Team resilience video transcript

There's a pattern I've been seeing inside organisations and social movements that isn't so visible from the outside, but I think is really affecting our collective resilience. 

And it starts with people saying things like "we really want to hear our partners' honest feedback about how we're doing", or "we really want to bring in people who genuinely have different experiences and perspectives from us". Or "we really want to know how people are actually doing at work".

And when people say this, I believe them. 

But in practice, what I've been seeing when facilitating these kinds of conversations is that most of us simply haven't learned the skills to hold ourselves well when we're confronted with challenge. 

Because what happens is, inevitably, strong feelings can come up, things might get triggered, boundaries might get crossed or asserted, and most of us end up in some kind of defense response, which can look like becoming avoidant and not wanting to talk about it, or getting really defensive, or trying to find somebody else to blame, or simply checking out. 

And listen, there is nothing wrong with having a human response to really difficult circumstances across the sector and living through frankly terrifying times. 

But if this persists as a pattern, it can create some really tricky dynamics inside of teams that diminish our capacity to do the work that we want to do in the long term. 

For example, people don't trust each other to say what they really mean, which can lead to friction, misunderstandings and misalignment. Or people might not say anything at all and they quietly burn out and leave.

When there is so much in the world that we have little control over, learning how to support each other and lean on each other, rather than turning against or away from each other - especially under pressure - is something we absolutely can do. 

And this is what embodied resilience work for teams is all about. It's about building up our inner stability inside of ourselves and between each other so that we can navigate challenges together with more courage, more flexibility, more freedom and more intention.