Resilience is a topic we hear a lot about these days, and we all have a general understanding of what it is – but what does it mean to lead with resilience and how do we create schools where everyone can thrive?
We intuitively know how significant resilience is when it comes to overall well-being and success in life – but the skills that make up resilience aren’t always obvious. The good news is that resilience can be learned and can be influenced by both internal and external factors that, as leaders, we do have some control over.
There exists a well-being hierarchy in schools whereby the leader of the school is responsible for their own well-being, that of their staff, and that of their students. It is a formidable responsibility in the community and warrants an accessible approach to resilient leadership.
Resilient leaders demonstrate the fundamentals of Social Emotional Leadership, enabling them to understand and manage both their own emotions and those of others. This heightened self-awareness enables them to be effective self-leaders who move beyond a culture of support to one of empowerment. Agency is a critical ingredient of resilience and so, by enabling those around us to be more resilient, we also create school cultures where everyone is showing up as their best self, ready to contribute. In turn, this creates a healthier work environment where challenges become opportunities to come together and improve the overall climate of the school.
As leaders, we need to remember that each individual, whether staff or student, has different strengths and needs when it comes to resilience. Science tells us that there is some genetic predisposition to resilience AND that everyone experiences and internalizes situations, trauma, and challenges differently – so our repertoire and experience of resilience is going to be slightly different for everyone. Each of us has a somewhat unique formula inside of us for being resilient and our job as leaders is to help unlock that in teachers – and to empower teachers to unlock it in students.
Resilience is made up of a composite of characteristics, skills, and strategies. At its core, it involves actively engaging with the world around us in a way that is meaningful to us. It is about finding ways to bounce back in healthy and positive ways. With this shift in mindset, we can entertain the idea that every challenge is also a personal growth opportunity. Looking at our leadership roles through this lens unlocks our potential both personally and professionally as we are able to entertain the idea that things aren’t happening to us, but for us.
How the Language of Captain and Poet Supports Resilience
At Captains & Poets we teach young people and the adults that serve them that they have everything they need inside of them to thrive. It is a language they can use across academic, social, personal, and athletic, professional, and personal contexts to promote a healthy sense of well-being.
The Captain is the part of us that goes us out into the world and navigates challenges, sets goals, makes decisions and takes us on new adventures. The Poet is everything that stirs deep inside of us – our emotions, imagination, values, aspirations, dreams and more. And when they are in partnership and balance, we are able to show up as our best self, and leader.
When we reflect on our own lives, we can see when our Captain and/or Poet have been dominant or recessive, and the impact this has had on our relationships, choices, happiness – and our resilience. Consider one area of your life you are thriving in and one you are not. How are your Captain and Poet showing up, or not? Which aspects of each are contributing to your resilience? What happens when your Poet has lost inspiration, and your Captain has been persevering for far too long?
Connect this with your leadership. Are your Captain and Poet in balance? Or, is your Captain taking on everything, caught up on the hamster wheel, and on the road to burnout? Perhaps your Poet lacking a sense of purpose, ignoring your emotional state, and facing compassion fatigue? The Captain is there to set boundaries to support our resilience and the Poet is there to remind us of what is important in any given situation so we can get to the heart of it and move through it in a meaningful way, somehow nourishing us. Together, they enable us to come up with solutions that, while may not be perfect, will prove more sustainable in the long run.
Resilience is a Mindset
Resilience is based in a mindset that doesn’t let the daily tribulations of leadership interfere with our Captain’s sense of direction and our Poet’s well-being. Your Poet can help you label difficult emotions in yourself and others and reflect on what is needed. Your Captain can help you learn from mistakes, draw from experience, problem-solve, and set goals to move you forward.
Surrounding ourselves (and our students) with supportive relationships at school, home, and in the community, helps create psychologically and emotionally safe spaces for everyone which is a key factor in resilience.
Resilience is not just about getting through something. It is a growth opportunity. What are you learning about yourself and what is important to you? How is this situation helping you to fulfill your role in energizing ways? There are always going to be ups and downs in leadership, so resilience is really about coming back to centre, or the leader within, time and again.
You can use the metaphor of a bicycle with your students. Ask them what they do when they start to wobble to one side. Remind them that they have the ability to figure things out as they go and that when they fall down, they can get back on when they are ready.
