TONL Monthly
May 2020

Leadership Resilience: The Purpose in Adversity

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By Cynthia Plonien, D.N.P., R.N., C.E.N.P.

If you believe that every adverse experience offers a lesson to be learned, then you are well on your way to resilience as a leader. As leaders of nursing, there are joys experienced through the work with patients, staff and colleagues. Just as often, however, a day includes let-downs and failed attempts at success. Nurse leaders face adversity hour by hour. Today's work may include managing poor performance, turnover, dissatisfied patients, or angry physicians. Tomorrow the work may include organizational restructure with budget cuts and layoffs. Next week, adversity may take the form of a disaster due to medical error, weather, an active shooter, or a cyberattack. Managing conflict while facing adversity is the nature of business for a nurse leader.

Managing adversity
There are individuals who move through misfortunes without faltering, while others do not. There are organizations that endure difficulties while creating success out of grueling circumstance, while others go bankrupt. The question is: How do individuals and organizations create success out of failure and become resilient? How can some glean meaning out of hardship and others cannot? The answer can be puzzling. There is no formula. However, there are commonalities among "the resilient" and lessons to be learned for individuals and organizations seeking to rise above adversity.

Resilience defined
Resilience is defined as the ability to overcome and adjust to adversity.1 It is important to note that learning resilience does not happen in a classroom. It comes from experience. Experts tell us that it is a specific kind of experience that fosters resilience. According to Forbes magazine, it is not possible to develop this ability without going through difficult times, and the degree of difficulty that is experienced is directly proportional to the resiliency attained.2 Various theories exist related to how resilience is achieved, including the influence of genetics, which is a possibility. However, empirical evidence shows that resilience can be learned.1

Characteristics of resilience
In theory, characteristics of resilience overlap in three ways. Included is a sense of purpose and meaning, realism, and an uncanny ability to improvise continually.1

1. Sense of purpose: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is a phrase first presented by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in 1888. It remains popular today in both word and in song.3 Although the truth within the statement may be debated, it has merit in discussing the development of resilience. Perhaps one of the best examples of the power of personal resilience is illustrated through the life of Viktor Frankl. Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp in World War II. In his 1946 book, Man's Search for Meaning, Dr. Frankl educated the world: When confronted with a situation over which there is no control, the challenge is to change our self.4 He survived the death camps and the loss of his family by seeing purpose and meaning while experiencing the most horrific of human circumstances. How? Throughout his suffering, he employed mindful imaging. What he imagined later came to be. He anticipated that after the war, he would lecture, help others understand what happened in concentration camps, and teach the value of finding meaning in hopeless situations.1

2. Realism: Realism plays a vital role in overcoming adversity. It trumps optimism as an essential element. Although, as a value, optimism and a positive attitude in leading and motivating teams can never be understated. Research conducted by Shawn Anchor, the author of The Happiness Advantage, demonstrates the principle that when people work with a positive mindset, their performance, productivity, creativity, and engagement improve.4 However, extreme optimism can and does distort reality.1 Assessing for danger and understanding real threat is the basis for preparing a response to a hardship that can undermine accomplishments.

3. Ingenuity and improvisation: The final characteristic of resilient people, as well as organizations, is the ability to improvise and create what is needed out of available resources. High reliable organizations (HROs) provide great examples of how ingenuity is utilized to triumph over adversity to combat failure. Mishaps are viewed as inevitable and a part of the everyday life of a business. HROs are committed to creating an environment of resilience through a focus on failure. HROs are “failure-focused” and strive for resilience. Resilience implies a form of elasticity that facilitates hardiness, toughness, and resistance to failure that would otherwise be disabling. As the key to survival and success, HROs develop an ability to detect errors and recover. They learn, create, revise, and bounce back. Going forward, daily operations continue with new knowledge that facilitates ongoing success.6

Adversity as a gift
Viewing adversity as a gift for which we can be grateful is a tough concept to grasp. However, there are no better lessons in learning resilience than those that come from successfully suffering through circumstance and consequence. In facing adversity, evolving situations can be viewed through a new lens with a different focus. Previously unseen views bring insight to changing challenges. Innovation and improvisation can generate novel approaches to problem resolution. It is through the “processing” that occurs in the battle against adversity that resilience emerges. The resulting success allows individuals, leaders, and organizations to move to higher levels of thought and performance, and it brings a sense of peace that accompanies new wisdom.

References

1. Coutu, D. “On Emotional Intelligence: How Resilience Works,” Boston, Mass., Harvard Business Review Press, pp. 105 – 118, 2015

2. Modglin, A. “Why Resilience Is Necessary As A Leader,” Forbes, July 11, 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/07/11/why-resilience-is-necessary-as-a-leader/#7ac0590e4ad3 on 6/14/2018.

3. Nietzsche, F. Twilight of the Idols, Oxford Worlds Classics, Oxford University Press, 1998

4. Frankl, V. Man's Search for Meaning, Hoboken, New Jersey, Washington Square Press, New York, 1984

5. Anchor, S. “Positive Intelligence.” Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb, 2012. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2012/01/positive-intelligence

6. Weick, E. and K. Stucliffe, Managing the Unexpected: Sustained Performance in a Complex World. John Wiley & Sons, 2015

 

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