Holding up a mirror

Yet again I love the serendipity of chasing ideas and, as my friend describes it, joining the dots.  

• In the back of my mind the metaphor of coaching as being like holding up a mirror to someone. 
• earlier in the week a link to Bruce Britten's blog on Organisational Learning and paper engineering and the two quadrants of the model like the JoHari window 'We know what we don't know' and 'We don't know what we don't know'
• and today coming across the brilliant cartoon from Delta 7 on personal blindness. 

From managing burdens to resilience

Earlier this year I posted an article on managing burdens and managing energy. Since then I have come across more and more articles, and attended a conference on resilience run by the Association for Coaching in July. 

Resilience is one of the latest management and coaching buzz words. The logic behind this is essentially that if we cannot manage the causes of modern-day work stress how can we better prepare and protect ourselves so that we 'bounce back' after encountering it. 

The latest article to land in my mail box is from the Institute of Leadership and Management's monthly magazine Edge online, their Management Masterclass: Building Resilience.  It focuses on four areas:

• Give yourself time to adapt -'Building resilience doesn't just happen naturally. Individuals need to set aside time to reflect on their behaviour and actions and consider what changes they need to make.' 
• Focus on positive outcomes - Setbacks happen to everyone, what is important is how we manage these, learn from them, identifying and understanding one's strengths and moving on.  'Try to position the setback into the context of a forward-looking constructive story.'  Leaders are also responsible for supporting others through creating an environment where employees are able to recover  quickly from disappointment rather than go into decline. 
• Entrench your hardness quotidient -  leaders need to examine their mental toughness, which determines how well they respond to stress, pressure and challenges. 

Having just completed a two-day in-house workshop with colleagues - most of whom are struggling with the burdens of not enough time, too much pressure, changing goalposts and lack of personal recognition I was most struck by the final paragraph.  

• Establish your support networks:  Irrespective of your position, being resilient doesn't mean you have to do everything on your own. Know who to call upon for support and be prepared to seek their advice or guidance when it comes to the moment of truth. It is not a sign of weakness – the stronger your support network and the stronger your relationship with them, the more resilient you are likely to be. 

This to me is critical. I have been watching the dynamics of the workshops we have run in-house over the last year. One thing  that comes through repeatedly is the realisation by participants that much what they are experiencing ('suffering' is often the word used)  is systemic, and the support and advice that can be gained within the workshop from other colleagues.

And more on 'systemic' in future articles.