Resilient Leadership: Managing Ourselves and Others During Times of Uncertainty
GLG Insights | Diana Alves | June 05, 2024
In our ever-evolving world, the spotlight on resilient leadership has intensified, showcasing its critical role during times of uncertainty. Resilient leadership is defined by the ability to navigate through challenges with agility, flexibility, and emotional intelligence. This kind of leadership is not just about toughness or the capacity to recover from setbacks. It’s about forging a deep connection with oneself and others to collectively manage change, cope with uncertainty, and propel teams forward. Leaders adept in resilience are capable of acknowledging their emotions, sustaining morale, engaging employees, and making well-considered decisions under duress, thereby bolstering the resilience of their organizations.
Such leaders view change as a constant in life and work, responding to it with adaptability and a readiness to revise their strategies and plans as needed. This openness to innovation and risk management, grounded in a willingness to experiment and embrace change, paves the way for clarity and psychological safety within teams. As Deloitte wisely points out, "Resilience is an emotional muscle that must be strengthened to overcome short-term struggles and maintained to offset a lifetime of challenges."
Here are some key areas that you should focus at this moment:
Develop Emotional Intelligence: Developing empathy, self-awareness, and a deep sense of ability in managing emotions enables authentic leadership, keeping calm and composed even in turbulent or difficult situations.
Encouraging Transparent Communication: Honest, clear, and positive communication, even through difficulties, is a vital tool to keep teams aligned, active, and motivated.
Building Team Success through Cooperation and Working Together: A culture of successful teams that adapts and flourishes in uncertainty towards success includes making everyone feel valued, supported, and empowered to engage.
These strategies are crucial for any organization interested in building strong, resilient leadership among its executives and the larger team, ensuring not just the capability to bounce back but also to thrive in the face of uncertainty. For organizations looking to foster such leadership qualities among their executives and workforce, understanding and implementing these principles is a step towards sustainable success and resilience. As highlighted by McKinsey, "Firms should strive as much as possible to embed resilience in the way they work, in a way that makes them better in normal times, not just in the face of unpredictable threat or change." This approach not only prepares leaders and organizations to face current challenges but also future situations with a resilient mindset.
To learn more about how we are helping our corporate clients and their executives lead resiliently, please contact us here.