Resilient Leadership: How to Overcome Obstacles?

Leading a team of people with varying personalities requires unique patience and skill. Those skills include communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and resilience. Today, we highlight how you can cultivate the last point: resilience!

But what is resilient leadership? Why is it necessary, and how can you cultivate it?

Resilient leadership encompasses the application of the correct information, knowledge, and tools to face challenges head-on. Resilient bosses and managers use these tools to guide teams through business challenges confidently. Resilient leaders are problem solvers. They turn problems into opportunities and stepping stones.

If you are wondering how to become one, the following are the main attributes that make you one.

You Welcome Change

Change is the only constant in any field, let alone leadership. A resilient leader takes up this mantle, always welcoming it. If things remain the same, then there is no growth!

That said, being resilient in leadership is at the forefront of welcoming transformations in tech, business strategies, and everything else.

So, how should you go about welcoming change?

Here are a few pointers:

• Be an excellent observer: Resilient leadership starts with observation; watch, listen, and take notes. Even when things are going well, resilient heads are always looking for ways to improve their offerings. Observing helps you take it all in, analyze potential pitfalls, and solve them before they become a hindrance.
• Be Flexible and Adaptable: Flexibility is the art of changing form to fit a new mold each time. It means accepting problems as they come and finding actionable steps to solve them. It allows you to modify your goals and strategies to reach the goal faster.

Your Nature Positive Mindsets

Resilient leaders are masters of optimism, looking at the worst situations positively! But how does one develop a positive mindset?

Here are a few hints:

• Be Solution-Oriented: Instead of wallowing in why you are in a pit, find out how to get yourself out of it. That starts with gathering the troops and brainstorming ideas to get out of that rut. This encourages the team to collaborate on the solutions and gives the team confidence in their leader.
• Be Strategic: Strategic leadership is always one step ahead. Strategy zooms out on the issue at hand and finds the contributing factors. Next, you consider all the possible solutions, draw the game plan, and follow through with the plan. Applying strategy entails assigning each team member a role, ensuring that each person can deliver the best. Motivating them also helps them nurture positive outlooks.

You Encourage Strong Relationship-Building

Resilience in leadership relies on solid bonds within the team. If your team trusts you, this bond becomes more robust. When your subordinates are united, they give their all to ensure you reach your business goals.

So, how do you strengthen these bonds? Here are two ways:

• Communicate Openly: Never beat around the bush if you want to grow a strong team. Instead, be open about the severity of the situation and find workable solutions. A resilient leader does not solve issues alone but gathers their team’s opinions and works them out collectively. This reduces confusion and instills confidence in your leadership and resilience skills.
• Support Your Team: Make it happen if your juniors require tools to streamline their processes. If they need a break from a long and stressful working period, support them here too. These small gestures go a long way in ensuring your team members remain motivated and productive.

You Learn from Mistakes

We all fail! Some failures are more dire than others, but you can always bounce back. After all, isn’t that the actual definition of resilience?

As a resilient leader, you never shy away from failure. It never puts you down for long, but you get back on your feet and find solutions. How?

Find the answer to these questions, and you start to master bouncing back:

• What Went Wrong? Tracing the source of a downfall is the first step towards finding your way back to success. Think about what happened, breaking down the leading actions. Was it an unavoidable issue you can mitigate at this time, or does it require restructuring their entire system? Wherever the case, what went wrong, and what can you do to avoid it again?
• What Can I Do Differently This Time? After uncovering the reasons, find the solutions by modifying your approach. Sometimes, it might mean changing staff roles or even firing some people if it is an irreversible human error or negligence. As a resilient leader, you must do the heavy lifting, even though it might be painful.

You Manage All Goals, Big and Small

Leadership and resilience necessitate goal management based on priority. Is management your priority, or is it performance? They are both critical factors of success, but setting precedence helps you better navigate emerging issues.

How do you do that? The following are a few suggestions:

• Break down all Goals into Milestones: Staffing an entire burger into your mouth will choke you. But taking smaller bites and taking time to chew and swallow becomes easier. This is how you should also handle goals. Lay out the foundations and set out phases within the journey. Then, always strive to assess each stage, making changes and adjustments as you go. Before you know it, you will reach the goal post with each stage at 100%.
• Assign Team Roles Appropriately: Resilient leaders know who to place and where! Excellent communicators fit customer service, sales, and marketing roles. Analytical thinkers match analytical tasks such as finance, admin, and management. Knowing your team’s strengths helps you better place them in the appropriate role where they work at their best.

You Advocate for Self Care

You must have a sound mind and a healthy body to achieve agile and resilient leadership. But what does this mean exactly?

It means:

• You Take Good Care of Yourself: Go to the gym, eat healthily, and take breaks. Encouraging your team members to become their best start with yourself. This is leading by example. Imagine having a sad, unhealthy boss. Will you perform? Will your team support you?
• Delegate! Delegate! Delegate! You might feel like you have all the skills to achieve all your goals, but you need reinforcement to succeed. Here is where delegation wins. Delegate tasks to the most qualified persons, and you do the managerial functions. Do not be a micromanager who overlooks every detail; give each person space to work with their strongest suits. This way, you keep your sanity and take better care of yourself.

Conclusion

Leadership and resilience are a pair made in the skies. You can only do one with the other. Thankfully, you now understand how to become a resilient leader. You can do this!

Good luck!