Leadership and Resilience within the Business Organization - Research Paper Example

Leadership and Resilience What makes an organization and its leaders resilient? This question has been debated for many years. Today, the idea of resilience is important because it is a requirement for keeping organizations solvent. Coutu (2003) suggests that there are three characteristics that all companies and leaders must have in order to stay resilient: 1. The capacity to accept and face down reality. In other words, people train themselves to survive before they have to use their skills to actually do it. 2. Organizations and leaders who are resilient have the ability to find meaning in some aspect of life. Values usually do not change but the organization knows what to change and when it needs to make the changes. 3. Leaders and organizations have the ability to improvise. They have the ability to find creative ways to solve problems when they arise and they are not afraid to break away from traditional ideas. (p. 2) Many researchers suggest that a leader or organization can have only one or two of these characteristics and still survive but others feel an organization needs all of them in order to be resilient. The bottom line is that the level of resilience an individual has will determine whether they will have success or failure. 12 Manage: The Executive Fast Track defines organizational resilience as: The ability and capacity of a company to withstand potential significant economic/systemic risk or systemic discontinuities or business interruption by adopting or recovering or resisting being affected and resuming its (core) operations to continue to provide an acceptable level of functioning and structure (12 Manage The Executive Fast Track, 2009). This is a clear definition that basically explains that an organization must have in place different ways to weather the storm of adversity when their business hits a slump. When the company acts in ways to be resilient it will encourage the employees to continue to produce when times are tough, because they know that the situation will get better. Resilience is a strategy that is important to harness in order to make sure that an organization or leader develops and maintains for the long haul. Major Concepts and Models of Resilience in Leadership The literature does not directly give an idea of models of resilience but many people in the business world have created ideas of what this may mean to an organization. Resilience As It Applies To Organizations One of the most important aspects of resilience was seen in the survivors of the Holocaust. Maurice Vanderpol was one of those survivors and he began to study resilience to see exactly what made people survive. He found that they had a "plastic shield" that helped them through the worst times. This shield helped them have a sense of humor, helped them keep their incarceration in perspective and helped them build secure attachments with other people (Coutu, p. 5). Although the situation was difficult and many did not survive, his theory may be one reason why some businesses fail while others close their doors. The Search Institute, known for its work with youth, found that children who are more resilient were able to find adults in their community or in their life to help them along the way. This resilience made children able to move forward even in the face of adversity. Harland, Harrison, Jones, and Reiter-Palmon (2005) state that the first literature for resilience came from developmental psychologists who focused on various factors that were pertinent to the individual and their environment. They experimented with risk in the individual and how situations affected their resilience (p. 1). Grotberg (2003) suggests that resilience is "the human capacity to deal with stress, adversities and threats--and somehow emerge stronger" (front cover of book). Grotberg went on to create a framework that grouped protective factors that individuals used to become resilient: 1. External supports which included friends, family and others who were trusted and respected. 2. Inner strengths that included characteristics like optimism, a sense of purpose, likability and charisma. 3. Interpersonal and problem-solving skills that included the ability to stay with a task until its completion, understanding when to ask for help and finding those who could give it, and generating new ideas that could be used to move forward (p. 3-4). Although Grotberg applied these characteristics to children, one can see how easily this information can be transferred to organizations and their leadership. Giles (2008) studied capacity building in urban schools to see how individual they could stay self-sustaining and more resilient in the face of school reform. What the researcher found after they talked to several teachers in their study was that resilient organizations that were "self-renewing" needed a " an enduring internal architecture of personal, group and organizational characteristics as well as external contextual conditions that provide long-term nurturing and support" (p. 159). These organizations would also need an internal and sustaining organizational memory, a close synergy between the employees and the vision and mission of the organization, a caring structure that is self-renewing for the duration of the organization and that has an external network of partnerships and strategic alliances (p. 159). Although this information was applied to education in this instance, it is important to note that it is also pertinent to business. Without strategic partners, long-term support, an organizational memory that can be used to