Blogosphere: Developing Resilience During Crisis

Have you ever felt like a seed at times?  When you plant a seed, it first grows roots, it faces pressures, challenges and setbacks whilst in the ground. Some seeds have a hard time as they fall into rocky places and need to fight to find a way out. But once out, a small plant emerges, breakthrough, and it eventually grows upwards against the force of the solid soil to become an awesome, huge tree. 

We too are like seeds. Like a young child taking his first step, he stumble

s over but soon gets back up and tries again; the seed of resilience has already been planted. Just like the seed seeks the light of the sun to grow – We too strive to find the path that lights our way and enable us to grow.

Without a doubt, it is through good leadership that you become an effective communicator, gain integrity, enhance honesty and inspire others. 

As Stephen Covey quoted, “Leaders are not born or made, they are self-made.”

Although leadership skills teach you how to survive in all sort of climates, whether rough or sleek, at times, organizations face endless challenges, significant risks, and disruptions can emerge rapidly with very little or no warning at all and smart leaders know they may not have all the answers. 

Hence, it is crucial for industries to be “crisis ready” and know how to prepare themselves at a tactical, operational and strategic level. As one Deloitte article on Resilient Leadership states – The flip side, “leaders must not wait for a crisis to test their brand, they must proactively prepare for the worst whilst also laying the groundwork for the best”.

Just like the seed that requires protection from the storm, leaders must learn to not only survive but thrive in times of calamity and disaster.

So how do we emerge stronger from a crisis? The Resilient podcast series by Deloitte explores two main lessons – don’t wait for a crisis and communicate & collaborate.

How is it that crisis seems so inevitable but many CEOs are still not prepared for it? Paul Morell, the American Airlines ‘s Vice President for Safety Security and environmental who holds more than a dozen scenarios exercises annually that include role rehearsal for top leadership & personnel across all levels of the company says, “no matter your position, each leader needs a designated role so they can face all possibilities and deal with the impossible.”

So, ask yourself, are you prepared to overcome your next crisis? It is always difficult to deal with an unstable crisis which may cause major destruction; however, you can prepare yourself to survive and recover quicker by becoming as effective as possible, as quickly as possible, and that is by getting to know your team well – building relationships.