As we all know resilience is our ability to stand back up after a knock and walk on even stronger. A lot of excellent insight has been offered through positive psychology and how to rewire our internal patterning to strengthen our resilience pathway (so we wont go into that here) but a key question is often neglected … How likely are you to ask for support?  Will you stoically struggle to get up on your own or will you ask a passerby to give you a hand? Resilience is greatly impacted by our own ability to call out for help. Some of us can run strong habitual belief patterns that we have to do things alone and be strong independently.  We see this as a good thing when a toddler adamantly says “I can do it myself!”.  Yet when carried on to dealing with the knocks of life as our single mantra it can make the pathway to resilience a much harder road. For leaders its can be even more compelling to do it alone and not admit weakness. Try asking yourself:

• How bad do I need to feel before I reach out to someone else?
• Do I feel weak when I do so?
• Is my tendency to soldier on or to recruit an army?

Then consider:

• Who are the people in my life who I weaken by not accepting their strength?
• If open to help, how much support would I be able to gather around me?
• How much quicker could I get up and walk on next time I fall?

There is a good chance that resilience has a lot to do with walking on in good company rather than struggling to walk on alone. Leading Well is a boutique leadership consulting and coaching firm which recognises that it is no longer enough to improve surface-level leadership skills without ensuring that the foundations on which they are introduced are as strong and healthy as possible. We offer the highest standards in leadership development, cultural and strategic facilitation and wellness mentoring programme design. To find out more about how Leading Well can help you, please contact us.