Resiliency – a coaching superpower for leading teams

Hi, we’re Helen Zink and Dr Cathryn Lloyd. As coaches who work alongside leaders and teams, we understand the challenges leaders face in today’s complex and fast-changing environment. To support you, we’re sharing 10 coaching superpowers that can help you grow as a leader and make a lasting impact on your team and organisation.

We’ve divided the superpowers into two categories:

Mindset Superpowers (1-5): How you think and approach challenges.

Behavioural Superpowers (6-10): What you do and how you take action.

These superpowers overlap, but each one brings a unique strength to effective leadership.

⭐ Superpower 10: resiliency

Our last but by no means least superpower.

Resiliency is more important than ever for both leaders and teams. The ability to bounce back from setbacks, adapt to new challenges, and maintain focus in an unpredictable and fast-changing world is crucial. Leaders who develop this quality themselves, and support their teams to do the same, create an environment for perseverance, agility and the ability to handle disruptions with confidence. By building resiliency, leaders empower their teams to stay grounded, maintain momentum, and thrive, no matter what challenges arise. By building resiliency, you’re also future-proofing your team and your organisation to skillfully navigate whatever might come next.

Here are a few ways to nurture resiliency:

💡 Physical and mental wellbeing: Encourage healthy habits and stress-reduction activities such as: regular breaks away from the screen, a walk outside, and healthy office snacks. Minimise work done outside of office hours. A well-rested team can weather storms.

💡 Purpose and meaning: Understanding how individual roles and team purpose tie into the bigger picture provides a sense of ownership during uncertain times.

💡 Camaraderie: Build connection and belonging within your team. Celebrate wins together and support each other through challenges.

💡 Resources: Know what you and your team can draw on - strengths, skills, or external resources (you’ll find more on this in superpower 9). When you understand what’s available you’ll be better equipped to take on challenges.

📌 Practical tip – resiliency timeline

On a whiteboard (virtual or physical), draw a timeline with "past" at one end and "present" at the other.

Invite your team to add in key challenges they’ve overcome together, marking them along the timeline.

For each challenge, discuss what helped the team get through it - what actions, strategies, or mindsets supported them?

This exercise not only gives your team a chance to recognise their shared strength but also helps them see the patterns in how they’ve been resilient in the past. These insights can serve as a powerful resource when tackling future challenges.

We’d love to hear how you’re using these ideas with your team. What’s worked for you?

Image: Cathryn Lloyd