Caroline Field, National Resilience Expert for PA Consulting, Ruth Crick, Professor of Learning Analytics and CEO of WildLearn Ltd, and Jeremy Mead, Founder of Resilient Leaders Elements, explore the role of resilient leadership in building whole-of-society resilience.
The article begins by contextualising the role of local leadership within whole-of-society resilience against the backdrop of the UK government’s National Resilience Framework, explicitly focusing on the government’s ambitions of introducing a Chief Resilience Officer for each region through the stronger LRF Programme. The article discusses the significance of this role in facilitating top-down and bottom-up coordination for resilience-building. The emphasis is that those in such leadership positions will require a blend of skills and traits unique to this role, positing that these can be ultimately segregated into three characteristics: “Who am I?”, “How do I learn?” and “What do I do?” as a leader. These are three essential characteristics of new Chief Resilience Officers for leading and empowering others in a complex and challenging multi-stakeholder environment. Overall, it emphasises these local leaders’ pivotal role as the linchpins for resilient decision-making that builds societal resilience.