Resilient Leading

Stop mixing mortar.
Let someone move you beyond breath.
Find expression for the fragility in
Life’s delicate balance.
Remember the strength of spider webs,
Beehives, and cocoons.
Rethink the substance of mortar.
Lightly sculpted walls have sustained
Substantial mansions.
What butterfly ever emerged from
A brick wall?

Kathryn Anderson

The following is based on an article I came across by Jamais Cascio who is a Fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. In it he makes a case for resilience as the “next big thing”.

He argues that sustainability, a watchword among scientists, environmental activists, and others concerned about the complex, fragile systems of our earth,  has “… shaped debates about business, design, and our lifestyles.” He points out, though that it is essentially a static concept, whereas resilience is based on an acceptance that change is inevitable and therefore seeks to build-in the capacity to absorb the inevitable “shocks” of the unexpected or unanticipated.

His principles of resilience include:

• Diversity: Not relying on a single kind of solution means not suffering from a single point of failure.
• Redundancy: Backup, backup, backup. Never leave yourself with just one path of escape or rescue.
• Decentralization: Centralized systems look strong, but when they fail, they fail catastrophically.
• Collaboration: We are all in this together. Take advantage of collaborative technologies, especially those offering shared communication and information.
• Transparency: Don’t hide your system as transparency makes it easier to figure out where a problem may lie. Share your plans and preparations, and listen when people point out flaws.
• Fail gracefully: Failure happens, so make sure that a failure state won’t make things worse than they are already.
• Flexibility: Be ready to change your plans when they’re not working the way you expected; don’t count on things remaining stable.
• Foresight: You can’t predict the future, but you can hear its footsteps approaching. Think and prepare.

Focused as I am at the moment on questions about how we understand leadership and how we can construct a form of leading that suits our current circumstances I inevitably wondered what “resilient leadership” would look like.

What would it take to lead in ways that emphasised diversity, de-centralisation, collaboration, transparency, failing gracefully, flexibility and foresight?

What would we need to “let go of” in our current construction of what leading is and what leaders do in order for these ways of doing and being to flourish?

Something to do
Ask yourself which of these things “speaks” to your current challenge as a leader or manager? Then ask …

1. What would you need to let go of in order to act more in tune with this principle?
2. What new capability might you need to cultivate?
3. What way of thinking might you need to nurture?