build upon, and employees who are connected to the vision and mission, any organization is prone to failure. Another area of literature that is important to this discussion is that of how people cope with life. The coping literature has focused more on adults than on youth and it describes the characteristics that are needed to cope with the world around them. Leaders are thought to be resilient when they stay within a company for many years. One cannot argue that Bill Gates is not a good example of a leader who is resilient with all of the negative things that tried to happen to him; he also knew when it was time to step down from his leadership position in his company to go to a different post. Resilience in Turbulent Times Resilience is one of the ways that people get through tough times but it is important to understand that most will already have the skills they need if they have worked through any small crisis. Most of the literature gives an idea of how leaders can make it through turbulent times by being more resilient. OReilly (2009) suggests that there are seven ways for leaders to get through turbulent times: Breathing, exercise, eating nutritious meals, laughing more, visualizing their future, using their brain and staying cool under pressure (p. 34). These are important factors that a leader must already possess in order to stay resilient over time. Sanders counters this idea by suggestion that leaders cannot appear too upbeat or they risk losing their employees to anxiety, stress and doubt. Instead, leaders should tell the truth to their employees and rely on their own emotional intelligence to get them through troubling times. Sanders suggests that the way for leaders to make it through turbulent times is to: Knowing that these feelings are normal and to be expected: 1. Recognize and understand their own personal pattern of underlying fears and concerns. 2. Anticipating specific stress triggers and planning coping strategies 3. Having trusted and supportive family and friends to share important thoughts and feelings. 4. Really good self-care that includes healthy nutrition, sound sleep, regular exercise, holidays, and time to relax. (p. 16). Leadership inside the organization is not the only way that a leader will model resilience; they also must model it in the community when the community is in turmoil. Dutton, Frost, Worline, Lilius and Kanov (2002) suggest that when the community is in turmoil it is important for the organization to help them become more resilient. As an example, in the World Trade Center disaster it was a time for leaders to stand up and show the community hope and understanding. Many organizations made time for their employees to discuss the situation which also modeled the strength of resilience to their employees. Theories of Resilience As stated before, most of the early theories about resiliency came from developmental psychology. Today, there are many leaders talking about what it means for an organization and its leaders to be resilient. Popkins (2001) examined the Five Factor Model of Personality which has been show to be very important in leadership. The five original factors were extroversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (p. 2). This model has been used in leadership and is called the "Big Five"; many leaders say that without the Big Five it is difficult to stay resilient. According to Judge and Bono (2000) the Big Five as it applies to leadership include: 1. Extroversion -- this includes the characteristics of outgoing, active, excitement seeking and assertiveness. They suggest that this trait in a leader will show they are predisposed to optimism. 2. Agreeableness -- includes the tendency for leaders to be kind and gentle, warm, trusting and trustworthy. 3. Conscientiousness -- includes the two factors of achievement and dependability which Judge and Bono suggest as the traits that are most fit for job performance. 4. Emotional adjustment -- includes the factors of anxiety, fear, depression and moodiness. Once people have adjusted their emotions, they can lead themselves to freedom and life satisfaction. 5. Openness to experience-- this includes the tendencies to use creativity, perception, imagination and thoughtfulness. (p. 1-2). Hopkins (2008) suggests that leaders must see their employees as assets in order to bring out the first trait in this list. By doing so, they begin to treat the employees well and this action develops trust. The team will begin to relax and see the leader as having their best interest in mind. He adds to this knowledge which he suggests is necessary so they can find ways to put knowledge into action. Decision making is also important because the leader who understands his job and what the company does, will be able to make difficult decisions without fear. Another theory that seems applicable here is Attachment Theory. Once workers are motivated and life is moving forward within the organization, behavior can fluctuate when workers do not feel challenged or feel too challenged. Their behavior can change depending on the way they perceive their environment. The basic premise of this theory is that people react to their environment based upon their attachment to their primary caregivers as babies. If the attachment was secure, the individual would form secure attachments for the rest of their lives. If this attachment was insecure, the individual would have difficulty connecting with people throughout their life (Bretherton, 2000). Simmons, Gooty, Nelson and Little (2009) suggest that attachment theory is important when looking at organizational behavior and it certainly has a place in resilience. They