also know people who get stuck.  For these people, there seems to be no hope and they despair until circumstances change or not. 

As Diane Coutu suggests in her May 2002, HBR article, How Resilience Works, “Resilient people, possess three characteristics: a staunch acceptance of reality; a deep belief, often buttressed by strongly held values, that life is meaningful; and an uncanny ability to improvise. You can bounce back from hardship with just one or two of these qualities, but you will only be truly resilient with all three.”

In today’s business world, this is a hot, hot topic.  Why?  Change is constant and we have a multigenerational, diverse workforce who expect different things from their employers.  We also face near constant change everywhere.  Technology and social media have made our lives very different.  Work and life are often blurred.   With the federal workforce facing unpaid leave, and with mergers and acquisition leaving people unemployed, uncertainty is everywhere.  

In 2010, Barbara Davis of Change Results Consulting wrote a white paper on resiliency that describes six encouragers of resiliency and four discouragers.  From her research, Davis developed a method to identify encouragers and discouragers that can be described and developed. 

Encouragers

•       Bounces Back from Setbacks

•       Faces Reality and Acts

•       Responds Flexibly

•       Experiments and Innovates

•       Finds Meaning in the Work

•       Expects and Encourages Resiliency

Discouragers

•       Rescuing

•       Reassuring

•       Reacting

•       Rigidity

Her premise is that you can build any competency including one as complex as resiliency. So how do you build resiliency?   The most pragmatic way is through identifying the encouragers and the discouragers of resiliency.  Once identified, building a plan to leverage strengths and work on a weakness – similar to the Career Architect from Lominger.  It is not as simple as it sounds but there are tools available to help leaders build the resiliency on their teams.  The key to building resiliency is to reinforce optimistic yet realistic behaviors and increase adaptability.  For more on resiliency, you should review the literature and case studies at www.hbr.org.  For more on building resiliency, visit www.changeresults.com. 

By Caroline Hanover

In the Moment

It was a great concert – everyone was enjoying the music, the mood and the experience.  There was an excitement that you could feel.  Yet I observed something that I thought was odd – not distracting, just odd.  Two men sitting in the row behind me were discussing an entirely different band and experience.  It struck me that they were totally unaware of where they were and what was going on around them.

When I mentioned it to a young colleague, her comment was that “They weren’t present in the moment.”  That was it, I thought.  And why spend the money when you are not going to be part of the experience.  My colleague (who is younger in age but not necessarily younger in wisdom) quipped that she worried about her generation – that they appeared to be more tethered to their devices and not taking advantage of relationships and experiences.

A recent discussion came around to a similar topic – and the question was posed: “Were the younger generations disengaged?  One of the participants was adamant that they (referring primarily to teenagers) were more connected than previous generations.  They had wide networks that they “communicate with”.  Are they really communicating or merely exchanging bits of information I wondered?

I attended a presentation this year about improvisation – and how to cultivate and practice spontaneity in organizations.  The speaker’s premise was that leaders and improvisers share three qualities:  presence, acceptance and trust.

• Presence – the ability to be here and now and focus one’s thinking in order to move toward a goal.
• Acceptance – the ability to deal with reality as it is rather than as we’d like it to be.
• Trust –  the ability to suspend judgment while remaining open to unforeseen outcomes

He got my attention at “presence” – the ability to be here and now.  He engaged us in a series of exercises so we could practice and strengthen our ability to be spontaneous.  He encouraged us to draw from the environment – the room where we were sitting – for cues.  For me, the physical environment (positive or negative) is all part of the experience.  It helps to engage me. I strive to be keenly aware of what’s going on around me.  I don’t want to miss anything.    Too often what I observe is people looking down, missing everything.

The quality of any experience is influenced by so many factors.   Think of a good conversation which is enhanced by the people present and participating in it – their antics, body language and passion.  It’s so much more than information exchange – it’s true communication.

Take the time to look up from that devise.  Look around you.  Get involved and engaged.  Don’t just smell the roses; take the time to look at them.  Be present and draw from the environment.  It may lead you closer to that goal.

When the Stars Come Out

My bucket list gets longer and longer.  On my list is to hear music in as many outdoor venues as possible. So far, I have enjoyed many nights at the Hollywood Bowl and the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, Red Rocks Amphitheater near Denver, Ravinnia in the Chicago area, Blossom in Cleveland, Tanglewood in Massachusetts and Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in the Washington, DC area.  And, one amazing evening, I attended the Santa Fe Opera in one of the most beautiful settings of all!  I believe, at least for me, there is something magical about great music and nature combining for a memorable experience!

