---
title: How exercising resiliency can make your consulting practice sustainable.
description: Many believe these are “the worst of times.” Yet these are “the best of times” to exercise resiliency to make your process consulting practice sustainable.
---

[Society for Process Consulting - Withness Blog ](https://spc.designgroupinternational.com/blog)

# [How exercising resiliency can make your consulting practice sustainable.](https://spc.designgroupinternational.com/blog/exercising-resiliency)

 Written by [Sandra Quick](https://spc.designgroupinternational.com/blog/author/sandra-quick) | 5/27/20 1:00 PM

How exercising resiliency can make your consulting practice sustainable. 

Timing is everything. Many believe these are “the worst of times.” Yet these are “the best of times” to exercise resiliency to make your process consulting practice sustainable. 

I am reminiscing for the THEN, *BC - Before Contagion**™*.  I had consulting dates on the calendar and clients promptly returning phone calls and emails. Back *THEN,* clients engaged in meaningful conversations as I helped them gain a clear vision of their future and the steps needed to get there. *THEN*, I was not hesitant about staying in a hotel or flying to their destination. *THEN* is past, we are in the *NOW*. And I move on.* *

Humanity as a species could rarely be called peaceful. According to sociologist Todd Gitlin of Columbia University, America’s one constant is division. From the forceful displacement of indigenous people groups to the horrors of slavery to the fight for women’s rights, when has this country (let alone the world) ever truly been unified? In the face of such issues, how could it be? 

*NOW* is the *2020 COVID-19 global pandemic*. In the *NOW* I have financial stress. Do I continue to support the charities which are in desperate need or do I use those limited resources to pay bills? I just cancelled my $1M business liability insurance. I discontinued my virtual office space and put money into upgrading my website to increase online presence and to be more culturally in tune with my potential clients.

In the *NOW* I have emotional stress. I suffer from grief for my loss of control over my day-to-day life.  In the *NOW *I have cultural stress. What do I do if the client insists on meeting face to face, in a closed room with 8 people at a 10-person table who are not wearing masks? My cultural position is to obey all of the health and safety recommendations of the scientific community which means I am *NOW* culturally *in*congruent with my clients. How do I honor my values and beliefs as I attempt to follow the federal, state and local virus protection regulations? I continue to build resiliency skills to strengthen my cultural capacity to emerge from *NOW* into *NEXT*.* *

*I have moved on to NEXT*:  the time of *AD - Active Doing*™. *NEXT* is the state of *Active Doing* to exercise strength training by building capacity for resiliency. Resiliency is defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.” Being more resilient means I am better able to navigate life’s challenges from a place of strength and conviction.

Amit Sood, MD, Mayo Clinic, offers an additional explanation, “resiliency is the core strength you use to lift the load of life.”  These are the “best of times” to practice *Active Doing *by building resiliency to make my process consulting practice sustainable. There are nine attributes of resiliency skill building. I am hopeful that you are practicing some of these in the *NOW*. They include:

- Connection - reaching out with a "good news" email;
- Gratitude - being thankful for what you have;
- Kindness - doing something nice for somebody;
- Optimism - being certain that this uncertainty will end even if the NOW looks bleak;
- Composure - staying calm, breath in-breath out, in the midst of confusion and frustration;
- Patience - longsuffering with people and/or situations that confound you;
- Sense of purpose - focus on the reasons you started this process consulting practice in the beginning—to help people;
- Forgiveness - both for others and for yourself; and
- Acceptance - for those things you cannot change.

 

How can you incorporate these resiliency attributes into your daily practice? What would that look, sound and feel like? What’s your investment worth? 

Journey with me and fellow consultants to *NEXT** *where we are *Actively Doing* resiliency skill building in a 9-week course:  *Building Cultural Congruence* *through Resiliency*.  The value is in the capstone project. You will address/resolve a personal or professional NOW culturally INcongruent issue that would build your capacity for resiliency in preparation for the NEXT. The subsequent Plan of Action, using those resiliency skills, has the potential to benefit you, your family and your business or ministry.  

The course starts in mid-July 2020 (dates TBD) and fulfills the requirement for credential renewal for Certified Process Consultants. 

Contact me at [joyunspeakable7@gmail.com](mailto:joyunspeakable7@gmail.com) to discuss how this course might help you build your resiliency, cultural congruency and consulting capacity.

 

Written by Sandra Quick

Principal Consultant, Joy Unspeakable LLC

Standard and Ethics Commitee & Founding Member, The Society for Process Consulting

Sandra Quick is the Principal Consultant at [**Joy Unspeakable, LLC**](https://joyunspeakable.homesteadcloud.com/), a founding member of the Society for Process Consulting and a member of its Standards and Ethics Committee.

If you'd like to write a blog post for the Society for Process Consulting, please e-mail Lon L. Swartzentruber at [lons@designgroupintl.com](mailto:lons@designgroupintl.com). 

 

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