Bouncing Back

Resilience: the ability to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness

Resilience is key to the short-term and long-term success of our careers. Over the course of years or over the course of any given year, we are thrown unexpected curveballs that require us to bounce back and show our toughness. Here are 4 ideas for building resilience for yourself and your team:

Frame the situation. When a situation turns out badly or something negative impacts you, how do you think about it? Is it a blame game? Do you kick yourself for ‘doing something stupid again’. Stop. In every situation multiple elements impact the outcome. While it’s important to consider your role, look at the various players and the various roles. Don’t look at them to place blame but to learn. Think about it as an opportunity not an obstacle
Ask questions to find understanding. After assessing what role various people or institutions or situations played, follow up with questions for yourself. What was controllable? What wasn’t? What did I learn? How does all this make me feel? What could be different next time?
Take time. Sometimes, the curve ball has some pretty significant emotional impact. Take time to work through the emotions. Unpack them. Try to understand them.
Be expansive. Resilient people mark the ending of any setback by moving forward. They put what happened in its place and take steps to make things happen. When one door closed, they take the opportunity to open many others.

About Edith Onderick-Harvey

Edith Onderick-Harvey is a highly regarded consultant, leadership and talent expert, and speaker. Edith is frequently quoted in the media including The New York Times, CNN.com, HR Executive, and American Executive. As the President of Factor In Talent, Edith works with leaders to take performance — their own, their team’s and their organization’s — to the next level.