Integer Leadership Consulting

In the midst of the sights, colors, and emotions of this Christmas season, my thoughts are often focused upon those who have encountered the very turbulent waters of unemployment resulting from involuntary job loss. The loss of a job or, more importantly, the loss of an opportunity to labor and contribute toward a worthy goal, is devastating. With the precipitous rise of national unemployment figures, I can only imagine the tens of thousands of people this season who anguish over a fundamental loss of meaning as well as the fear that comes from the specter of economic privation. For these, what is meant to be a meaningful season is full of what appears to be meaninglessness. Yet it is here, in this place, that new meaning…a “deeper magic” to use C. S. Lewis’ expression…can be discovered.

Much of what I have read about the emergence of meaning comes from literature that focuses on losses. Viktor Frankl, Richard Tedeschi, Ronnie Janoff-Bulman, and Salvador Maddi are four scholars who make it very clear that there is much to be gained from encountering losses…even those which are particularly devastating. Losses have a stripping effect. They can easily and quickly dismantle our psychological schemas and spiritual scaffolding or belief systems. When we are caught in the throws of unrelenting struggle and hardship, we can become more existentially aware, meaning, we can have a heightened sense of awareness of who we are, why we are here, and the contribution we are to leave with others. Getting clear on these questions is critical to the type of life we desire to live. When we have neglected answering these questions or when we try to satisfy our deepest yearnings and longings with all things transcient, we are in trouble when our life is stripped bare by suffering.

I’ve always felt the season of Advent and the celebration of the birth of Jesus is about answering the most critical existential questions of life. I have encountered and answered these questions in the following ways. Who am I? A person of infinite value and worth. Not because I say it is so but because Another has declared it. Why am I here? To give and receive love and to bring value and communicate esteem to others. What is my purpose and contribution? To encourage others to lead well, to live authentically, and to leave an imprint on the world that is redemptive and restorative.

May your blessings as well as your losses make you stronger, clearer, and more compassionate. Perhaps the One who comes to us in this season will open our mind and heart to the power of both love and suffering.

“For he is our childhood’s pattern, day by day like us he grew,
He was little, weak and helpless, tears and smiles like us he knew:
And he feeleth for our sadness, and he shareth in our gladness.”

From “Once in Royal David’s City” arr. Jeffrey Smith (b. 1960)

The good news is that the work of Carol Ryff (1989) on well-being has proven to be a promising resource that offers excellent insight into the problem. Ryff takes an approach that excites me as an instructor. Ryff and Singer (2003) observe that while there is much to be learned about fostering and facilitating resilience, public education and community intervention programs should capitalize upon opportunities that employ the tools that promote resilience. We need to begin to marshall our best resources around this issue - especially academic, professional and technical knowledge, coupled with an understanding of how to apply the cognitive and behavioral tools that promote and embed resilience. As instructors we have a responsibility to give our students their best shot at success. The question is, “How do we make that happen?”

A Strategy for Promoting Resilience with Adult Learners

While instructors can pick and choose among different resources to construct a resilience curriculum, they may well be frustrated by the lack of coherence and theoretical alignment of this approach. It is tough to piecemeal such a vital teaching construct as resilience. I believe I can offer some helpful insight drawn from my own sometimes frustrating experience.

I consulted with Dr. Carol D. Ryff (see the aforementioned and references) sometime ago asking her the question, “What key research would you suggest I review that focuses on the way that adults learn resilience?” Dr. Ryff’s response to me was exactly what I was looking for. She believes that the research on promoting well-being can be closely linked to promoting resilience. After consulting with the research Ryff had referenced (Fava & Cuini, 2003; Fava, Ruini, Rafanelli, Finos, Conti, & Grandi, 2004) and additional resources that were referenced in other related research (Ryff, 1989a; Ryff, 1989b), I designed a curriculum utilizing content from these sources and focused the teaching and discussion on the critical themes of well-being as indicators of resilience. These themes, drawn from Ryff’s work (1989) on well-being were: self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life and personal growth.