As leaders, we need to develop our inner compass and bringing our authentic gifts forward more boldly so that we feel energized and empowered. Rather than being in a constant state of reactivity it is about setting the context for our role in the challenges at hand, our Poet offering clarity about why we are doing what we are doing, and having a clear sense of values for the Captain to operate from.
What are the Superpowers Behind Resilience?
There are a number of superpowers that we each have access to that combine to bring our resilience to life in our leadership. It is important to note that we each lead with one or two of these; and so, when we are coaching others, we need to recognize how others may differ.
Self-compassion is a key component of resilience. Acknowledging our human makeup – that we make mistakes and are impacted by things that happen to us is critical to self-care. We need to ask ourselves, and our students, what you would do for your friend if they were feeling this way? You might offer your support, say some kind words, write them a note, draw them a picture or give them a hug. As educators we are constantly giving and it is critical to provide positive feedback on how they take care for ourselves in the same way we care for others. And when we model self-compassion, others will be inspired to do the same.
When it comes to students, encourage them to make themselves feel better with a hug, a pat on the back, a favourite blanket or song, or by taking steps to solve the problem at hand. Self-agency opens up what is possible and fuels our resilience.
Self-compassion is also critical to finding the strength to accept what is in front of us. Accepting the reality of what we are facing is a key component in resilience as it enables us to clearly evaluate what we are dealing with. Resilience is not about blind optimism but rather about accepting and grieving and processing – all while maintaining a positive mindset. While measured optimism can be motivating, just being hopeful makes us passive to what is in front of us which can be detrimental.
As leaders, we need to acknowledge the reality of what we are dealing with or else we will be at risk of operating from a place of denial. In some cases, this may inhibit our ability to see the impact of the situation on our peers and students. Our Captains need to take responsibility as much as our Poets need to nurture.
Gratitude is another strategy for fueling resilience. The more you are grateful for, the more you have to draw on in tough times. We can make this a practice in our school community and take the time to acknowledge all the amazing successes at hand. It is important we model this for students as a way of seeing the world and when times get tough, ask them to think of something that they are thankful for. Remind them of how it makes them feel and help them to see that life is full of wonderful things and is bigger than the current moment they are experiencing.
Curiosity is a natural aptitude in students that can also fuel resilience. As adults, we can indulge ourselves in the spirit of curiosity more often to shift our mindset. Ask questions of those around you (or have them generate a list of questions on their mind). Read a book that relates to the situation. Use inquiry to see a situation from different perspectives. The more curious you are in your thinking as a leader the more likely you are to find new ways of looking at and dealing with challenges – and engage others in the process.
Improvisation is a related trait also found readily in children. Be playful in how you reframe situations. When we see students doing this, we can praise them for learning to be adaptive. Brainstorm how you and your team can look at things differently. What is the silver lining? What other options are there to consider? Try acting or mapping them out to make it fun.
Courage is critical in fueling resilience. The more courageous you are the more able you are to take the necessary steps to move through difficult emotions and times. Remind your staff and students it is natural to have emotions like fear and trepidation. It is the human experience. Commend them for being brave and remind them that it is the little things that often require the most courage. Saying what needs to be said. Taking a risk. Being vulnerable. Asking for what they need. Putting themselves out there in new ways. Consider making this a reflection exercise at staff meetings. How can we all be a little more courageous in our roles? How can we stretch ourselves out of our comfort zones once a day, week or month? Share these stories to fuel more courage.
The Role of Experience
One of the key deficits young people have when it comes to resilience is experience. Life experience teaches us not only how to cope but it shows us the value of resilience and what is to be mined from different life events – big and small. It also gives us perspective as it reduces the impact of singular events, helps us learn what works for us and that we can do hard things. This is where leaders play a critical role in coaching staff and students to draw on their past to build their capabilities. What examples do they have of times when they have been resilient already? For staff, where have they successfully dealt with conflict before? How are they resilient on the tennis court or in their hobbies and pursuits? How can they draw on that part of themselves? For students, whether it be falling down and scraping their knee or dealing with a significant event, we need to remind our students that they have everything they need within them to move forward one step at a time and that the tides do eventually turn.
