Topic 5: The Leader’s Role in Organizational Resilience
Topic Overview
While
the leader in any organization which hopes to be a resilient organization
must be a resilient person himself or herself, that alone is not enough.
The leader must take an active and deliberate role in fostering the conditions
and establishing the policies which nurture resilience on the organizational
level.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, you will have:
- Identified some of those behaviors or activities which contribute to the resilience of the organization and its members.
Readings and Research
Context
The final element in developing organizational resilience centers on organizational leadership. The following links will give you information about key leadership traits that are important for resilience.
The Leader’s Role in Organizational Resilience
Review the roles by selecting the tabs below or download The Leader’s Role in Organizational Resilience.
1. Model Personal Resilience
Modeling is one of the most effective ways to teach; failure to model or modeling behaviors contradictory to what is being taught (“Do as I say, not as I do.”) will undermine any efforts at the organizational level to promote resilience. The management and leadership must understand, appreciate and implement the various components for personal resilience described elsewhere in this course for any organizational effort at resilience to be effective.
2. Reward Employees for Acting Resiliently
When employees take risks, try new behaviors or strive to develop their own competencies, when they foster open and direct communication and when they work to improve their own balance between work and personal live or to improve their own physical or psychological well-being, they must be rewarded. Rewards may be as simple as public praise or as complex as a formal reward program at the organizational level acknowledging such behaviors.
3. Communicate Honestly and Openly Within All Levels of the Organization
No “Knowledge is power” mindset which creates an in group and an out group can exist in an organization which is resilient. Leaders must be prepared to share all they possibly can with every level of the organization to develop within the workforce the ownership of the organization which is essential for resilience. This includes information about challenges facing the organization, long range planning efforts and other details which have an impact on the workforce and/or the organization as a whole.
4. Accept Personal Limitations
Mistakes are an essential part of the learning process; no new ground is broken without some risk taking but risk taking makes some failure more likely. The leader in a resilient organization is willing to take risks, try new things, and fail! The same latitude for possible failure is granted to all members of the workforce. One of the myths which can compromise resilience is that perfection is attainable by imperfect human beings.
5. Let Go of Power and Empower All Members of the Organization
Even under high stress conditions, if people have a sense of control and efficacy, they are much less likely to be negatively impacted by the situations. Good leaders involve their employees early and often in every facet of the life of the organization.
6. Use Conflict Resolution Skills and Foster Direct Communication
Employees who know themselves well and take personal responsibility for their actions and words are significant assets which a good lead wishes to develop. Making certain that the members of the workforce are trained (and the management as well) to utilize communication skills designed to reduce emotional arousal and increase access to problem solving and mutual ownership of solutions is money and time well spent on the health (and resilience) of the organization.
7. Foster a Culture of a Learning Organization
Such a culture prizes openness and is receptive to novelty and innovation. It leads to highly energized and invested employees who will be motivated to use all their skills and abilities on behalf of the organization. For more on learning organizations, you can read the following article by Peter Senge: http://warnercnr.colostate.edu/class_info/nr420gimenez/NR420_Sp07/Senge41.pdf
Learning Activities
Case Study
Context
In order to practice your skill at recognizing leadership traits, please revisit the case study describing Mr. Feuerstein’s management of an organization in crisis.
Task Description
To complete the activity, take some time
to review the case study regarding Walden Mills and Mr. Feuerstein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Feuerstein
- Step 1. As you read it, try to identify as many of the resilient traits of a leader as you can.
- Step 2: Identify some actual instances within your own organization where resilient leadership traits were evident in your colleagues or other, whether they were in actual positions of leadership or not.
- Step 3: Finish this training with a personal commitment. What steps can you take TODAY to improve your own resilience? How can you support your organizational leaders in the development of a resilient organization? Are you willing to make the changes in yourself which you may have identified? Are you willing to communicate with those in leadership positions within your organizations some insights which you have gained?
Special Thanks
This course is based on materials written and prepared by Laura Williams and Curt Drennen and edited by Beth Roome; the original work was done when they were all members of the Division of Behavioral Health Disaster Planning and Response Program of the state of Colorado.
The online course was developed by Maureen Hencmann of New Ventures at Regis University in Denver, Colorado working with Don Sutton of the Disaster Behavioral Health Team of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Closing Remarks
Thank you for participating in this training. Suggestions for improvement (as well as comments about what worked well or what you found helpful) are most welcome. You can send them to Don Sutton at donald.sutton@state.co.us