Embedding Resilience within the Conversation About Strengths

At Olympic College we run a two-day, two-credit course called Improving Human Effectiveness which utilizes the Gallup Institutes’ resources on strengths. I incorporated into this course the curriculum on well-being. Day one, entitled Discovering your Strengths: Getting Clear On What You Bring To the World, focuses on introducing students to the concept of strengths building. We interpret the Strengths Assessment, connect strengths to academic and career planning, and then apply a strengths strategy within organizational settings. Day two, entitled Building a Strong Life: Creating an Environment Where Your Strengths Can Flourish, focuses on the larger life-context in which the students can successfully live-into their strengths. The fundamental rationale in this approach is that, while it is important to identify and operationalize your strengths or “signature themes,” it is equally important to nurture the personal practices that foster resilience and to intentionally create larger supportive networks. Only then can a person withstand the stiff resistance and intimidating challenges that consistently occur and often undermine the energy needed to apply a strengths strategy in and out of the workplace.

Sample Schedule of the Improving Human Effectiveness Course

Day 1: Discovering Your Strengths: Getting Clear On What You Bring To the World
1. Welcome, Purpose, Agenda, and Introductions
2. Introduction to Strengths and Positive Psychology
3. Trombone Player Wanted segment 1: So What’s Stopping You from Discovering Your Strengths?
3.1. Exercise and Discussion on Peak Performances
4. Trombone Player Wanted segment 2: Do You Know What Your Strengths Are?
4.1. Understanding How Strengths Work: Talents, Skills, and Knowledge
5. Trombone Player Wanted segment 3: How Can You Make The Most Out Of Your Strengths?
5.1. Designing Your Academic and Career Strategy With Your Strengths In Mind
6. Trombone Player Wanted segment 4: How Do You Cut Out The Weaknesses?
6.1. Identifying the Obstacles Of Living Into Your Strengths
7. Trombone Player Wanted segment 5: Why Is It So Hard To Talk About This?
7.1. Maximizing Your Strengths in the Organization and Work Setting
8. Trombone Player Wanted segment 6: Why Can’t This Last Forever?
9. Concluding Thoughts

Day 2: Building a Strong Life: Creating an Environment Where Your Strengths Can Flourish

1. Why Strengths Are Only Part of the Equation of Succeeding Personally and Professionally
1.1. Reflection: Identify Your Greatest Barriers to Your Personal and Professional Growth.
2. Building Well-Being and Resilience Into Your Life: The Key to Living Into Your Strengths
3. The Five Critical Factors that Promote Resilience
3.1. Dispositional Optimism
3.2. Healthy Environments Which Foster Empowering Habits and Entrepreneurial (possibility) Thinking
3.3. Supportive Champions and Advocates Who Promote Coping and Self-Disclosure
3.4. Creating Social Capital
3.5. Identifying Reflective Physical Environments
4. The Six Dimensions that Promote Personal Well-Being
4.1. Self-Acceptance
4.2. Positive Relations With Others
4.3. Autonomy
4.4. Environmental Mastery
4.5. Purpose in Life
4.6. Personal Growth
5. Commitment and Conclusion

Summary

There is much more work to be done in the area of promoting an understanding of well-being and resilience with the students in our community colleges. The unique mission of the community college creates the kind of learning environment where academic learning can be strategically connected with the insight needed to survive and excel in an increasingly difficult world. To teach in this environment, working with these students, toward these critical ends is both a responsibility and a privilege!

Understanding and Experiencing Resilience

Resilience is defined as a dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity (Luther, Cochiti & Becker, 2000). Positive adaptation means the ability to adjust or respond to adversity in such a way that emotional and cognitive equilibrium is maintained. Instead of being completely derailed or paralyzed by unanticipated and difficult circumstances, one is able to understand and rally the resources necessary to move through crises successfully. My own experience with significant adversity has convinced me that adapting to sudden and unexpected setbacks does not come naturally for most adults, especially those adults who have not learned coping skills during critical developmental periods such as childhood and adolescence. It must be learned and incorporated into one’s approach to daily living. The question then becomes, “How do adults learn resilience?”

