Grit and Collaboration Fuel Extraordinary Teams
Building Resilience as a Leader
The most basic definition of resilience is the ability to recover from or adjust easily to circumstances or changes. In this blog, I will discuss resilience as a mindset, as a new set of lenses when looking at adjusting to circumstances or recovering from challenges.
If you haven’t already, read my previous article on self-reflection and self-awareness, which is a baseline precursor to this topic of resilience.
Failure or Learning
Similar to the Buddhist belief that pain in life is inevitable, we can say that failure is also just as much a part of life. Failure is just as valid as success. We can’t avoid it.
However, the people who are successful are resilient and make comebacks from perceived failure. Of course, we don’t seek failure, but we can welcome failure because it provides knowledge – case in point, engineers see failures as a data point that puts them closer to their goal.
The operative word here is perception. We can perceive failure as something bad, or that we are failures because of the results we obtained, or we can look at it as a lesson learned. An opportunity to see something new that we couldn’t see before if it weren’t for that experience.
Enter grit. As Angela Ducksworth defines it in her book of the same name, she says that grit is the combination of passion and perseverance.
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
—Thomas Edison
According to legend, Thomas Edison made thousands of prototypes of the incandescent light bulb before he finally got it right. And, since the prolific inventor was awarded more than 1,000 patents, it's easy to imagine him failing on a daily basis in his lab at Menlo Park.
Grit Is More Than Resilience
Studies across the board show that grit is the number one predictor of success. Talent and intelligence are nice to have, but grit is the best predictor of success. Duckworth goes on to define it further as passion and sustained persistence applied toward long-term achievement. To her, it combines resilience, ambition, and self-control in the pursuit of goals that take months, years, or even decades.
For example, when one of SpaceX’s rocket ships failed, the media went into a frenzy, asking Elon if this was the end of SpaceX. However, his team viewed this as a “successful failure,” stating that taking more risks and identifying the reasons for failure saves them more time and money in the long run.
Sure enough, his next launch was a success, and Elon is now seen as a pioneer in space transportation. And nobody remembers that failed launch now.
It’s best to recognize that you may have failures along the way, but that doesn’t make you a failure. Have realistic optimism that if you persevere, things will end up going your way, contributing to reaching your goals.
“Great leaders know they’re not the smartest person in the room.”
—Unknown
The Power of Collaboration
As leaders, we cannot possibly see ourselves as the ones who must have the answers to all challenges — that is an extremely heavy burden to carry. Do you honestly think that Elon Musk was able to solve the rocket ship launch problem by himself?
Instead, put yourself out there and ask for help. Ask your team for feedback. Their thoughts and ideas on what could be the weaknesses that are preventing the team from reaching the collective goal can be a valuable resource. Asking for feedback from others may give you a sense of vulnerability, and that’s okay. It is also honest and authentic. It is also an opportunity to allow others to contribute to a solution, which only promotes trust and team-building — it is hard to argue against that.
Ask team members individually open-ended questions like, “What do you think? What’s preventing you from doing the best job you can do? How can the team support you in being successful? Do you have the resources that you need?” Sometimes, it’s best to do so in private, and sometimes, you can gain more by having an open dialogue with everyone at once. In the end, together and in collaboration, new solutions that couldn’t be seen before will emerge.
If you’re a solopreneur and don’t really have a team, you may ask your support network. You can reach out to a coach or group of people that you can reach out to and trust that they have your best interest at heart.
However, it’s best to be careful with what you consider support. A “pity partner” or a person who always wants to compare who’s got the bigger problem will not help. Look for someone who’s level-headed, empathetic, and wants success for you, too.
Thrive through Failure
Much of being resilient has to do with managing your own perception of circumstances and how you want to look at ‘failure.’ Be brutally honest and ask yourself how you are handling this: with resignation, frustration, blaming others, or the circumstances. Or are you approaching it with tenacity and curiosity towards yourself and your circumstances? Allowing yourself to be vulnerable to ask for help and constructive feedback from others is an authentic way of leading others and, in the process, watching your initiative thrive.
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Mariano is a growth and leadership coach for changemakers who promotes new ways of exploring perspectives and shifting the lenses we use to see the world. His coaching style leaves people with a sense of clarity and conviction from what is authentically true for them—resulting in being inspired and called into action by the new possibilities that arise.
If you are ready to explore more on this topic and how coaching can help you, please get in touch and set up a free consultation to discover how we can work together.
