Five Questions For Leaders to Reflect on Resilience
This fall we had a powerful windstorm. The force of the wind was so strong, that the largest tree in our yard was suddenly leaning to one side, with its roots exposed. We wouldn’t have even noticed, if it hadn’t been for the fact that my son’s swing, which hung from this tree, was suddenly much closer to the ground! The next day, we had to have it taken down, which was tough. Though our yard is surrounded by trees, it was the only source of shade during the hottest part of the day. It is where our hammock lived, and I so enjoyed relaxing there and staring up through the branches.
Through the winter, it laid bare.
Then summer hit and this happened.
Seemingly from every inch of the stump and its exposed roots, were saplings. What you can’t see in this picture, are the dozens of additional saplings that sprout up around the yard, where the branches fell, if we go more than a week without mowing. This was ONE tree, and so much life is coming from its apparent demise. I think this is the best example of resilience I have ever seen and it has been a really powerful visual reminder of what nature is capable of.
The storm came, roots were exposed and ultimately, from the outside, the tree was destroyed and yet, nature refused to give up. It’s throwing everything it has at continuing to create life, more life than it even began with.
This month, instead of sharing how this mirrors my own experience, I’d like to provide some journaling questions to think about how this may relate to your own experience.
Did you or your organization go through a phase of simply surviving and, from an outside perspective, doing little to nothing? What happened after that time of adjustment, assessment and/or rest?
How can you acknowledge and celebrate the resilience of your team?
What saplings are you noticing sprouting up around you?
How is more life being breathed into your leadership approach? What new life has been born of your struggle?
How might you encourage more life to come from your teams?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
If you are looking for a resource for virtual teams or teams who still need to keep their distance while in the office, I’ve created a workshop, Virtual Improv for Remote Team Building, to give teams an opportunity to do just this, laugh together, while learning how to communicate and collaborate in a more positive and creative way.