Guest Blog from PJ Snodgrass

Each member of the IPS Leadership Academy was asked to write a blog post. Today's post comes from MTAS Training Consultant, PJ Snodgrass.

Resilience

Surely for all our professional lives we have heard about change. Change is good, change is constant, cope with change, change is stressful and on and on. But when the change knocks you off your feet, blindsides you, or you make a serious mistake what skills do you need to recover? According to Rosabeth Moss Kanter, resilience is that skill.

 

Change can include a new job, office, computer, promotion, moving offices and things that sometimes we have control over, sometimes not. Resilience is a skill one might need when there is serious adversity, when you have to find a new path, when you have to start all over. These situations require more than just adjusting to change. They require resilience.

 

What are some of the traits of someone who is resilient? Humility and an authentic desire to serve are two. Resilience has attributes that cause one to draw from strength of character, provides the ability to pick oneself up because that’s what you do, and affords a willingness to admit defeat and learn from it. Powerful skills. Skills that we all need but are particularly essential for good leaders.

According to Gwen Morgan, a freelance writer, six habits of resilient people are that they:

o   Build relationships

o   Reframe past hurts

o   Accept failure

o   Have multiple identities (multiple sources of defining yourself)

o   Practice forgiveness

o   Have a sense of purpose.

 

During the Leadership Academy, we read several books on leadership. The different books espoused the attributes of good leaders such as honesty, integrity, being approachable, trustworthy, telling the truth even in difficult times.  Good leaders have to be able to bounce back, believe in their purpose, build relationships, solve seemingly unsurmountable problems and much more. These skills are also the skills of resiliency.

 

When Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as the 16^th President of the United States, the very fabric of the young democracy was wearing thin. Before his inauguration, seven states adopted an ordinance of secession. Six of these adopted a constitution and declared themselves to be a sovereign nation. And then things got worse. But Lincoln held true to his belief that the union was worth saving and was willing to pay the price. As a leader, Lincoln exhibited courage, strength, and resilience. He came back to his core purpose after many failures and stayed true to that.

 

In our work today, our challenges don’t even come close to Lincoln’s but we can learn from his and many other leaders’ resilience and sense of purpose. As an agency that serves the people of the state of Tennessee, we see the challenges, the shortcomings and the inequities but we keep on trying. We build relationships, accept our failures when they come, and set our minds to overcoming the barriers. We continue to challenge ourselves, remain committed to our purpose and keep a positive outlook for our state and ourselves.