Talk to any leader today and you’ll hear a variation of the same story: they are caught in ‘The Squeeze’.
Expectations to deliver are higher than ever, resources feel stretched, and the pace of change is relentless. Leaders are being asked to navigate a world that feels increasingly unpredictable, where traditional management playbooks just aren’t enough any longer.
When everything around you is shifting, the most critical capability a leader needs is a very human skill: resilience.
Being a resilient leader today isn’t about gritting your teeth and getting through it, enduring high stress for short periods, and then “bouncing back” after a challenging phase. That traditional definition assumes you have the luxury of recovery time to reflect after a setback.
Resilience today is about operating when recurrent setbacks are the norm, when constant shifts outside your control ask you to pivot and reprioritise what’s inside your control, and when learning and improvements take place in the moment, not at the post-action review meeting.
Resilience is the foundation for leading through ‘The Squeeze’ and leading effectively when the pressure is on. And we know it’s always on.
Leaders with high levels of resilience can do three things well:
- Calm over chaos: They stay emotionally regulated and grounded. Instead of reacting out of stress or frustration, they can take a breath, think clearly, and make thoughtful decisions. This kind of level-headed leadership is exactly what teams need when the environment around them feels chaotic.
- The flexibility to pivot: They can shift gears and re-prioritize without missing a beat when the situation around them changes—and let’s be honest, it is constantly changing.
- Focusing on what actually matters: They are able to cut through the noise. Instead of getting bogged down by every new distraction, they direct their energy toward the things that will make the biggest impact and difference for themselves, their teams, and the business.
Building leadership resilience: an inside-out approach
So, how do we build leadership resilience? It doesn’t happen through a single workshop or one-time moment. It takes a holistic approach – starting with the individual and expanding out to the environment they work in – and it happens over time.
At United Minds, we break it into three parts:
- Mindset (how we think)
First we have to acknowledge the intense pressures leaders are facing and validate the emotional reactions that leading through change brings. Leadership today is like a balancing act where we are forever walking a tightrope of change and uncertainty: performing against today’s targets whilst also driving transformation for tomorrow; delivering at speed whilst also bring a team with you; alleviating anxiety, fear and uncertainty whilst also embracing change and agility.
It means that understanding yourself as a person and who you are as a leader is more important than ever. To build a resilient mindset you must first know your own triggers and what motivates you so that you can adapt and progress quicker.
It’s about choosing a positive, growth mindset and building the daily, healthy habits that allow you to live up to that attitude and handle whatever comes your way.
We work with leaders to help them develop self-awareness and shift their mindset so they feel enabled and accountable.
In our Leadership Shadow work, we spend time with leaders on understanding who we are as people and when we feel our most resilient – when we feel confident, performing and safe. We explore the impact our leadership has on others not just in the big moments, but in the everyday little moments too.
- Capabilities (what we do)
Next, leaders need practical tools. This means developing self-coaching habits that they can use to guide themselves through difficult moments. It could be using personal resilience assessments and coaching tools as resources that help identify the challenges and coping strategies. Whether it’s deliberately choosing what sticks (Velcro) and what bounces off (Teflon) or prioritising the concerns you can influence and control (Covey’s Spheres), we bring memorable analogies and frameworks that help leaders cope in the moment.
Just as importantly as the tools themselves, we create safe opportunities to practise and embed these skills in the real world, so they become second nature. Buddy schemes, peer coaching or accountability circles provide ongoing support that allow for practising techniques over time, and continuing to learn and adjust.
In our work with senior leader Talent Pools, we have developed a suite of tools to help people practise building their capability to manage personal resilience. We find these sessions not only help the leaders in the room, but also provide the toolbox for them to take to their teams and build resilience across the organisation.
- Context (Where we work)
Finally, the work environment leaders are operating in has to support these behaviours. If an organisation expects leaders to be resilient, the culture has to recognise and reward both resilience, and also a willingness to experiment, to fail and to learn.
The expectations set by the business, and the behaviours modelled by senior leadership, must actively promote a healthy, resilient workplace, or else the leadership development and individual coaching falls flat. This means championing a culture of experimentation; rewarding and recognising resilience as well as what people deliver; and creating a workplace where speaking up is safe and leaders lead with empathy.
We run Convention Busting workshops with leaders and teams where we seek to break existing norms, ways of thinking and behaviours that have become conventional. Providing this space sets a leadership expectation to be taken back to the day-to-day and fuels resilience as part of the culture.
How United Minds builds resilient leaders
At United Minds, we help leaders turn resilience from a buzzword into their daily reality. We partner with organisations to build this leadership capability across all three areas:
- Mindset: We use leadership assessments, one-on-one coaching, and peer coaching circles to help leaders build self-awareness and tackle real challenges together.
- Capabilities: We design practical leadership development programmes and immersive experiences that give leaders the chance to build and practice new skills. We also use gentle “nudges”, including timely prompts and communications, to reinforce good habits.
- Context: We help to align the top team around the expected leadership behaviours and culture shift; facilitate interventions that encourage experimentation; and help to build a healthy, resilient workplace from how new hires are onboarded through to recognition and reward.
We are excited to be offering our ‘Leadership Resilience through the Squeeze’ masterclass series – a programme of development sessions for leaders that cover mindset, capabilities and context, and can be tailored for the needs of your organisation. We cover topics including:
- Resilient leadership mindsets: understanding personal resilience – strengths, triggers and habits
- Leading resilient teams: building teams that thrive in uncertainty
- Leading resilient organisations: creating cultures that pivot and grow
Want to learn more and share ideas about leadership resilience? Get in touch, we love to chat.
