Those of you who closely follow my monthly blogs will know by now that whilst there are many leadership traits and qualities I admire, one in particular consistently remains close to my heart.

That of resilience.

This month I want to address four key areas around this topic – “What is a resilient leader,” “The benefits of being a resilient leader,” “How to be a resilient leader,” and “The importance of being a resilient leader.”

Before starting on the first of these, let’s take a slight step back to remind ourselves of the meaning of resilience.

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) - a worldwide federation of national standards bodies – defines resilience as: 'The ability of a business to absorb and adapt in a changing environment to enable it to deliver its objectives and to survive and prosper.'

Quite simply, resilience is the ability to learn from your setbacks and mistakes.

That is why I define Resilience as “Springing Forward with learning.”

Former South African President Nelson Mandela – revered by many as of the most inspiring and motivational leaders of the modern world – succinctly summed up his understanding of resilience when he said: “Don’t judge me by my success – judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”

So with a clear understanding in our minds of what resilience means, let’s now apply it to leadership in the workplace.

The COVID-19 crisis has created the epitome of ‘VUCA’ environments: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. 

Under these circumstances, leaders need the ability to react quickly to change - demonstrating flexibility and agility in merging planned activities with adapted ones or changing course entirely.

A resilient leader is someone who:

• Faces difficulties head-on rather than falling into despair or hiding from problems with unhealthy coping strategies.

• Remains calm in the face of intense and stressful situations – even those totally unexpected or out of the ordinary.

• Possesses a high tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty, and can quickly adapt to these new circumstances.

• Looks after their own mental and physical wellbeing – recognising the importance of this to perform at optimum levels.

• Is measured and confident in how they communicate – instilling confidence in their leadership.

• Keeps a good handle on reality, both in terms of putting mistakes or set-backs into perspective, and also setting achievable goals.

Look out for my next blog in this series – “The benefits of being a resilient leader.”

If you’d like to explore the subject of resilience more deeply, please contact me via Email: russell@theresiliencecoach.co.uk.