Using resilience as a tool for change: awakening to the shadow of resilience

Fri, 11th April, 2025 from 9:30 AM, in London

As a member of our Sadler Heath learning community – or as someone who would like to experience the community – we invite you to join our April morning in London, run this time by Rowan Gray who has been a member of the community for a few years.

Rowan writes in invitation:

“It surprises me to write this but I think there are times when our capacity to be resilient is unhelpful.
It surprises me because – as a consultant working with individuals and teams – resilience is core in my approach to change.
Organisational life depletes so many people. Exhaustion is an establishment strategy that reinforces the status quo.
That’s why I think resilience is so important as part of the change process. It allows people to resource themselves against the resistances we can encounter when we invoke meaningful change.
And yet – I have noticed several situations recently where I have found resilience to be the enemy of change!
I have realised there are occasions when our focus on well-being de-sensitises us to the signals telling us something different is needed and we need to act on it. For example I see it happen when:

• We use resilience to become ‘ok’ in a dysfunctional team rather than resourcing ourselves to take a stand for a better working environment.
• We are striving towards a goal that feels harder than it ought to be and use resilience to keep pushing towards it.

This is what buddhists describe as the ‘near enemy’. Or what I call the shadow side of resilience.

I am hosting this session to explore these themes of how we can build resilience to create more movement – in ourselves, our teams and our organisations and our client organisations. And to do so without inadvertently reinforcing the status quo.”

Our session this time will be at our regular venue, The Amadeus Centre near Little Venice.  Formal proceedings will start at 9:30am and there will be an opportunity to refresh, break fast, and connect anytime from 9:00am.  We will finish at 1pm latest.

We all come on our learning edge – including Rowan.  Sadler Heath does not make any profits and no-one gets paid anything.  We simply cover the cost of the venue and the catering, and any surplus we make contributes to the cost of this website and our accountancy costs.  We hope you are OK with contributing £45 to the cost of this event.