Resilience - Are you really encouraging your team to pivot?

I love this quote from the movie Luck (2022) because of what it teaches and challenges us about the perception of bad luck, problems, challenges, mistakes etc. We often see quotes, posts and articles expressing the importance of allowing people to make mistakes because of the important role this plays in learning.

It begs the question, what is the real perception of mistakes in your team and organisation, and is this perception supporting or hindering your team’s ability to adapt?

- Are mistakes considered acceptable learning opportunities, yet there are systems and processes in place to minimise opportunity for error?

Or

- Are mistakes considered necessary to develop problem solving capabilities, resilience, and adaptability, therefore opportunities to experiment, take risks and make mistakes are sought after and encouraged?

- Are conversations focused on steps the person needs to take to avoid the same mistake in the future?

Or

- Are conversations focused on discovering what the person learned during the process, hearing about the actions they took to adapt, and discussing feedback, ideas and opportunities as a result?

Our ability to think and work effectively with uncertainty and adapt to the changing demands of our environment is a skill and behaviour that needs to be developed, nurtured and practiced. This can only be achieved when we are exposed to situations and opportunities where we’ll encounter issues, challenges and roadblocks that require us to bounce back from failure, think on our feet and change our plans.

There are 5 things you can do as a leader to support this.

1. Be open and curious about your teams’ ideas and solutions, and provide them with true ownership to make decisions and take actions

2. Review your current quality and decision control processes – are they designed to avoid errors, or do they allow new thinking and experimentation?

3. Have and demonstrate trust in your teams’ ability to take ownership by challenging, guiding, encouraging, and supporting their decisions and actions.

4. Build confidence by focusing on strengths, capabilities and achievements.

5. Provide clarity of expectations. Help your team to set a clear view of what the objective is, and what good looks like, facilitate their thinking and support their actions to achieve these.

If you'd like to learn more about how adopting a coach approach can develop resilience and adaptability in your team and organisation, reach out for a conversation today.

https://lnkd.in/gzHGRca9

References

Luck. Directed by Peggy Holmes. Skydance Animation. Apple TV. 2022