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chris@chriskolenda.com
Team Resilience
As I wrapped up my stay in Colorado, resilience kept revealing itself. I treasure my talks with my 91-year dad who attributes his resilience to habits of walking, laughing, and worrying less. I spent time in my old neighborhood where I first developed a sense of Team and it has served me well. I’ve been fortunate to have been on some great athletic Teams, Army Teams, national security Teams, and leadership Teams. While resilience starts with the individual, its greatest impact is on the Team.
My friend and colleague Christopher Kolenda, Ph.D. developed some very useful ways to Build Team Resilience:
1. Encourage good personal habits (sleep, eating, exercise, relationships).
2. Sustain your organizational rhythm – predictability is like a stabilizer that keeps your Team centered and focused.
3. Emphasize meaningful routines so that people quickly recover a sense of normalcy and control when disaster strikes or things begin falling apart.
4. Celebrate wins – rack up small wins to build confidence and momentum.
5. Use mini-resets to regain focus – review goals, actions steps, what’s missing, in-stride adjustments. Ready. Go.
6. Coach people to be the best versions of themselves – people stick with you when they know you appreciate them as people and their contributions.
7. Ownership – no one ever washed a rental car. Create ownership in success (the mission and vision; game-plan). People are not on the Team; they are the Team. People will bounce back when they have a stake in the success.
8. Challenge – empower people to make decisions; underwrite their mistakes. Coach them to learn. Build good judgment and resilience when the stakes are low, so those qualities are present when the stakes are high.
9. Talk about good and bad events. No blame-game. What happened, why did it happen? Get the facts and agreement on the facts. What can we learn?
10. Morale is more important than mood – Mood=sugar donut, Morale=your Team’s level of confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline.
Lastly, set up your emerging leaders and employees for success. Get them the training, resources, and guidance to do their jobs well. If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
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