Leading Libraries Series: Leading for Resilience
Introduction
Recognising your strengths and gaps
This exercise will help you focus more specifically on your own resilience in terms of the 'factors' described in this module. It will help you decide where best to focus your attention as you work through the Leading for Resilience modules.
As you read through the examples of resilient behaviours below, reflect on the habits and skills you are already good at and those you want to develop further. If you have a 'gap' in one area you can develop a conscious ‘practice’ which, over
time will become an automatic resilience habit. If there is an area you are already good at, remember that you can use it as a resource to help others too – role modelling effective behaviour and habits or even making suggestions about
how they might support their own resilience.
The eight resilience habits
1. Recovering from shocks and upsets
Not freezing, panicking or collapsing, e.g. by learning physical practices that help you regulate your 'stress states'
2. Regulating your emotions
Not uncontained outbursts or ‘swallowing emotions’, e.g. learning to express your feelings, wants, needs to others or using techniques like journaling.
3. Detached analysis
Not emotional hijack, e.g. using techniques from CBT, NLP or other ‘thinking techniques’ to notice your thoughts and recognise any distortions in your interpretations.
4. Realistic optimism
Not catastrophizing, e.g. using positive ‘self talk’ to consider the likely importance and impacts of a situation.
5. Seeking assistance
Not ‘going it alone’, e.g. asking for practical help or emotional support when times get tough.
6. Social support
Not self isolation, e.g. maintaining your social groups and friendships in tough times.
7. Sense of agency
Not negative self-talk, e.g. spotting when your ‘inner critic’ is in action and actively taking a step to change the situation rather than ruminating.
8. Active experimentation
Not stuck patterns of reaction, e.g. noticing your own habitual responses and breaking the cycle by doing something different.
Pause for reflection
The reflective questions which follow will help you capture your thoughts and make a commitment to yourself about any changes you want to make.
- Think about the eight resilience habits.
- Which of them are you best at?
- How did you learn that skill?
- Which factor do you need to develop the most? Why?
- Who do you know that is already good at this aspect of resilience?
- What can you learn from them?
Based on your reflections, make some simple, do-able commitments to yourself to improve your resilience over the long term.
Every day I will...
Every week I will...
Every month I will...
Continue to: Improving your own resilience
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