BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Develop Your Resilience With These 13 Leadership Strategies

Forbes Coaches Council
POST WRITTEN BY
Expert Panel, Forbes Coaches Council

Business leaders face a wide array of challenges in their positions, from financial stress to difficult clients. These struggles are inevitable in business; however, it’s your choice whether you decide to develop healthy coping mechanisms so your company doesn’t suffer.

As a leader, you must learn to keep everything in perspective and bounce back from setbacks. If you’re looking to become more resilient, follow these recommendations from Forbes Coaches Council.

Photos courtesy of the individual members.

1. Look For The Learning Opportunities In Your Failures

Leaders have a tough job because they are accountable for everything that happens in a company. What keeps the best leaders in check is seeing failure as an opportunity to learn, reassess and move forward with a new sense of revived direction. Building connections with your team and customers is core to every business—focus on them, and mistakes will become positives with the people you serve. - Kristy McCann, GoCoach

2. Do A ‘Premortem’ Assessment Of How You’d Recover If Your Plans Failed

Looking forward to the end of a project, a quarter or the end of the year allows us each to take stock of where we want to be. What if you assessed today that, by year’s end, your major objectives all failed. Why? Assign and discuss the causes of why you failed as a “premortem,” then bake that planning and wisdom into your plan today. It allows you as the leader to remain resilient. - John Hittler, Evoking Genius

Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?

3. Activate Your Strengths

Know and utilize your strengths. Consider how you can use the strengths that you know you have to come at a setback you are having. When you use what you are good at, it helps to put things in perspective and give you the confidence to bounce back. - Jennifer Thompson, Deviant Thinking

4. Delegate To Build Energy Resilience

For some leaders, being busy makes them feel productive, but even in small organizations, you should find ways to solve issues through others by delegation. You need the energy to be resilient and make good decisions. If you have no downtime, you cannot think creatively. Find ways to get help in handling things that do not need your best. You will then have the ability to fight more important battles. - John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.

5. Establish A Solid Foundation Of Self

Take a prophylactic approach to resilience. Establishing a solid foundation of wellness habits—getting enough sleep, eating well, exercising, meditating, nurturing your personal relationships, fostering gratitude—is important. Choose habits that keep you mentally, emotionally and physically healthy to ensure that setbacks don’t throw you off course as much as they might otherwise. - Jessica Glazer, Center for Creative Leadership

6. Embrace And Reframe Your Struggles

Most people have a long list of failed attempts along their path to success. Study successful people’s struggles and how they overcame them. Doing so helps to develop the context for a long-term strategic approach to business and life. If you are not failing or falling in some form of regular cadence, you’re probably not doing anything of significance. Reframe struggles as stepping stones. - La’Wana Harris, La’Wana Harris Inc.

7. Question Your Inner Critic

One way to move your thoughts from the amygdala to the executive brain (the more logical part of the brain) is to ask scaling questions. My “go-to” questions are: “How true is what my inner critic just said? How is this thought serving me?” Our brains are answer-seeking machines. The questions we ask them can get us further into stress or resilience. It’s our choice! - Sandi Mitchell, APEX Leadership Mastery

8. Focus On Your First Steps After A Failure

The first steps back after a failure are key to building resiliency. Small first steps are key to building momentum and making progress. These steps should be considered carefully, and a starting point and time should be determined. First steps help to bring clarity to a new plan for success and breakthrough. The best step after a failure is a new first step. - Ken Gosnell, CEO Experience

9. Meditate

There are countless benefits of meditation. We all endure anxiety, personal issues, family issues and tragedy. Habitual meditation is the foundation for resilience because it opens our self-awareness to refocus after something happens and gives us time for reflection. Resilience is the ability to recover quickly, and I’d argue that meditation is the best medicine here. - Brian M Harman, Business Management Hallmark

10. Talk To A Confidant With A Different Perspective

When faced with something challenging or stressful, talk to a neutral confidant. Very often, simply talking about a situation helps to release the emotions and give a different perspective. Over time, you’ll find that you can do this on your own in similar situations and more quickly achieve calmness and clarity for your next steps. Still, keep that buddy close at hand for when you need their support. - Diane Chang, Diane Chang Coaching

11. Adopt A Mindset Of Gratitude

Studies prove that a person’s mindset of gratitude is a significant predictor for resilience. When a leader is in the habit of taking a few minutes to write five things to be grateful for about a situation, no matter how challenging or stressful, and takes the next step to communicate gratitude to the appropriate people, it can reduce stress instantly and build resilience in the long term. - Christine Rose, Christine Rose Coaching & Consulting

12. Build Your Emotional Intelligence

Self-awareness is the most vital skill leaders can develop to become more resilient. When you understand yourself—what triggers you and why—you can eventually master your “reactions.” Keeping calm and choosing to make rational, intelligent decisions is the mark of a true leader. But first, you have to be able to anticipate when you might normally “react” and craft a plan to do things differently. - Rebecca T. Dickson

13. Look At Your Challenge Through Four Different Lenses

Explain the challenge in four versions. First, blow it up; exaggerate to the nth degree. “This issue is the worst ever, because … .” Second, blow it down; minimize everything about it. “This is really nothing at all, because … .” Third, generalize it; compare it to anything. “It’s just like when … .” Finally, tackle it; break it down into actions. “What I need to do is … .” - Evan Weselake, GetPureFocus

Follow me on TwitterCheck out my website