Community and Resilience: Transforming Together

In a podcast interview, I was asked: 

One of the ways I know you emphasize resiliency is in community. What is the connection between resilience and community?

[Thanks, Jennifer of Pinnacle Health Solutions - stay tuned for that podcast release!]

In both my organizational Resilient Teams program and Embodied Climate Action workshops, I teach a model of regenerative resilience that is the foundation to building community.

When you are stuck in old paradigms of resilience, it’s impossible to build a real community. The mainstream understanding of resilience as a bounce back framework is based on the lumber industry. How much pressure can a board or cut piece of wood take without breaking or bending to the point it can’t return to its original state?

If you think about resilience in community from this old paradigm, what does that look like?

On an individual level, it might look like avoidance of uncomfortable conversations or letting the stories we tell ourselves run wild, which eventually build resentment and exhausting drama. 

On a neighborhood or city level after a climate crisis or extreme weather event, like a flood or fire, resilience may mean the expectation to rebuild the same as before or just move on and get over it without grieving or healing any PTSD. 

On a global level, we saw this paradigm at play after the shutdown of the COVID19 pandemic with the calls for “get back to normal”, end masking, return to the office, etc. And then we witnessed mass resistance in the form of quiet quitting, burnout, rust out, the ‘great resignation,’ or career pivots.

I think people really wanted the ‘bounce back to normal’ paradigm to be true. It sounds easy and safe. Maybe they weren’t dealing with their own grief or didn’t feel equipped to deal with others. 

In much of my work with teams in the messy middle of change, I find that people want to bypass everything in between the incident and moving forward points. [If you’re a leader or manager and want to learn more about the group program I developed to rebuild teams in healthy, long-lasting resilient ways, click here.]

That old model of resilience doesn’t work. People are not lumber.

I preach that resilience is a built competency that starts within and moves out. This is great news because it means resilience is a learned mindset and skill set. Resilience is a choice, so let’s make it an empowered, embodied one.

Resilience redefined is how we recover and transform ourselves, our work, and our communities. What, then, is resilience?

The definition of resilience in an ecosystem is dynamic - it’s relational, which means the capacity to adapt and transform in response to a change in the environment. Then, because in this model, we know that everything is interconnected, our transformation then impacts the environment, causing the environment to shift in response. This is where community comes in.

From this relational paradigm then, we know that what I choose to do in response to something then connects or ripples out around me. Now, that can be a neutral or beneficial ripple out that might improve myself and those around me. Or it can be stuck in drama triangle dynamics often mired in status quo resistance, control and perfectionism, and fear. We know how that impacts a community. Right now, we are mired in great political divisiveness with dug-in fear and hate that tears down community.

Here’s what this regenerative paradigm looks like both at the individual and team level, as summed up by one participant shared after our 10-week Resilient Teams program:

There is both the inner and outer work:

Situational self-awareness: Meaning being present and mindful of what is happening around me. Am I reading or sensing the room correctly? It's important to slip into new mindsets or masks when the situation calls for it.

Taking accountability - Assuming responsibility: Am I fostering a safe environment? Am I demonstrating trustworthiness in my actions? Receiving regular feedback can help build awareness.

Her big takeaways show the power of teamwork when it’s focused on individual self awareness and dynamics even within a huge biotech company. 

What we do on an individual and smaller team level makes a difference in building community.

Think Resilient Teams might be a good fit for your group? Let's connect.