Today’s business environment is highly competitive. It can quickly change, causing distress among the leaders. When leaders fail to manage change, their fears and stress can swiftly bleed into the team, causing collateral damage to the team’s morale & consequently, their productivity.

 

That is why resilience, which is the capacity to cope with setbacks and negative change, is a paramount quality for your team. According to scholars, two phenomena are essential in preparing teams & organizations to build resiliency. 

1. Conservation of Resource: When a team can effectively manage and conserve the existing resources and use them to create more resources, it gives them a sense of control and stability. When a team can use the existing resources to create a better, finer product that brings in more money, it is a big win in the face of threatening volatility.
2. BNB: Broaden and Build: When teams in organizations become carriers and passageways for positive emotion through conserving and managing resources well, it buffers against the threats of change and the consequential stress.  

 

Actions of a Winning Team:

1. Awareness of resources: Upward comparison with thriving companies will deflate your confidence. It is a virtue to count your blessings & be grateful. Teams that can recognize the existing resources by practicing gratitude function better. 
2. Judicious Management of Resources: The next step is to stop yourself from making foolish decisions that hurt the existing resources. Paradoxically, cultivating trust in your team by delegating suitable projects and then giving them the autonomy to make their decisions & own them will be a massive win for your team. Remember, taking well-calculated risks in the lean moments will bring huge benefits. Your team is watching you as a leader.

 

In light of the above, it is worth mentioning that positive emotions in teams birth in one individual and then bleed into the team. Sometimes, the leader might be in the throws of circumstantial ordeals. Team member/s should encourage the leader and begin to lead within the purview of their position and influence. It takes a concoction of humility & courage to pull this off without making your leader feel threatened while fighting your own proclivity to overdo this part! It is an absolute art, and a few accomplish it without getting tarnished by the politics of the crowds & personal sins. So, what transpires in an individual bleeds into the team, changing the story for the organization. Joy in one person can significantly impact the rest of the organization. That is how powerful an aware & responsible person is. It takes more than strengths, talents, abilities, right personality traits, knowledge, skills and positional advantage. It takes a character built and refined through years of positive engagements.

 

Leaders hold the key! According to Jocko Willink, Ex-Navy Seal and author of Leadership Strategies and Tactics, there are no bad teams, only bad leaders. That is a scary thought because it puts all the burden on two shoulders. It is also a redeeming idea because the leader does not need to control multiple brains around them. All they need to manage & lead is themselves. The leader sets the tone for their team. If the leader is beaten down, discouraged and lost, the team will experience the same emotion. On the contrary, when the leader is joyful and grateful, the team will experience that.

According to Patrick Lencioni, Leaders set the team’s tone by taking actions they want their teams to take. The team waits for the leader to model the speech, acts and decisions. Do not wait for joy to flow on some fine sunny day. Own it! Please bring it to the team! Make no mistake! Joy might not look like what you think it is. Joy in the organization does not mean everyone looks happy and naive. This joy is almost like enthusiasm and faith in the face of uncertainties. It comes from the love for what you do; when you know why your work matters, it comes from the knowledge of how your work impacts customers and clients.

 

I am a believing Christian and try to read the bible from the lenses of a contemporary I.O Practitioner & vice versa. Seeing how many modern studies tie into ancient Biblical truths is fascinating. One example is a culture of joy and its correlation to organizational resilience. One of the synonyms of resilience is strength. In Nehemiah 8, a few Jews are rebuilding the walls of their fallen nation. Walls are a symbol of resilience and protection from the enemy. In verse 10, Nehemiah orders one of his men to provide nutrient-dense food to his workers. He says, “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Notice the links between this ancient story and the modern study:

• It begins in the mind of one individual, transpires into others, and then to the whole nation (organization).
• Leaders (Nehemiah & Ezra) know existing resources: Torah, food, and material for building the wall.
  • The Torah is a psychological resource that gives them mental resilience.
  • Food is the most essential resource needed for the body and its functions.
  • Raw material for building the wall: Actual Physical resources.

 

Citations:

Bergs, V. (2020, September 26). Stress and well-being part 3 of the trilogy: The Conservation of Resources (COR) theory explained. YouTube. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10QWAZ18ViY

Hartmann, S., Weiss, M., Carmeli, A., & Hoegl, M. (2020, December). How does an emotional culture of joy cultivate team resilience? A sociocognitive perspective. Researchgate. Retrieved September 30, 2022