Things Leaders Do

Building a Resilient Team: Leadership Strategies for Tough Times

• Colby Morris

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Episode Title: Building a Resilient Team: Leadership Strategies for Tough Times

Episode Overview:
Resilience in the workplace is declining—44% of employees report feeling daily stress, and resilience has dropped nearly 30% since 2019. Burnout is real, and teams are struggling to bounce back from setbacks.

As a leader, how do you help your team build resilience so they don’t crack under pressure?

In this episode of Things Leaders Do, host Colby Morris unpacks three key strategies—two for individual resilience and one for team resilience—to create a team that thrives under pressure instead of breaking down.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

  • Why resilience is declining in today’s workforce (and how it’s affecting your team)
  • The science of mental toughness and how to train your mindset like an athlete
  • How small wins create lasting resilience (and how to structure them for your team)
  • Why the best teams thrive under pressure and how to build a “challenge-safe” culture
  • Research-backed strategies from Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan, and McKinsey

Actionable Leadership Takeaways:

  • Reframe stress as a challenge, not a threat—Harvard research shows this is the #1 predictor of resilience
  • Use “What-If” Scenarios—Train your team to think ahead so they’re prepared for setbacks before they happen
  • Break challenges into smaller wins—Stanford research shows small successes build long-term resilience
  • Encourage open debriefs—Resilient teams don’t avoid failure, they learn from it

Bonus: If you need help strengthening resilience in your organization, Colby is available for keynote speaking, corporate trainings, and leadership workshops.

Listen & Subscribe:
Find this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms.

Let’s Connect:

Enjoyed this episode? Share it with a leader in your network and drop a comment with your biggest takeaway.

#Leadership #Resilience #ThingsLeadersDo #ManagementTips #LeadershipDevelopment #WorkplaceCulture #PsychologicalSafety


Speaker 1:

Welcome to Things Leaders Do, the podcast that uncovers the secrets of becoming an extraordinary leader. If you're a leader who's constantly seeking growth, inspiration and tangible ways to level up your leadership, then you've come to the right place. Remember, the world needs exceptional leaders, and that leader is you Now. Here's your host, colby Morris. Is you Now? Here's your host, colby Morris.

Speaker 2:

Hello leaders, and welcome back to the TLD podcast. I'm Colby Morris, and if you're here, it's because you care about becoming a better leader faster. Now let me ask you something Do you feel like people have gotten weaker? I know that's a bold question, but stick with me. I don't mean physically weaker, I mean mentally, emotionally, professionally. Resilience used to be something people admired and they worked hard to develop it, but in today's workplace, it seems like resilience is fading. And I'm not just saying that because I think the younger generation is soft, because, honestly, I don't believe that, but the research backs this theory up no-transcript. So, leaders, this is a problem because if your team lacks resilience, they'll struggle under pressure, they'll give up when the things get tough, they'll burn out faster than you can replace them. So today I'm giving you three powerful strategies to build resilience, two for individuals and one for your entire team. And just so we're clear this this isn't about telling people to toughen up. It's. It's about helping them develop the skills, the mindset, the habits that create resilience. All right, if you want resilient employees, you need to help them train their mindset, like an athlete trains their body. Resilience is not just about staying strong. It's about developing cognitive flexibility, or I like to call it mental dexterity, or the ability to shift perspectives, to solve problems, to keep going even when things are getting tough.