Recently, I was delighted to attend a performance at Wolf Trap by Straight No Chaser, an a capella singing group who started performing at the Indiana University.  Summer in DC is hot and humid and we frequently get a storm in the early evening.    We sat on the lawn and enjoyed a picnic dinner before the show.  The crowd got really lucky that night and the singers were able to get the entire concert in before the thunder and lightning started—in fact, when the lightening started, I thought it was part of the show!  We got totally soaked getting to the car but it was so worth it to see and hear this amazing group of ten men perform in the beautiful Wolf Trap setting.

Maybe you’ve seen them on PBS or been fortunate enough like I have been twice, to see them in concert but if you haven’t seen them, go on YouTube and find one of their many videos to give yourself a treat.

I honestly don’t know how they do it—to perform for a crowd of thousands with just their voices is so amazing to me.  One of them said they are really tired of people saying that they perform without music—no, they perform without instruments—but  their voices are amazing.  I am sure they have some sort of way to keep them in tune and on track but to the audience it just looks as if it is effortless.

What a wonderful example of a successful team!  In fact, during the show I saw at Wolf Trap one of the performers fell to the stage. Of course, I thought it was part of the act but when everyone stopped singing and helped him off the stage; it was obvious he was not feeling well.  Seconds later the group came back on stage and apologized and said Jerome was ok and would be back.  He did come back shortly and did several solos and seemed fine!  But while he was gone, the others filled in for him without missing a beat.

A well functioning team can do that—pick up the slack for someone who is having a bad day or bad year!  A team can and should support the members and know that if they themselves have to step away for some reason, others can pick up the slack.  I also love that the members of the Straight No Chaser team honor each other’s strengths.  Some of the group do solo numbers with back up from their team while others seem ok with always doing back up! Organizations need both kinds of people—those who can lead and those who are willing and able to play a supporting role.

Some teams come together naturally while others take a bit more work.  Straight No Chaser is a good example of a talented group of singers working together as a team and entertaining lots of people when they perform!
Consider visiting an outdoor venue near you this summer to experience the magic of music under the stars!  I have a few more places to see in the US and maybe I will add other outdoor venues around the world to my ever longer bucket list!

Chance Encounters of the Great Kind

What are the odds? During a recent visit to New York City, Barbara and I were standing in line at TKTS to secure tickets for a Broadway show that Saturday evening. With close to an hour wait, we struck up a conversation with a young man in line in front of us. He was a frequent customer of TKTS, knew the process and had the app on his iPhone. He was very generous with his information and his guidance.

As knowledgeable as he was, we assumed he lived in the New York metro area. No, he was from Philadelphia. We shared we were from the Washington DC metro area. Turns out he went to the University of Maryland for his graduate studies. Being a natural interviewer, Barbara asked him what he did in Philadelphia. Turns out he worked for a client of mine. The irony didn't stop there. The women in line behind us also lived in Philadelphia. Six degrees of separation and a sense of community right on the streets of Manhattan, New York City, NY!

What makes a community? It's the connection we have with the people around us, our coworkers, our neighbors, our families, and even people on the streets of New York. Yes, we could have maneuvered our way through the line, strained our necks to see the shows available that night and gotten tickets for a great play. But it was so much easier doing it with help from someone who frequently used the service. And knowing that we shared a connection just made the experience more special. Earlier that day a breakfast, we had conversations and shared condiments with perfect strangers. Securing the butter for toast and ketchup for potatoes from each other was easier than getting the servers attention.

Getting to know people is so important and vital to the health and welfare of our communities. In a recent discussion on leadership, the facilitator spoke of the importance of knowing your team. I'll expand that thought. It's important to know the members of your community. That doesn't mean you pry for intimate details. You don't need to know everything about them and their lives. Some folks are more private than others. Respect their boundaries. At the same time don't be afraid to engage in casual conversations. Engage in dialogue. Listen. We've got some great reports about these topics on our website at http://www.bigbookofhr.com/reports.

I contrast my experiences on Saturday to my observations in the hotel next morning. People were standing around fixated on their mobile devices and not interacting with another human. Get you head out of "the cloud" I wanted to shout. Get involved with people. You may discover something fascinating. None of us live on an island nor are we isolated.