suggest that people act out their relationship challenges throughout life. In this researchers opinion, most of the "baggage" that an employee or leader brings to the workplace is based on their attachment style. Becoming resilient means to this researcher to move past the known obstacles to a place where one knows that no matter what the circumstances, life will always turn out positively. Full Range Leadership Full Range Leadership is a model that was the result of over 100 years of leadership research. It is a model of behavior that includes transactional and transformational behaviors. Both dynamics have more than one component but transformational leaderships is more geared towards resilience. In this aspect of the model, the leader has individualized consideration (compassionate leadership) which means they put the needs of their employees first. The leader makes interpersonal connections with their employees and they genuinely care about them. Employees are encouraged to develop in their careers (Barbuto and Cummins-Brown, p. 1). The leader who follows this path will act as a role model for their employees and they will model resilience for them. What I Will Take From These Theories And Concepts While I was reflecting on my ideas for this portion of the paper I realized that my family started teaching me early about resilience. I have told my story many times throughout these papers and I realized that I have always been a very resilient person. I grew up in a family with my father and grandfather that was very poor. My father and grandfather shared ownership in an automobile body shop which did not make enough money for us to life from comfortably. This meant that the homes we lived in were nothing fancy. In fact, the house was so poorly fabricated that you could see through the walls and the floors in the seams where the wood would come together. I remember always wearing socks in the winter because the floors were so cold when the wind blew through the seams of the wood. On really cold nights we would sleep by the pot belly stove in the living room to stay warm. There are many experiences in my past that seem to have a bearing of my resilience. As an example, when I was a child in high school, I dared to swim across a channel that was more than I could endure. I decided that I could do this and was proud to have made the goal. This is what resilience taught me: to do what you need to do in the moment and not to let adversity stop you. These theories are very important to my work in long-term care. My work experiences have brought to me I have had great employers who have given me excellent work experiences to support many of the competencies. I have had the opportunity of living in a long-term care facility for six months, legislating for state and federal benefits, teaching future long-term care administrators health care finance, and being responsible for an ongoing training of 1400 employees in management and customer service techniques. Furthermore, my employer gave me the latitude of researching ways to make work life more efficient for the direct care givers while increasing the safety of the patients. One example is the ergo program, known as “The Lift Free Facility.” This program was implemented to prevent muscle strains and back injuries while decreasing patient incidents as well. In other words, these efforts helped employees sustain themselves with in the job resulting in their ability to be more resilient. These experiences have molded my resilience and I would say that my personality fits the "Big Five". I am a very likeable person and I enjoy helping others learn; perhaps this is the teacher in me. I believe that the life I came through of poverty, helped me shape a better personality than some people. Because I had to rely on my wit instead of money, I developed caring, empathy, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and so forth. I have learned to take care of myself despite the odds and to also take care of people around me. I have been blessed much of my life with people who encouraged me and I believe that I have had secure attachments most of my life. This is another theory I will take with me because it is pertinent to my calling. Through this theory I can see people in long-term care who have not found positive nor secure attachments. Many times this group is left alone to fight their final days. I attempt to spend time with these people to make sure that their transition is better than possibly their life had been. I want them to at least have one attachment that they can acknowledge as one that helped them easily through their final transition. I will also take with me the information from OReilly because I do believe that one of the ways that an individual can stay resilient is to learn to breath, to eat well, exercise and generally take care of themselves. After all, we cant be open to helping other people if we do not take care of ourselves first (its like giving the oxygen to our children on a plane before we give it to ourselves). When I think of leadership and resilience I think of some of the great leaders of our time. People like Bill Gates and others shot to the top of their careers but not without adversity. Many have weathered the storms in their communities, businesses, and other organizations to continue their passions. I particularly was interested in what authors said about leading in turbulent times. We never know what will happen in our world and I am sure that our new president is falling back on his resilience for the trials and tribulations he is going through at the present time. I think that the only way that