A leader can train people to adapt. A leader can change an environment that promotes adaptation and resilience, too, by following a few basic principles.
The Leader Must Connect
Resilience will not appear by magic. A leader must abandon the often misunderstood notion of “micromanagement”. Take the time to connect with the people. Each moment is a leadership opportunity.
Micromanagement connotes mistrust. A leader, on the other hand, builds trust and resilience. To seem heroic and directly address their aversion to micromanagement, many managers say, “I hire good people, give them the tasks, and get the heck out of the way.”
While this appeals to everyone's sense of autonomy, it is poor leadership. This approach won't work in negatively charged times. When the manager is away, the negative attitudes will take over.
Leadership is about building the relationship between the leader and the follower. A relationship cannot be wound up and released like a mechanical walking toy. Eventually the toy hits a wall. Leadership takes vigilance to be there when someone hits the wall.
Be there when employees mess up. Instead of saying, “Better luck next time” or “That will go on your record”, use the time to teach. This means a leader can't just “get the heck out of the way”.
Instead, the leader takes the time to explain why the job an employee does is so important to the larger picture.
Shift the Symbols, Create Hope
An employee vents by saying, “All those stupid customers come in right at closing time to make exchanges.”
The symbol is: closing time.
The leader says, “There is nothing in the rule book that says you have to go home at closing time. We can keep the doors open and let the customers come in for a little while. I have provisions in my budget for overtime pay."
The leader continues: “Did you need to go home right after closing today? If you needed to go sooner, you should have let me know early in the day so I could bring somebody in to help. You know I am flexible with the hours, all you have to do is let me know.”
In this case, closing time was symbolic of the end of the day and going home. The leader effectively shifted the meaning of the work day boundaries, increased the focus on customers, and increased the focus on the employee's needs.
Build Resiliency Links with Employees
Encourage employees to be polite. A proactive leader practices the principles of positive leadership by doing things for employees.
Leaders need to abandon another ill-conceived notion that “I don't have enough time to do these tasks” which is really translated into “I am too good for these tasks”.
People are smarter than that. If the leader doesn't take pride in the details, then why should the employee. True, they get paid to do the things you ask them to do.
But the news is that employees want a job to do more than just pay them. They want the job to mean something. The leader has to make the job meaningful by making everything important.
