TEAM BUILDING AND THE ADVERSITY QUOTIENT
TEAM BUILDING AND THE ADVERSITY QUOTIENT - BASIL SPRINGER COLUMN TO APPEAR IN THE BARBADOS ADVOCATE’S BUSINESS MONDAY ON 29 JUNE 2009
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” - James 1:12
I am always quite amazed at the quantum and quality of information that is available on the Internet on whatever subject one may choose. Today I revisit the concept of “Adversity Quotient (AQ)” which is defined in the website www.peaklearning.com as the science of human resilience.
The site goes on to reveal that people who successfully apply AQ perform optimally in the face of adversity - the challenges, big and small, that confront us each day. In fact, they not only learn from these challenges, but they also respond to them better and faster.
For businesses and other organizations, a high-AQ workforce translates to increased capacity, productivity, and innovation, as well as lower attrition and higher morale. AQ science has three important facets - theory, measures and methods - that stem from 40 years of research and 20 years of application.
AQ theory draws from award-winning science to explain in simple terms why some people are more resilient than others - in other words, why and how they thrive, even in the most demanding circumstance. It also tells us what it takes to become more resilient. AQ measures are exceptionally robust. The statistically valid and reliable AQ Profile is the exclusive online tool for screening applicants and developing greater resilience in people.
AQ methods are proven - they produce measurable, permanent gains in resilience. Our simple AQ-building process increases performance, health, tenacity, agility, innovation, accountability, entrepreneurship, focus, and effectiveness - among other attributes that help individuals thrive within an organization.
Today we are certainly faced with challenges which include the issues of energy, food, clothing, housing or the ability to survive financially and economically. We are faced with the temptation to give up. But, we must remember that anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out, are loyally in love with God and will reap the promises of a rewarding and eternal life (James 1:12).
There are many naysayers who create an environment of gloom and doom. Is it not just as easy to think positively and persist in the face of adversity?
A colleague, Nahum Goldman, sent me an interesting article entitled “The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom” by Dane Strangler and published by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in June 2009.
In the article it is argued that the United States will, at some point, recover from the current deep recession. But the overriding question upon recovery will concern resumption of growth rate. Will we return to the high growth and productivity rates of the post-1995 decade? Or, in a gloomier scenario, are we in for a sustained period of sluggish growth like what afflicted most developed countries from the early 1970s to the mid-1990s?
The primary determinant of which path we take is our level of entrepreneurial activity. In terms of job creation, innovation, and productivity, entrepreneurs drive growth. Yet a major worry is that the basic demographics of the United States will inexorably tilt the country toward sluggishness: An aging country, with the baby boom generation moving into retirement, doesn’t strike one as an entrepreneurial society. Or does it?
Several facts have emerged that, in the course of Kauffman Foundation research, indicate that the United States might be on the cusp of an entrepreneurship boom - not in spite of an aging population but because of it. To the extent that entrepreneurship is a key driver of economic growth, this could bode well for America’s growth potential. If it can happen in America, it can happen in the Caribbean. We just have to be creative, innovative and invoke a higher level of persistency.
There is also an aging population in Barbados. There is a culture of “retirement” at a point in your life when you can be most valuable because of the experience in a specific field or experience in life generally. How can we best use this experience to contribute to the growth of our economy and of our society? Why not become an entrepreneur? Why not become a shepherd to guide those fledgling businesses away from the pitfalls which are waiting in the wings to consume them? Why not augment your earnings in a virtual environment as a buffer to the impact of a declining fragile economy? Why not be part of the coming entrepreneurship boom?
Brainstorming is a wonderful way to create new ideas. Accept ownership, perhaps in partnership with others, and run with them one way or another.
If perhaps the passion is not there to become an entrepreneur, you may want to become a shepherd to guide the entrepreneurs. If my current experience in Barbados and St. Vincent and the reports from the shepherds as we roll out the CBET shepherding model in Barbados, is anything to go by, it is a truly rewarding experience. The virtual method of operation from your home office minimises the initial start-up capital required and you can control your earnings by determining the number of hours you offer to your clients. Remember that economic growth is fuelled by entrepreneurial development, one enterprise after another. Become part of the team and stimulate The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom!
(Dr. Basil Springer GCM is Change-Engine Consultant, Caribbean Business
Enterprise Trust Inc. - CBET - Columns are archived at www.cbetmodel.org)