people get through turbulent times is to fall back on their own resilience while helping others. I would like to be in a position in my community that I could be looked upon in a crisis situation to help not only the people in my organization but also those in the community. I believe I do that when people are in long-term care and coming to the end of their journey. I attempt to help the family understand that their loved one is going to a better place and then I help them get to a place where they can let go. I think that death is a time when everyone must fall back on any resilience they have in order to get through their mourning and grief. My Personal Approach to Leadership and Resilience Resilience is a factor that every leader should have in order for them to lead appropriately. Many managers attempt to have a hard edge because they do not see their employees as important; instead they see a hierarchy where they are at the top and their employees are at the bottom. In my approach to leadership, I feel that I have a host of skills that will help me in this venture. In reviewing my strengths toward my competency development, I believe that being a teacher/mentor, change-agent, organizer, and consultant in a diverse culture have prepared me to lead and model resilience. Furthermore, I believe that I have continued the development of my skills in research and communication. When I took the Gregorc Style Delineator for self-assessment I was pleasantly surprised. My style profile was strong in concrete sequential and abstract sequential. Both mediation channels follow my dominant characteristics in an analytical nature. In addition when I took the Kolb Learning Style Inventory I found myself strong in the accommodating and converging learning styles. All of these tests pointed out to me that I am a resilient leader and I would like to help others become stronger in this area. When looking at these assessments I realized that I have a large capacity for work with people. I intend to pay attention to attachment theory more to see if some of the challenges at work can be from attachment challenges. I am also going to apply the work of the "Big Five" not only to myself but to my employees. I am interested to know how other employees measure up to the Big Five and whether their personalities are meshing with the information I see in this particular theory. I think that as a leader we can help others achieve a stronger level of success. I will also implement the three strategies from Coutu that show us how an organization can be resilient. I believe that all leaders must have the capacity to accept and face down reality because they must have the ability to separate reality from what is not real and help their employees make their way through adversity. I always look for meaning in my life and Coutu is correct in assuming that this makes an individual more resilient. If you can see the good in any situation you can also see how that situation presents itself as a learning process. References Barbuto, J.E., Jr. and Cummins-Brown, L. L. (2007). Full range leadership. Retrieved August 12, 2009 from http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/ live/g1406/build/g1406.pdf. Bretherton, I. (1992). The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology 28, 759-775. Retrieved July 28, 2009 from http://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/attachment/online/inge_origins.pdf. Coutu, D.L. (2003). How resilience works in Harvard business review on building personal and organization resilience, p. 1-18. MA: Harvard Business School. Giles, Corrie (2008). Capacity building: Sustaining urban secondary schools as resilient self-renewing organizations in the face of standardized educational reform. Urban Review. 40 (2) p137-163. Retrieved August 10, 2009 from EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier database AN: 32064908. Grotberg, E. (2003). Resilience for today: Gaining strength from adversity. Westport, CT: Praeger. Retrieved August 10, 2009 from www. http://books.google.com. Harland, L., Harrison, W., Jones, J.R., Reiter-Palmon, R. (2005). Leadership behaviors and subordinate resilience. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies in Entrepreneur Magazine. Retrieved August 9, 2009 from http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/128206298_2.html. Judge, T.A., and Bono, J. (2000). Five-Factor model of personality and transformational leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology. 85 (5). p751-765. Retrieved Auguest 9, 2009 from Business Source Premier AN: 12129120. 12 Manage The Executive Fast Track(2009). Organizational Resilience. Retrieved August 12, 2009 from http://www.12manage.com/description_ organizational_resilience.html. OReilly, N. D. (2009) Get mentally tough: 7 secrets to resilience during difficult times. Security: For Buyers of Products, Systems & Services. 46 (1). Retrieved August 12, 2009 from EBSCOhost Business Source Premier. AN: 36119706. Popkins, N.C. (2001). The five-factor model: Emergence of a taxonomic model for personality psychology. Retrieved August 9, 2009 from http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/popkins.html. Sandler, C. (2009) Support your leaders in turbulent times. Training & Coaching Today, p16. Retrieved August 12, 2009 from EBSCOhost Business Source Premier database AN: 36961783. Simmons, B.L., Gooty, J., Nelson, D.L., Little, L.M. (2009). Secure attachment: Implications for hope, trust, burnout, and performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 30 (2). p. 233-247. Retrieved August 2, 2009 from Wiley InterScience. (DOI: 10.1002/job.585). Read More