Tuesday was a Big Day for me and my team. We hosted our very first meeting of The Resilience Think Tank! I’m incredibly grateful to the 80 folks who showed up in the room, and the incredible leaders who joined us to speak, as well as the wonderful people who work with me to make it happen. It was an intense, amusing and Highly Useful Conversation and I’ve loved all the feedback – critical and complimentary – that we’ve received since.
But also? We had Zoom Bombers who showed up, spammed the chat with insults and announced their presence by unmuting and making their own version of pornography soundtracks for us all to hear.
Lessons learned:
- You can’t host something called “The Resilience Think Tank” and freak out when something goes wrong. So we acknowledged what was happening and kept moving forward.
- As reluctant as we were to put up boundaries to accessing the event, boundaries protect what’s inside them, and that (in this case) means protecting the attendees and the experience. So next month interested folks will get a passcode and a registration link. And everyone will need permission to come off “mute.”
- Community forms quickly when good people gather. A remarkable number of attendees rallied immediately to help, offer suggestions and resources to keep the conversation on track.
In my research on resilience, we learned that one of the basic skills is opening to possibility. That sounds great when you’re forming a plan, but is a tough skill to hone when you’re already on the track you feel is best and something tries to derail you. Yesterday more than seventy people decided that we could keep learning and growing while cleaning up our environment at the same time. We often have to build the airplane while we fly it. That is a drain on resilience but – like exercise that tires out your muscles – it builds resilience as well.
Have you had a situation recently that was carefully pictured, planned and practiced but then didn’t go exactly as you wished? From a board meeting to a grocery run, this happens to us a lot. You can take the lessons I learned yesterday and apply them:
- Acknowledge what’s happening (and have empathy for the feelings it causes) and keep moving forward.
- Be willing to protect what’s most important even if it’s an inconvenience.
- Keep good folks around as best you can, and let them help.
Let me know if you’ve been derailed recently, and what might help!
If you’re curious about The Resilience Think Tank, you can sign up here to get the strategies we discussed yesterday, watch a replay of the event when it goes live next week, and be invited to the next one, Feb 28th at 12:05 EST.
All my best,
Dr. G
