Developing people’s resilience [Cancelled]

Coaching for performance improvement is part and parcel of the day job for leaders. Leaders need to get the very best from their people whilst ensuring that they continue to develop and grow. This new session – part of the PM Forum and Managing Partners’ Forum Coaching Skills Academy – addresses how to manage and promote the resilience of those you coach. Learn how to promote emotional wellbeing and help your people build resilience and navigate adversity – whether in their professional or personal lives. And identify when people may need specialist help.

Session leader Kim Tasso is an experienced management consultant, qualified executive coach and an accredited psychotherapeutic counsellor. She also presents introductory coaching skills sessions for PM Forum.

“Sisu” is the Finnish art of inner strength. The Japanese version is “Ganbaru” which can be translated to mean persistence, tenacity, doggedness and hard work. The British see “grit” as courage, resolve and strength of character.

Session outline

1. Why resilience?
   • Emotional wellbeing and resilience in a rapidly changing and uncertain world (understand the threat response)
   • Explore the pillars of resilience (adaptability, optimism, problem-solving and social support) in maintaining good mental health

• Recognise the role of self-esteem, personality, assertiveness and cultural differences
• Develop empathy and emotional intelligence

1. • Manage the stress bucket (good and bad stress)
   • Building blocks of resilient teams
   • Exercise: Assess your own resilience

2. Assess and build resilience
   • Consider the organisational, leadership and team context
   • Use observation and questioning skills
   • Promote self-awareness and self-care and improve emotional regulation
   • Harness positive psychology – Seligman’s personalisation, pervasiveness and permanence
   • Change attitudes to growth, mistakes and learning
   • Use coaching techniques to build resilience
     • Competence (mental agility, problem-solving)
     • Confidence
     • Connection (support networks)
     • Character
     • Contribution (purpose)
     • Coping (e.g. mindfulness, compartmentalise, breaks)
     • Constructive feedback (perspective)
   • Exercise: Resilience scenarios and action planning

3. Identify when specialist help is required
   • Leaders as role models (and remote management)
   • Use compassion, comparison and collaboration
   • Manage conflict, negative thinking, setbacks and failures
   • Be alert to signs of anxiety, panic and burnout
   • Identify when specialist help is needed (e.g. trauma, personality disorder, mental illness)
   • Signpost sources of specialist help
   • Exercise: Scenarios to manage set-backs and specialist needs