Developing Social Resilience

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Social Resilience is an emerging, but not a magical, property. People who have diverse interests, skills, and resources, and who can work together, make it more likely that the group as a whole can respond quickly to unforeseen problems and challenges.

Hi this is Grant Herbert, International Influencer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today I want to continue our conversation around resilience by looking at how our interpersonal effectiveness can help us bounce through challenges.

So what is Social Resilience?

Social Resilience is way more than having great friendships and embracing the collaborative exchange of ideas. Although trust is essential, social resilience is not about warm hugs, unconditional positivity, and inclusive sentiments.

Social Resilience recognises that, as a social being, you work, think, and excel in groups and teams, as well as individually. Lions hunt in packs, and by doing so they are able to bring down prey that would be impossible to conquer alone.

Human civilisation hinges on the specialisation, differentiation, and use of individual gifts and talents so that we, as a collective, can achieve far more than we could by our own efforts.

Socially resilient individuals value diverse perspectives and recognise that many projects require collaboration with people with differing backgrounds, values, and priorities.

Any team would have little chance of success if all their team members possessed identical features and skills.

Social Resilience implies not merely acceptance of diversity, but rather the intention to incorporate diverse perspectives into group activity for the creative adaptations that such diversity predisposes.

Less resilient people seek to shun the idea of diversity by excluding individuals who differ, or by pushing a message of uniformity.

Surrounding yourself with a lot of mini-me’s can be self-affirming but it hinders your ability to adapt to new challenges and problems or to withstand or recover quickly from very difficult conditions.  People are not unique in this regard.

The core of Social Resilience is to celebrate differences, accept and give attention to others, practicing mutual respect and care for others, and being responsive to their needs.

Here are 3 simple ideas around how to practice being more socially resilient:

Number 1, expand your social network. Meet new people who are different to you in their experience and interests. Expand your comfort zone when it comes to inviting yourself along to community and networking gatherings where you do not yet know anyone.

Number 2, open your mind to differing points of view and learn to contribute to healthy debates around topics of conversation, without taking it personally or in a competitive way.

Number 3, let others lead your team meetings and sit back and learn what others think and feel, contributing more as a part of the team, rather than the leader of it. It’s mind-blowing what you can learn when you give yourself permission to not have all the answers.

Well, that’s it from me again this week. I hope there was at least one thing that caught your attention and gave you something to work on in the days ahead.

Join me again next week where we will start a new conversation around the fascinating subject of Personal Power.