5 Ways to Shift Your Communication for Leadership Resilience

Research by Zenger Folkman shows that the more resilient leaders are usually the more effective ones at navigating key stakeholder relationships for achieving success.

Living in uncertain times has reminded us that dealing with change and adopting a growth mindset is becoming a consistent requirement for the new or junior employee as much as it is for existing leaders in order to thrive in the workplace.

7 Behavioural Traits of a Resilient Leader

Their research across over 500 leaders showed that resilient leaders were:

- Focused and quicker to take action

- More willing to take bold risks

- Able to make decisions quickly

- Built trusting relationships

- Coachable and able to ask for, improve upon and give feedback

- Able to champion change and try new ideas

- Able and Willing to develop others

So how can you begin to cultivate these resilient traits more proactively?  

Especially if you’ve been used to, or even guilty of, behaving in a less-than-desirable way.

It starts with how you choose and learn to communicate

To shift that you need to go a layer deeper and look at the habits you’ve created which have led to your current identity and the reality around you.

The challenge is that most of us in the workplace today weren’t taught at school how to create our identity. We were taught how to go for the outcome we wanted first, to figure out the process, and then have our reaction to that process shape how we and others see ourselves.

James Clear in his book Atomic Habits draws on this model and his learnings from other positive psychology tools which talk about the process of choosing the identity you want to create first and changing your habits to get there.

But the reason why habits can be difficult to change is that after spending time behaving a certain way (good and bad) over a period of time, we have plenty of evidence to support that we are shy, impatient, no good at public speaking, not able to decide or take risks, suffer from imposter syndrome…or what other label we have given ourselves.

Creating a new identity requires us to give ourselves new evidence which happens by creating small easy wins with the new habit. One step at a time. So that over time they help you build evidence of the behaviour and identity you want.

5 Ways to Shift your Communication Habits for Resilience

For the Resilient Leadership traits above we can identify 5 Communication habits that can help you move towards becoming more resilient.

You’ll see that they link into each other and can be applicable to the relationships that you have with others and the relationship you have with yourself.

1. Be curious. Especially if you find yourself judging others frequently for their habits. Starting a sentence with “I’m curious…..” helps you get into that mode before the judgments on a colleague's behaviour, for example, come flooding in.

Curiosity also helps to deepen awareness of the problems that need solving and the pitfalls that need to be avoided.

And more curiosity towards improving yourself allows you to be more open to feedback from others for collective growth.

2. Be Adaptable. The good news is that you’ve had to adapt all your life. The ability to accept that change is permanent and that you can’t control it is usually a first step in training yourself to respond with a willingness to adapt.

What you can control is how you can learn and improve. During the change process, it’s more helpful to focus on what you’re learning and then link it back to how that fits in with your values and goals. If you’re resisting, you may want to get curious about the fears that may be holding you back.

3. Be Empathetic. Listening and taking a broader view to understand the situation you’re all facing is a critical skill in building empathy and trust with others.

Your intention towards building relationships in each situation is key. How do you set that intention before you go into each communication with someone?

Listening also allows you to slow down and find space to become more intentional about the words that come out of your mouth.

What does the other person/employee/client want, and how can you really help them? Are you looking for a win-win, and aligning with your personal values?  If you’re not how could you be? Where’s the gap?

4. Be Committed: Goals and Finding opportunities

To be committed, you need to be clear on what you want and also what you’re going to say no to.

When times are tough it can be easier to retract and go into survival mode initially to keep safe. However, it’s critical to review goals and be prepared to create new ones that still align with your values and become curious enough to open to other better possibilities.

This is applicable to business owners as much as it is to employees who may be facing additional pressures or redundancies as companies cut costs. Looking for opportunities in these situations is what creates success.

What do you really want to happen (best case) and what habits and tasks do you need to say no to in order to make that happen?

5. Intention and Action on helping others. Fear may lead us to question this during really difficult times if we aren’t strong in ourselves, but the more ways you can find to help others, the more they will help you. Evidence shows that random acts of kindness and gratitude are critical factors when it comes to creating emotional happiness.

For example, how can you find one way to help someone or be grateful more than you normally would in the next week?

Coaching Questions for Thought

What are the top 3 Communication changes that could help you in your relationships (at work or at home) the most right now?

Which one would be the easiest for you to practice this week?