Resilience is surely one of the most important qualities for navigating the challenges of our chaotic and unpredictable world. We can see this in nature as the natural world recovers from the battering of climatic events. We can see it in human life as communities repair and rise again after natural or human-made disasters. We can see it in the workplace as teams and organisations endure and then rebuild after a difficult period.
Dictionary definitions speak of the ability to withstand shocks and to bounce back after setbacks.
Often, then, when we think of resilience, we’re positioning it as an essential quality in withstanding and bouncing back from a crisis.
So, it was a happy reminder, courtesy of a recent blog by the great Seth Godin, that resilience can be progressive too…about embracing change in whatever form and building something better.
At the heart of resilience or rather a resilient response to changing circumstances we are marshalling the resources available to us. These will be inner resources – our courage, wisdom, determination, emotional maturity, self-trust, optimism, our experience and a sense of humour (vital) – as well as the more physical…time, people, money.
If we were, in any change, whether of our choosing or imposed, to bring all these resources to bear with the intention of creating something better, rather than shying away from, or resisting the opportunity, imagine the progress we could make towards a better, less chaotic world for all.