Getting Scrappy And Resourceful with What You Have
From Where You Are

This week on #AskingforaFriend I speak with Scott Lesnick, a resourcefulness expert about how to be more resourceful– particularly when you’re really stretched and stressed.

Scott offers some solid before-dinner wisdom straight from my living room.

• Repurpose existing resources, talent, and technology
• Reduce stress (it’s hard to innovate when you’re feeling anxious)
• Check-in at an individual level to connect and remove roadblocks
• Find the others (talk to people, expand your network)

Before you begin trying new ways to show courage, start by recognizing what already makes you a strong leader.

Additional Ways to Be More Resourceful

If you’re looking for additional ways to be more resourceful, don’t underestimate the benefits of involving your team. In this article, I share practical ways to help your team be more resourceful (for all 7 click here).

My favorite is starting with a solid infrastructure.

You don’t sabotage natural creativity and resourcefulness with your infrastructure, rules, and words.

For example, consider a highly competitive culture where people or regions are stack-ranked against one another. They’re not likely to reach out and ask one another for help or share best practices.

Be sure your team knows that their competition is mediocrity, not the guy in the Zoom window next door.

Similarly, if even small decisions require multiple layers of approval, your team will lose energy to try new things. Or if people think they’ll get in trouble for their creativity, they won’t risk it.

A good place to start is to set clear parameters for decisions so employees understand where they’re truly empowered to try new approaches and get scrappy—and where you’d rather they not.

Of course, sometimes an abundance of resources can actually sabotage your ability to grow resourceful leaders.

The most resourceful leaders I know learned how to do more with less because they had to.

Be sure you’re giving your team some opportunities to get resourceful and scrappy.