Viktor Frankl, the author of Man’s Search for Meaning, cites his own experience in concentration camps and how it informed his view on resilience. His strategy for staying resilient was to envision himself at a future date lecturing on the impact of war. Drawing from his experiences as well as observations, his theory claims that the search for meaning in life is what enables us to endure and overcome suffering. Connecting with what is most important to our inner Poet – whether that family, making a difference, or our purpose in the world is a key contributor to resilience. We all have a vision for who we want to be and how we want the world to be. This never ends and so creating a vision board or setting meaningful goals at the beginning of each term can fuel us. Ask your students to draw a picture or write a story about where they would like to get to and then reflect together on how they can get there.
Activity Ideas
One fun activity you can do with students is to create a Resilience Shield or Crest that they can draw on as they gain experience. This can also be a joint project with the home environment. Have them include all of the things that help them be more resilient (e.g., people, places, things, objects, colours, memories, stories, music, etc.). What gives them comfort? What reminds them of who they are? What are they grateful for? What makes them feel brave?
As Elias says in the Captains & Poets youth documentary: If I’m a car, my Poet is the gas. It’s the fuel that drives my passions. It’s the fuel that actually keeps me going internally. It’s not the thing that you see every day, but it is the thing that you constantly need. It’s the thing that you constantly need to add to keep going. Students often know what they need, and our job is to help them express it and create a path forward for themselves.
Strategies in the Day-to-Day
In day-to-day life, try a simple check-in to give your staff, students (and yourself!) the language they need to monitor how they are doing and move forward when challenges arise:
How is your Poet today on a scale of 1-10?
- What do they need?
- What is important to them?
- What do they want to express or share?
- What would a 10/10 look like?
How is your Captain today on a scale of 1-10?
- How can they help your Poet?
- What do they need to do to help you move forward?
- What is one small step you can take?
- What would a 10/10 look like?
Use words like resourceful, caring, brave and creative to acknowledge the micro behaviours that make up resilience and how they are drawing on their Captain and Poet.
Resilience as a Way of Being
Resilience is a way of being that we carry with us each day; and so, we want it to be woven into everything we do. As educators and leaders, we all have work to do in integrating these strategies into our lives. Find appropriate opportunities to do your own work on resilience alongside your staff and students and demonstrate for them that our vulnerability can be our greatest strength. Take the opportunity to share appropriate situations and model for staff and students your thought process, mental and emotional breakthroughs, mindset, how you take care of yourself, the sense of purpose and meaning you find in things, and what motivates you.
Culture can be thought of as “the way things are done around here” (Deal & Kennedy, 2000) and the modelling of leaders cannot be underestimated in creating a climate of well-being. Make use of your time in the staff room or use spontaneous check-ins in the hallway. Debrief on the day or at the end of the week about challenges you each faced and how your inner Captain and Poet came to the rescue (or could next time). How well did your Captain and Poet show up? How balanced were they? How can we learn from other people’s Captains and Poets to move through challenges with ease? And how can our Poets understand the struggles of others so that our Captains can support them?
It is important to remember that resilience is not grit or perseverance. Being resilient is not just about enduring what is in front of us but thriving on our journey. From this perspective, we can begin to see challenges as opportunities to grow and evolve and make decisions that define who we are as leaders. Rather than being a burden, our leadership becomes a gift to ourselves and the world.
Deepening our sense of connection to self and others is at the heart of leadership. It fosters belonging and heightens engagement which are key to being a resilient leader in today’s schools. Ultimately, our role is to nurture the intrinsic strengths in each individual in our school – and to all learn from each other.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jennifer Johnson, B.A., B.Ed., M.A
As a parent, a former educator, an entrepreneur and a passionate change-maker, Jennifer is on a mission to empower young people to be their best selves to create a better world. She has an M.A. in Education in Curriculum, Teaching and Organizational Learning from OISE and has been a curriculum writer and designed and implemented numerous transformational programs over the span of her career. She is a seasoned leader in education and the corporate world, a CTI Coach, and a graduate of the Harvard Leadership Program. As a parent of two children, her focus is on nurturing self-leadership skills and the ability to navigate an increasingly dynamic world with compassion, resilience, and authenticity.
