Over the last 15 years, I’ve noted that resilience seems to be a key competence factor of leaders at any level in an organisation. Most people have an ability to lead or manage others when things are going well.
However, our ability to deal with barriers and difficulties when attempting to achieve organisational goals can be inspirational to those we lead. Daniel Goleman suggests that optimism and our persistence in pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks, is a significant factor in emotional intelligence.
In her book Resilience, Anne Deveson describes it as “the ability to confront adversity and still find hope and meaning in life”. Her examples include the householder, standing in the ruins of his home after a bushfire. Asked by a reporter what he would do, he answered: “ Get a truck, shift the bloody iron and start again. What else would I do?”. Or a mother who everyday summons up the physical and emotional strength to get up and meet the constant needs of a child with a severe disability. Deveson concludes it is possible to learn resilience, and the consistent factor among those who did was the ability to seek out help.
From my perspective, it’s not about ignoring the difficulties, setbacks or problems but rather getting some ideas about how to move forward. For parents, research points to 3 factors critical to building resilience in young people.
1. A sense of belonging to family
2. Diversity of friends
3. Fitting in at school
Children who bounced back found some special talent or hobby which gave them a sense of joy or pride. For both children and adults, a sense of humour is essential to squeeze lemonade out of their lemons of life.