I’ve spent the last four weeks diving into the four resilience domains of Rolin McCraty. Now it’s time to share how some of my followers have applied each of these resiliency domains (physical, emotional, spiritual and mental) in their leadership journeys.
Physical Resilience
“I was newly promoted into a director role in my company a couple of years ago. I had no idea what I inherited with my new direct reports. After 90 days in the job, I had more job stress than I had ever had in my career. After talking with my wife about this, she asked if I had been going to the gym or running since I started my new job. I knew I hadn’t. It was clear, I really needed to work off this stress to get through the employee issues I was facing. I realized after a couple of weeks of working out, I was more clear-headed and coping better at work. My tendency to feel so tired was gone; I was sleeping better and I was becoming more resilient at work.”
Emotional Resilience
“I have a new boss. She is a terrible communicator and I am growing more and more frustrated. My once positive, optimistic outlook has turned very negative. My flash point is very shallow. So much so, I lost my temper with one of my best employees. He had the guts to talk with me about my behavior and how it made him feel. This discussion flipped an emotional switch in me. I spoke with my boss about what I needed from her to better meet her needs. (Things have improved between us.) I apologized to my team for not being a good leader for them then made the commitment to keeping my emotions in check going forward, finding my sense of humor and taking a more positive leadership approach. I felt a sigh of relief from them, not to mention feeling more emotionally balanced and resilient.”
Spiritual Resilience
“My husband and I had our first child last November. I realized nothing prepares you for being a parent for the first time! I returned to work after my 12 weeks of parental leave, still blurry-eyed and foggy-brained from the lack of sleep and carrying my own share of guilt leaving my baby at daycare. When I returned to work it was a struggle, as my goal was to be that consistent high performer. One of my friends at work invited me to go with her to her weekly yoga class. I had not practiced yoga before. This was a game-changer for me. It improved by focus and my physical condition post-baby, as well as giving me the spiritual resilience I need to balance my work and my family life.”
Mental Resilience
“Last year was really tough. My wife was diagnosed with cancer, which of course affected me on-the-job. My boss gave me an inconsistent performance rating in my annual performance review. In my discussion with her about how I was going to improve my productivity and output, it hit me. I must get control of my situation at work, as I knew I had no control over my wife’s condition. I developed my own plan to turn my performance situation around. My boss reacted very positively, reassuring me I can make this happen. I re-engaged with my work and co-workers. All is well! Mental toughness and resilience made the difference.”
I’m sure you can relate to some of the scenarios shared with me above. Self-evaluate where you are in the four resilience domains. Where do you need to improve your resilience? If you’d like to talk through some of your ideas, contact me.