The Role of Resilience in Thriving Leaders: Reframing the Turbulence

• In Event: Thriving in Turbulent Times: Higher Education Leadership at a Crossroads

Short Description

Resilience is critical to leadership effectiveness, particularly during periods of rapid change or uncertainty. This paper presents strategies of effective higher education leaders, chief among them the ability to reframe a crisis, bounce back from adversity, enact greater levels of effectiveness, and, arguably, thrive in challenging situations.

Detailed Abstract

Scholars have long recognized the important role of resilience in leadership effectiveness, with resilience reflected in “patterns of positive adaptation in the context of significant adversity and risk” (Masten & Reed, 2002, p. 75). Bennis and Thomas (2007) devoted a chapter in Leading for a Lifetime to the “Crucibles of Leadership,” noting that effective leaders demonstrate “adaptive capacity” (p. 91) and actually embrace adversities as opportunities to “learn important new skills that allow them to move on to new levels of achievement and new levels of learning” (p. 93). Similarly, Keyes and Haidt (2003) described people who flourish in life as those who rise to challenges, valuing the opportunity to learn life lessons from the adversities that inevitably come.

Positive psychology researchers Avolio and Luthans (2006) in their book The High Impact Leader described the construct of Psychological Capital, which includes resilience as one of four malleable components (along with hope, efficacy, and optimism) that can be developed for greater leadership effectiveness. Reivich and Shatte (2002) describe seven strategies for developing resilience, noting that “More than fifty years of scientific research have powerfully demonstrated that resilience is the key to success at work and satisfaction in life” (p. 1).
Linked to the emerging science of positive psychology, the concept of thriving has much to offer organizational leaders and the higher education community. Thriving, a concept developed by Schreiner (2010) and based in positive psychology research on flourishing (Keyes & Haidt, 2003; Seligman, 2011), describes a person who is vitally engaged intellectually, interpersonally, and psychologically such that he or she is making the most of their current life experience. When applied to higher education leadership, thriving describes a college or university leader who is psychologically engaged in and energized by their leadership role, connected to others in healthy ways, and accomplishing goals that are important to him or her and to the campus community (Schreiner, 2012).

Thriving leaders have particular skills that become even more pronounced during adversity. Chief among these skills is the ability to reframe adversity and chaos into learning opportunities. This ability is attributed to the power of perspective that emphasizes the importance of taking a “balcony view” as emphasized by Heifetz and Linsky (2002, p. 53), as well as adopting an optimistic explanatory style (Seligman, 2011). In this paper, specific examples will be offered of cognitive reframing and resilient thinking strategies that are most effective, along with opportunities for session participants to practice those skills.

Along with resilience, thriving leaders recognize the power of relationships and the types of relationships that are most conducive to their support during challenging times and to their ultimate success. The specific types of relational support that enable leaders to thrive will be described in detail in this paper, as well as the value of creating an effective team for addressing organizational challenges.

Finally, thriving leaders have a particular way of viewing themselves through a lens of realistic optimism that enables them to capitalize on their strengths and leverage those strengths to address areas of needed growth. This strengths focus results in a sense of agency as well as provides specific ways to reaching goals, which engenders hope that sustains a leader during challenging times. Throughout this session, specific examples will be provided of strategies thriving leaders engage during difficulty.

Participant

• Laurie A. Schreiner, Azusa Pacific University