Research on Adults and Resilience (macrolevel domains)

The research on resilience formally began by studying resilient children, specifically, how children who were subjected to adverse family situations (such as poverty, uneducated parents, mental illness, alcoholism and divorce) managed to negotiate these significant barriers and emerge as successful adults (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1998). This line of research which focused on the benefits of adversity signaled a fundamental shift in developmental psychopathology from a preoccupation on deficits or pathology to a focus on strengths (Lepore & Revenson, 2006). In her landmark longitudinal study, Werner (1989) showed evidence that, while a majority of children who experienced extremely difficult environments developed behavioral and learning problems, a full third matured into healthy and well-adjusted adults. The characteristics which created this capacity to move through adversity included strong social skills, building on successive coping successes, a stronger sense of self-efficacy and self-esteem (Rutter, 1987; Garmezy, 1985). In other words, as some children learned to manage adversity, they tended to become more confident and skilled at continuing the practice into adulthood.

Lepore and Revenson’s (2006) evaluation is very helpful in further understanding what facilitates resilience in adults. They identify five domains or research trends that figure prominently in resiliency. The first domain is dispositional optimism which is defined as “the stable, generalized expectancy or belief that one will experience good things in life and that future outcomes will be positive” (p. 31). Dispositional optimism is expressed in the following ways: the willingness to try harder, the ability to reframe negative experiences in more positive ways, the tendency to discover benefits in adversity and to remind oneself of those benefits (Affleck, 1999), knowing when to jettison unattainable goals or even worldviews that no longer apply and look for new ones and a strong social network of relationships providing enhanced social resources (Lepore & Revenson).

The second domain is resilience-promoting environments or how key social influences surrounding the individual promote resilience. Lepore and Revenson (2006) suggest three environmental qualities that advance the development of resilience: environments that encourage physical and mental health; environments that champion normative development; and environments that cultivate social cohesion and social capital. I have found evidence aplenty that underscores Lepore and Revenson’s emphasis on the importance of environment. Many students, while seeming to possess the necessary drive to perform well academically, are often surrounded by toxic and acrid environments which can dismantle academic focus and vocational aspiration. This should serve to remind those of us who teach that many factors beyond the classroom may influence, even mitigate against, a student’s academic performance.

The third domain is safe social environments that promote coping. Lepore and Revenson (2006) note that individuals who have access to others with whom they can self-disclose are more resilient than those who do not. This accessibility to supportive others and subsequent self-disclosure builds a strong social network in which the individual can be encouraged, explore alternatives for action and alleviate emotional distress. When students have champions and supportive advocates, as opposed to consistent interaction with people who are indifferent or even hostile to their success, they stand a far greater chance of flourishing in and beyond the classroom.

The fourth domain is social capital or the presence of institutional structures rooted and grounded in the community which are available to resource the individual (Lepore & Revenson, 2006). Religious institutions, community organizations, strong schools, cohesive neighborhoods, available health care and a responsive social service network can provide supportive and timely resources to the individual facing life’s turbulence. When the resources are visible and accessible within a community, they foster the development of resiliency by offering dynamic and timely “social connections and a synchronization of resources” (Lepore & Revenson, p. 34). For example, for both members and community visitors, religious organizations offer emotional and monetary support, spiritual counsel, relational networks and meaningful connection to outreach or “mission” enterprises, all of which promote a sense of personal significance and worth. Habitat for Humanity is another example where community volunteering connects a person with a worthwhile mission and also with other like-minded individuals. The point here is to understand how meaningful activity strengthens a person’s sense of purpose and value.

The fifth domain is the physical environment. While this domain has not been thoroughly researched, Lepore and Revenson (2006) remark that it holds promise in promoting resilience. I agree. Specifically, natural surroundings which are conducive to self-reflection can be conduits of rejuvenation and restoration. A sanctuary - a safe and generative place to which one can retreat, focus, self-disclose and consider options for personal growth - may foster resilience.

These five domains serve as important factors that can catalyze the emergence of resilience. Based on my experience in the classroom, regardless of whether or not these five domains are in place (and often times they are not), students benefit greatly from simply understanding the potential value of these key factors. It is important to note here however, that the research on how to teach resilience to adults is lacking and inconclusive. The scholarly studies I have reviewed are fundamentally descriptive; they focus only on explaining the characteristics of resilience in children and/or adults as well as the life experiences that lead to the emergence of resilience. In light of this, my concern has been to identify information on resilience and intervention. The question I wish to resolve is: How do we facilitate in adults the acquisition of new tools which hold the potential to break through personal and environmental barriers that sabotage tenacity and slacken the will to succeed?

Best,

Jeffrey