When Life Punches you in the Teeth
When Life Punches you in the Teeth
Leading through crisis
I am not resilient.
When life gets hard, I usually do one of two things: I get angry and demonstrative, or I run away. Usually, I do the latter since it generally does less damage. Running away doesn’t mean literally hoofing it down the street and away from my life. Instead, I like to dress it up and call it, “making a change,” then I leave my job or move to a new city or put my children in a different school. Running away can also mean running TO a coping mechanism and abusing it by watching hours of Netflix, drinking copious amounts of coffee, or doom scrolling on social media.
None of these responses are very helpful, as you can imagine. While coping mechanisms are understandable and even beneficial in some circumstances, overusing them will not build resiliency.
Resilience is the ability to adapt and recover quickly from difficulties, trauma, stress and adversity. Luckily, it’s sold in pill form at the local Walgreens for $12.99 so there you go, blog over.
If only that were true.
Resiliency is built over time by being in situations that cause stress, anxiety, and fear, and, instead of running away, learning how to endure and thrive in them. A good leader has built resiliency in his or her own life and can therefore, successfully lead teams through the challenges that cause stress, fear and anxiety.
Tim Hanley is one of those leaders.
Tim successfully led his team of highly skilled accountants through one of the most unprecedented scandals of the century. Tim’s accounting firm, Arthur Andersen, closed its doors in 2001 after being indicted during the Enron Crisis. This left Tim’s team scrambling trying to find new jobs quickly. Instead of letting his good people get cherry-picked by other accounting firms around the city, Tim orchestrated a large scale move for his team to join Deloitte, another accounting firm, successfully saving many jobs and continuing the positive working dynamic that his team had established.
In the face of exorbitant adversity, Tim calmly created unity among his team, communicated the plan, casted vision for a positive change, and delivered on his promises. He was trustworthy, courageous and calm. His team followed him because of it.
On the IOL podcast, he shares a few key tips on how leaders can become more resilient in order to be better leaders:
Find a good mentor or role model:
Resiliency doesn’t appear overnight. It comes from learning how to endure challenges while staying calm and leading from a place of confidence and assurance. To grow in this area, it’s important to have a role model—someone who is already doing this so you can see what it looks like. Follow that person’s example, and engage with them about situations, strategies and tactics.
Keep the crisis in perspective:
Tim shares on the podcast that his brother was battling cancer during the time that he was fighting to keep his team together. He said that this helped him remember that his job and the jobs of those around him, while important, were not as important as other things in life. Putting the situation into perspective helped Tim stay calm and cool-headed in the face of his team’s strong reactions, reminding them that no matter what, it would be okay.
Be a trustworthy leader:
A good leader is a servant-leader, one who thinks of others before himself or herself and who leads with empathy, compassion, and care. A leader who leads this way, quickly builds repertoire with others. In the face of a crisis, this repertoire is the foundation from which a team will follow that trusted leader wherever they may go. If a leader is not trustworthy, team members will be less inclined to follow.
Prioritize mental health in crisis:
A leader cannot lead with an empty tank. Especially in times of crisis, a leader needs to take the time that is needed to care for his or her body, mind and soul. This could look like maintaining healthy disciplines, regular exercise and a good diet, or continuing to spend necessary rest time away from work and with family and friends. Spiritual disciplines are also necessary for regular daily life and are needed all the more in times of crisis. Don’t let those go.
I highly encourage you to check out podcast #175. On the podcast Tim shares a second story in which he successfully led a team through an unprecedented crisis, the entire episode is more than worth the listen.
I also want to highlight a few IOL quotes that Patrick shared on the podcast. Consider writing these down and posting them somewhere this week:
“It’s not your fault, but it is your problem.”
“More is caught than taught.”
“We all get punched. How do you react when life hits you in the mouth?”
As always, at IOL we’re here to remind you that you’re not alone. Are you walking through a crisis? In the throes of building that resiliency? we’re here to help! Reach out!
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Author: Ashley Buenger
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