92 - MANAGEMENT and
ANDLEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP
MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP - 93
need to have a similar view with our
organisations, leading them beyond
survival mode by applying a
compassion-based leadership style.
A BROADER DEFINITION OF
RESILIENCE
Resilience is often defined as the ability
to bounce back. I challenge this concept
with a broader definition of resilience
that includes attributes enabling
furthering an organisation. Beyond
bounce-back, there are three additional
defining factors to explore: courage,
creativity, and connection. To have
courage is to be enthused by challenge
and change as your organisations are
going through disruption. Are we
approaching these situations with
courage or with avoidance or ignorance?
Times of challenge are also key times to
be creative.
Achieving an organisational
culture of resilience beyond
‘bounce-back’—one that
experiences disruption,
responds innovatively, and
seeks out opportunity for
growth—creates a culture
of sustainable
high performance.
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W
hen we become more
comfortable with
disruption and learn
to lead with it, this in
itself becomes an act
of resilience. Beyond a culture of ‘coping’ or
‘surviving’ is a place of ‘thriving’. To get to
this place, we need to shift our perspective
and experience from adversity to challenge,
and then ultimately to seeing disruption as
an opportunity. If organisations and
individuals get stuck in adversity, they
suffer and performance declines. This is
why it is key to swiftly move culture to view
adversity as a challenge that stabilises
performance, creating a platform for
innovation and growth through seeking
opportunity in disruption.
For many organisations, the five to
10-year strategic plan is out the window
and the focus is now on developing a
range of future strategic scenarios
alongside investment in building this
culture: a thriving culture that is based on
values, has a strong agility, and resilience
for disruption.
THE KEY TO RESILIENCE BEYOND
BOUNCE-BACK
We begin with humility and
compassion. I see it this way: If we are
overridden or downtrodden by ego, we
are not even in the game. We may be in
the game of high performance, but it’s
unlikely to be sustainable. When our
thinking is around the greater good, we
have a chance to lean into this space in
a way that can be overall more on the
upward trajectory. When we explore
resilience from this lens of ‘higher
purpose’, we move away from the idea
that this is a bounce-back concept; this
is not about just coping. Survival mode,
of course, at times is where you need to
be—but isn’t life a little bit more than
getting to your deathbed to realise you
worked hard to ‘cope’? Isn’t life about
the challenging, fun, exciting ride? We
If you are trying to do the same thing
continuously, you are actually going to
struggle to move forward. Invest in
developing talents and creative
thinking processes. When we make the
shift and explore creative ways to
engage with this new world, this is
when we get into the game of thriving
rather than just getting by. It’s
important to remember this is a team
sport. Along with courage and
creativity, connection—respect and care
for others—is key, starting in the
executive team to create a high-trust,
compassion-based culture. If we are
functioning in a sustainable highperformance culture, this primarily
comes from looking at how we move
forward together. As leaders, we must
be realistic about the adversities our
individuals, teams, and organisations
face, and have the ability to influence a
culture that is courageous, creative, and
connected. This is enabling a
compassion-based culture, in turn
liberating sustainable high
performance for the organisation.
DISCIPLINES TO DEVELOP AS
LEADERS OF A COMPASSIONBASED CULTURE
Being aware of the areas to develop
resilience beyond bounce-back
personally—as a leader/influencer as
well within our organisation—allows us
to have an integral approach, as well as
the ability to assess and focus efforts in
challenged areas. Ultimately, we want to
develop mastery of our stress, physical
vitality, emotions, and mind, and engage
in our higher purpose or ‘spirit in action’.
SPIRIT IN ACTION
Defining this top level is absolutely
fundamental. This is the ‘why’. Why are
we doing what we are doing? More and
more, we are seeing organisations placing
value in defining this key area,
recognising its impact on culture and
performance. I see empathy, trust, and
compassion as the ‘make or break’ of
whether a team or organisation will be
one of sustainable high performance or
not. Without this, we are dealing in a
transactional world. When we have
empathy, trust, and compassion engaged,
we are dealing with a humanity of
cooperation. Poor performance is often
treated with sympathy rather than
courageous conversation, and therefore
behavioural change doesn’t take place. If
sometimes ‘tough’ conversations happen
with empathy and compassion,
sustainable change may occur.
SELF-MASTERY
Even though as executive leaders we are
more often operating in the ‘spirit in
action’ space, this is not possible in a
sustainable way without the foundations
of resilience underpinning this area. This
self-mastery includes mastering our
stress levels, investing in physical vitality
(our sleep, nutrition, and exercise), as
well as having awareness of emotions and
thoughts. We cannot undervalue the
As leaders, we must be
realistic about the adversities
our individuals, teams, and
organisation face, and have
the ability to influence a
culture that is courageous,
creative, and connected.
impact of getting these practices in place
as a non-negotiable of each day.
OUR ROLE IN THIS AS CEO
As leaders of our people and
organisations, are we nurturing this
compassion-based, thriving culture or
enabling a fear-based culture? I see a
general shift in organisational cultures
for better, in part due to the feminisation
of leadership styles to embody greater
empathy and compassion. However, when
you look at the results from our study of
16,000 people in 251 companies, the level
of worry sits at around 30 per cent and
the work environment is assessed as
intense by 80 per cent of staff. So,
currently, this shift is a huge challenge. It
also needs to be said that one of the
strongest determinants of whether a
culture will be fear based or high trust is
the leadership style of the CEO and direct
reports. They set the tone. They choose
whether to lead with compassion (high
trust, sometimes tough love, high respect
for individuals) or with indifference,
contempt, sympathy, or antipathy.
Beyond leadership style, the levels of
internal and external change, sector
consolidation, technology change, and
role expectations all contribute. You may
note that each one of these has the
potential to cause huge disruption.
It is all too easy to fall back into a ‘do as
I say’ culture, although the greater
reward lies in leaning into this
disruption, liberating a culture that
thrives off challenge and seeks
opportunity from adversity.