Resilient leadership is not about toughness or perseverance. It is about sustaining positive energy levels under pressure to cope with disruptive changes. PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK
The current global economic outlook paints a gloomy picture. According to the IMF World Economic Outlook published in October 2023, global economic growth is expected to fall from the projected 3.5 to 3 percent. The rise of interest rates to fight inflation continues to weigh on economic activities, hence heightening uncertainties and obstacles to sustainable growth. The high cost of energy amid the Russia-Ukraine war and now the Middle East war does not make things better.
Back home, things are not better. The economy is marred with inflationary pressure, high-interest rates, weakening shilling against the US dollar, capital flights, and high taxes, compounding effects of the high cost of living and a lingering uncertain business environment.
There is nothing new in all these. A lot worse has happened many times in the past. Just a few years ago we had the Covid-19 pandemic. At some point during the pandemic era, we were all locked down and the global economy almost shut down.
Tough times come and go. Tough times examples are natural disasters, pandemics, wars, and macroeconomic shocks such as disruption of supply chains. In business, examples are unfavourable government legislation, competition, innovation disruptions, loss of clients, and loss of assets.
No matter how careful we are, threats are everywhere, sometimes there is a disaster waiting to happen and no one knows about it. The world has a way of throwing us off balance now and then, whether in business or at a personal level as if to test our resilience levels.
Amidst the adversities, when nothing is certain and everything is volatile, ambiguous, and complex, you are needed most as a leader. Your followers count on you, not only to show the way but also to inspire and encourage them through the storm. That calls for a leader with resilience skills.
Resilient leadership is not about toughness or perseverance. It is about sustaining positive energy levels under pressure to cope with disruptive changes and adapt while focusing on personal resilience as well as team resilience. It is simply the ability to bounce back after a setback.
Resilient leaders are needed quite often. They play a critical role when things are out of control and the business is unusual. When there is panic and everyone is wondering what to do, they calm down the situation and reassure that things will go back to normal and much better and the direction going forward. That is a huge responsibility.
Resilience is a quality that is often underestimated but holds immense power. It is a must-have for every leader. Below are ways you can acquire and enhance resilience leadership.
First, you cannot give what you don’t have. As it is popularly said, you cannot love someone else if you don’t love yourself. Similarly, you cannot motivate resilience if you are not personally resilient. What does that mean? The first line of defense is holistic wellness which focuses on your physical health, mental and spiritual health and to some extent financial well-being.
You cannot deal with the crisis when you are physically weak or unwell. You cannot deal with pressure and stressful situations when you are stressed and burnout. You need a stable, calm, and motivated state of mind for you to lead amid a crisis. Financial well-being is also a critical aspect of personal resilience, and it does not mean that you need to be rich. It simply means that you need to have your finances held together.
Management of stakeholders is another way of acquiring resilience in leading through a crisis. Your stakeholders can be your shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, government, family, and society at large. When things are not looking up, these are the people affected in one way or the other.
Letting them know what is going on goes a long way in managing their expectations which is a critical part of building resilience. Listed companies do it very well and you may have seen profit warning statements in newspapers.
Stakeholder management is all about effectively disseminating and sharing fact-based, timely and relevant information in the right context about the affairs of the business. When the stakeholders are up to date, not only do they take away the pressure from the leader but also provide the much-needed support system for the leader. As the adage goes a problem share is a problem have solved.
The biggest takeaway from a crisis is the lessons learnt. A resilient leader uses the lessons learnt as building blocks to rebuild and bounce back and better. Being vulnerable and accepting that things would have been done much better is often the first step in learning.
Identifying the mistakes, commissions and omissions leading to the crisis is the next important phase.
Finally, taking corrective actions from the lessons learnt will not only stop the situation from getting worse but also turn the tides back to normal and even much calmer.
The writer is the Group Chief Finance Officer at Zamara Group.
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