It Takes Resilience to Dance with Chaos
Professionally, I grew up with the belief that healthcare was considered an “evergreen” industry, even in recessionary times. Now that healthcare too is being hit by the turmoil in the marketplace, we know that we are in extreme times.
“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” (recent Huffington Post article)
In the face of great risk – and chaos - is great opportunity. A cliché perhaps, but taking advantage of it requires adaptability, creativity, and innovation. For individuals and organizations, such a time is both a potent opportunity for reinvention, and possibly the best option as well.
I think of reinvention in terms of the concept of “autopoiesis”, a word that comes from the Greek and literally means “self-creation”. The process of autopoiesis, when caused by severe perturbation of or in the system, always involves a disintegration of that which we know followed by a re-organization to a higher level of integration and functionality.
However, in order to withstand the force of severe perturbation and be able to access the necessary adaptability, creativity, and innovation (which may yet be latent or inchoate in the chaos of the perturbation) requires first and foremost, increased stress resilience.
Stress resilience serves as a lifeboat when it seems that the ship may be sinking.
When I was a clinician, I utilized a Five Dimensional model of health and wellness in helping patients heal and achieve better health. The power of this paradigm – unlike the bio-mechanistic and bio-psycho-social models of medicine - is that it affords us greater control in determining a healthy outcome (the details of which are unfortunately beyond the scope of this article). The five dimensions together serve as a lifejacket on the resilience lifeboat and apply as well to organizations as to individuals.
Paying attention to these five dimensions will help get your organization through rough times with minimal turbulence. Of course, they’re important in the best of times too, but now they’re truly mission critical.
Given that two key indicators of a low-stress organization are high employee satisfaction and low turn-over, here’s what the calmer waters look like in a resilient organization:
- An organizational climate and culture that reflects trust
- Communication
- People being coached and coaching others (e.g. development)
- Leadership with vision, strategy, and execution
- Attention to giving employees buy-in and a sense of control/responsibility for the outcomes
These indicators are also your guide to assessing the level of stress your department or your organization is experiencing.
What you see in a stressed organization:
s Withdrawing professional and organizational development initiatives and a fear-based focus on survival
s Loss or lack of trust, cooperation and cohesion
s Leadership failing to hold a vision, communicate it consistently and provide a coherent strategy
s Leadership failing to get buy-in to execute necessary or desired changes
s Low employee satisfaction
It’s going to take more than dollars to stay ahead of the stormy weather
Everyone is looking to cut expenses where and when possible, so I’m not arguing against the prudence of operating leanly. But stressful conditions cause even the smartest among us to neglect that which we most need. Yet, it behooves businesses to see beyond the dollars to the factors that contribute more substantially to ongoing health, reinvention and sustainability over the longer term. Steering the Resilience Lifeboat to calmer waters means you’ve got to couple operating leanly while holding a vision for the future and investing in creating greater value internally in the present.
All hands on deck!
Here’s where the five dimensional model of wellness comes in. If resilience is the lifeboat we need to navigate stormy waters, think of the five dimensions as the five oars needed to row the Resilience Lifeboat with optimal power and efficacy and get you back to smoother sailing.
Assess your leadership and organization health along these five dimensions. As you read through them, ask yourself if there’s something you’re neglecting or should be paying more attention to.
1. The Physical dimension represents the body or the physical environment. Do people have the systems, processes, structures and resources to be as efficient and effective as possible?
2. The Energetic dimension represents what’s happening on a cellular level. Organizationally, this is reflected in the climate, quality, and quantity of communication. 50-70% of how employees feel about being at work is driven by the behavior of leadership. Above all remember that you simply can not over-communicate in times of crisis, change and transition.
3. The Emotional dimension includes emotions, both positive and negative. Although work is about getting the job done, we do not leave our emotions in the parking lot, and how emotion is managed impacts the quality of work being done. In stressful times, utilize the Affiliative and Coaching leadership styles to effectively facilitate and manage emotion (for more detail, read my article Resilient Leadership for Challenging Times at http://www.heartofhealthcare.com/articles)
4. The Mental dimension is comprised of attitudes, beliefs, organizational norms and expectations. This is where clarity of and commitment to vision, strategy, and execution matter. Take time from fighting fires to thoughtfully determine and convey vision and strategy.
5. The Spiritual or Relational dimension is about the quality of our relationships - to self, higher power, and/or significant others - and our ability to reach out. Organizationally, this dimension is reflected through values in action, clarity of purpose and intention, and recognizing the importance of connectedness. Without a sense of a higher good, cynicism and alienation will rule the day. Connectedness is what allows people to sacrifice a little for the good of the many.
As the winds of change whirl around us, proactively attending to the five dimensions of wellness will increase your resilience and enable you to dance with the chaos that is seeking greater integration.