FOSTERING RESILIENCE: ADAPTATION FOR LIBERATION
Collaborators Mirella Rangel and Eric McDonnell
“In times of crisis, seemingly impossible ideas suddenly become possible. But whose ideas? Sensible, fair ones, designed to keep as many people as possible safe, and healthy? Or predatory ideas, designed to further enrich the already unimaginably wealthy, leaving the most vulnerable further exposed?...Shocks and crises don’t always go the shock doctrine path. In fact, it’s possible for crisis to catalyze a kind of evolutionary leap.”- “Coronavirus Capitalism”: Naomi Klein’s Case for Transformative Change Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
Many of us wonder how we will find a way forward. What we are dealing with right now as individuals and across organization is UNCERTAINTY. We have never collectively experienced this level of unknown. The skills that got us to where we are, to be assertive, to take actions and to power through, might feel like they are not what’s required for what we now face. There is no powering through. This is the time to step back and plan differently. So what do we need? What we need now is to foster our individual and collective resilience.
Resilience is “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress”. (APA)
We are facing individual and collective trauma. In order to adapt powerfully, we must reorient our ways of being and doing. We must learn to center the voices of those who have faced trauma regularly. “Those who have overcome adversity tell us that ultimately resilience is a process of connectedness, of linking to people, to interests, and ultimately to life itself” (Resiliency in Action). It is time for us to work together to build our collective resilience.
Our ability to embody resilience and adaptation, not just over the coming months but over the next two years, will determine whether our community can catalyze the leap that we need-- one that can move us past the dominant culture that has stood in the way of justice and evolution. The Colibri Collaborative is partnering with Peacock Partnerships to offer this blog as a resource for leading in uncertain times.
This is also an invitation to join us and other leaders in a cafe conversation about applying the ideas we lay out here. We hope you can join us. Click on this link to sign up and share your availability.
Three Principles for Fostering Resiliency
Below are three principles that can guide you in this process.
Take care of yourself and yourselves: Personal health and well being is always important, but we need to put those needs on the forefront.
Promote gentleness and kindness: This virus will touch all of us in varying ways. Give yourself and your team time to take care of themselves and families first.
Practice physical and emotional awareness: Pay attention to how you are feeling and seek support when you need it. No one can do this alone.
Focus on team connectedness rather than “work”: Although we may be focusing on what work we can keep doing, strong networks are what keep us resilient. You and your team have the opportunity to create a path forward.
Let go: Acknowledge that some work you care about won’t happen. Grieve the loss of canceled events and projects you’ve been working on. Begin to hold space for what might emerge from letting go.
Increase Connection: Work with your team to find ways to increase connection and collaboration. Even when dynamics surface, name and work through them. Now is not the time to step over tension or a feeling of disconnection.
Continuously name where you are at: Spend time with your team identifying where they are on this spectrum of transition. This will help you align and move.
Continuously build trust and safety: Use the 50-30-20 rule: Spend 30-50% of your meeting time making personal connections, 30% of your time on big picture ideas, and 10-20% on action steps. Your investment in giving people space to share will create the conditions for them to be present.
Be willing to step back and create space so that others can fill it: Spend a little extra time focusing on each person’s strengths and needs for this particular context. People might have strengths you did not realize and you may end up leveraging each other differently.
Become nimble: Things are changing quickly. Create structures that allow you to make decisions daily that might otherwise take weeks or months.
Define what’s essential: The work you thought was essential might be on hold. Or, given the current reality, there is other work you could be seeing as essential. We may think it is best to take many actions. Instead, focus on resilient behavior and step back, way back before you create a path forward. Identify your new context by asking: Where are we now? Where do we want to go? What is the best next step?
Be creative inside of your mission and values: This may be an opportunity to redefine what is essential work inside of your mission and your commitments. Ask: what are our resources/strengths? What are we best positioned to do?
Be in communication with your community, network and funders. Don’t forget to consult with your community. They will reflect back to you if this is the work you should be doing. Also communicate more! Everyone is taking actions they might not otherwise take. Check in with your network and funders consistently to build bridges and support each other’s work.
Being resilient is not about “getting through” this initial stage of crisis. On the other side of this crisis is a new world. We are planting the seeds for what that world can be now. Join us and other community leaders in a conversation about how to apply these principles and begin to imagine and live into a different future that is working toward the justice and the liberation of our communities.
Click on this link to sign up and share your availability. Space is limited to 15 participants. We will add more sessions based on interest.
*Nerdy note: Why is the photo of Emperor penguins? Emperor penguins are incredibly resilient. They not only survive the Antarctic winter, but they breed during the worst weather conditions on earth. They are also very social creatures, and one of their survival mechanisms is to huddle together to keep warm. This huddling instinct means that they do not defend any territory. The emperor penguin is the only species of penguin that is not territorial. Emperor penguins also have the ability to ‘recycle’ their own body heat. The arteries and veins lie close together so that blood is pre-cooled on the way to a penguin’s feet, wings and bill and warmed on the way back to the heart. (http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/wildlife/animals/penguins/emperor-penguins)