Speaker 2:

The Harvard Business Review in 2023 found that the number one predictor of workplace resilience is a person's ability to reframe stress as a challenge instead of a threat. Did you hear that One more time? The number one predictor of workplace resilience is a person's ability to reframe stress as a challenge instead of a threat. So I'm going to give you some action steps. First, I want you to teach your team to reframe setbacks. Instead of I failed, help them think what did I learn? Encourage what-if scenarios. This helps them prepare for problems before, literally, they ever happen. So, for example, let's say you manage a sales team. Little did they ever happen. So, for example, let's say you manage a sales team. Instead of waiting until the end of the quarter to deal with whatever potential performance issues are, ask what if our biggest client unexpectedly cancels? What's our backup plan? This exercise helps your team mentally prepare for those high pressure situations before they happen. Why, so they don't panic when those kinds of challenges arise? Okay, and then I want you to model resiliency yourself. When things go wrong, don't, don't just fix the issue. Talk through your uh, your thought process out loud so your team learns how to problem solve in real time. Make them a part of that process, all right.

Speaker 2:

Number two resilience isn't just about handling failure. It's about building confidence through small wins. Building confidence through small wins. Stanford psychologist Dr Carol Dweck found that people with a growth mindset meaning they see challenges as opportunities to improve they are 75% more likely to persist in difficult situations than those with a fixed mindset. When employees experience success in small, controlled ways, their brain actually builds resilience. Naturally, it's because they see evidence that they are capable of overcoming obstacles. So here's your action steps. First, I want you to break big challenges into smaller, winnable tasks. Okay, this prevents overwhelm. It builds momentum. Two, I want you to celebrate small wins publicly, not just the big victories. When someone pushes through a tough day, acknowledge it. Three, I want you to push them outside their comfort zone gradually. Let's or let them take measured risks so they can see themselves succeed.

Speaker 2:

A few years ago, I had a team member who was hesitant to take on any type of leadership role. Who was hesitant to take on any type of leadership role? Instead of throwing them into the deep end. I gave them small leadership responsibilities leading a single project here, running a short meeting over there until they built the confidence. Within one year they were thriving in a management role. Resilience grows in stages, not all at once, and that's something that a lot of leaders really struggle with. They want to throw someone into that immediately, but that resiliency grows in stages. All right.

Speaker 2:

Number three resilience isn't just an individual trait, it's a team culture. Teams that thrive under pressure don't just have tough employees, they have a safe environment where people feel challenged without fear of failure. Mit Sloan's 2024 study on workplace resilience found that the most resilient teams have high levels of psychological safety. That basically means that people feel safe to fail. They are safe, they can learn, they can improve without being punished.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so here's your action steps. First, encourage open discussion about challenges. Just have regular debriefs where people can share failures without the blame. Two I want you to lead with curiosity, not judgment. Instead of asking why did this go wrong, ask okay, what did we learn? So, for example, if a project deadline is missed, instead of blaming someone, you might uncover that the real issue was unclear communication or unrealistic timelines. Those are things you can fix for next time. And then three create a culture where it's okay to push limits. If people are afraid to try new ideas, they will not develop resilience. And, as a leader, that's where you come in. You have to create that culture where it's okay to push the limit.

Speaker 2:

Resilience isn't about just being tough. It's about training your mind, it's stacking small wins, it's creating work culture that supports growth under pressure. So here's my challenge for you this week Pick one of these three strategies and start applying it. Just one, remember you don't get better at anything that you don't practice, and if you don't pick something and start working on it, you're not going to be better at it than you were yesterday, than last week, than last month. Your team will not be better at it than they were last week, last month. Your team will not be better at it than they were last week, last month. You, as a leader, have to practice things in order to be a better leader.

Speaker 2:

If you want more leadership insights like this, please subscribe to the podcast or share this episode with another leader. Maybe you think they could use it. And don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn or over at the webpage nextstepadvisorscom. That's N-X-T. There's no E in there, nextstepadvisorscom, and I'm also available for corporate trainings, keynote speaking, leadership workshops, whatever it is. If your team needs a resiliency boost, let's make it happen. So go out there, teach your teams to be resilient, create a culture of resiliency. And you know why? Because those are the things that leaders do.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to Things Leaders Do. If you're looking for more tips on how to be a better leader, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and listen to next week's episode.

Speaker 2:

Until next time, keep working on being a better leader by doing the things that leaders do.