More often, people have a set way of dealing with unpleasant situations. We have all been classically conditioned to deal with stress, simply by putting it on the back burner, at times. The current situation has taught us all some valuable lessons. One of which is building resilience. For ‘Together, we can emerge stronger’.
Well, the same philosophy applies at work. When you face a challenge as a team, the chances of you winning the battle, automatically increase. And this is a lesson that every leader must learn.
Employers have had to take tough calls. There have been layoffs, salary cuts, withdrawals of perks, and a prolonged sense of restlessness. At times like these, organizations need leaders to step up and proactively work towards building a resilient team; simply because resilient teams have proven to withstand adversities. Therefore, not only must the C-Suite focus on developing their physical and emotional resilience, but also, build team accountability through resilience.
Here are five simple ways to build team resilience.
5: Make Time And Mean It
A mental health survey by LinkedIn stated that while working remotely, 60% of the Indian workforce has felt lonely at some point. Although remote working has its own set of pros – lesser time spent commuting, more quality time spent with loved ones; it has also brought along a sense of isolation. Virtual meetings are efficient for time management, but when it comes to speaking up and being open about the difficulties faced, a one-on-one has always proved more beneficial.
Lead by example; invest in learning something new and building your own emotional resilience first. Spend time with your team discussing everything BUT work. Motivate them to fuel their passions because that will ultimately help channelize their productivity at work.
4: Activate The Power of Positive Thinking
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
Obstacles only make you halt until you come up with something to beat them. Setbacks in the personal life can be overcome with the support from family and friends. At work, that family is your team and colleagues. Make it an everyday habit to enquire about your team’s challenges and help them find constructive solutions.
In positive psychology, resilience can be summed up as positive thinking with the attitude of ‘bouncing back’ when faced with an obstacle. Optimism helps boost confidence, keeps people motivated, enhances an individual’s social skills, and also improves the immune system.
3: Create An Agile Mindset
Agility is not just restricted to making decisions quicker and faster. It also means adopting the path of continuous improvement to embrace change, meet expectations with qualitative outputs, and find solutions instead of indulging in dissecting the problems.
Embracing an agile mindset will not only get your team in sync and help you deal with the new normal, but will also help you prepare for what lies ahead. Dig deeper and see if your organizational measures during the pandemic have to be relooked at.
2: Initiate Difficult Conversations
The pandemic has left us all in a state of uncertainty. But not addressing the problem is definitely not the solution. The best way to instill a sense of team accountability is to collectively focus on building the team’s emotional resilience. Collaboration is the key to overcome adversities and the team is only as strong as its weakest link.
Learning on the job should be an on-going journey. Personalize your surveys to gain insights into what is holding your team back. Encourage people to ask questions. Plan open house sessions along with team huddles. Maintain transparency in communications. Start with every day peer-learning. These minor teaks will help create a major impact.
1: Form a Team PACT
In 2019, burnout was recognized as an ‘occupational phenomenon’ by the World Health Organization.
When one member of the team suffers, the entire team dynamics are at stake and as a leader, you may not be able to find one solution that suits all. But as a team, a mutual consensus in taking a stand helps create more impact. Form a PACT with your teams. Discuss your Problems collectively, set up a matrix for Assessment, Collaborate to brainstorm for solution, and imbibe the virtue of Tenacity to make things happen.
Mentor your team to gain autonomy in the process of decision making. Team work will make the dream work and the resilience of your team will reflect your ability to lead.
