There is not a more useful or important trait to possess than resourcefulness in the pursuit of success. Resourcefulness is a mindset, and is especially relevant when the goals you have set are difficult to achieve or you cannot envision a clear path to get to where you desire to go.

With a resourcefulness mindset, you are driven to find away. An attitude of resourcefulness inspires out-of-the-box thinking, the generation of new ideas, and the ability to visualize all the possible ways to achieve what you desire. Resourcefulness turns you into a scrappy, inventive, and enterprising entrepreneur. 

For you to possess this very important trait, a lot of things are involved, and we intent to lay it all out in this article. First, lets see how you can develop this very important trait.

• How do you Develop Resourcefulness?
• Why is it Important to be Resourceful?
• What is an Example of Being Resourceful?
• Is being Resourceful a Talent?
• What Qualities does a Resourceful Person have?
• How can Teachers be Resourceful?
• How can Being Resourceful help you to Become an Effective Leader?
• 10 Ways to Be Resourceful as a Leader

How do you Develop Resourcefulness?

Resourcefulness is always a telltale marker of an effective leader. Whether you’re an entrepreneur running a business, a manager running a department, or an employee looking to get ahead, a resourceful mindset can really set you apart from your peers.

Read Also: Starting a Career in Corporate Leadership

Simply saying “be resourceful” seems slightly redundant, as we’re all constantly looking for ways to bring a project in under budget or uncover a quick fix for a complex issue. However, truly resourceful people are constantly looking for creative ways that they can leverage their current situation for maximum benefit, beyond quick fixes and immediate financial gain.  

Here are a few tips to help you and your team be more resourceful

1. Put Work Into Your Relationships

Part of being successful in developing a strong network of people you trust, respect, and admire. This means putting work into your connections in a way that sets you up to get more in return from those relationships, whether that return comes in the form of referrals, money, or even social status.

Never be afraid of doing favors for clients, employees, or business connections. Favors don’t make you weak, they make you aware of the potential of your network. Remember that people have long memories, and you never know when they might be in a position to return your favor in spades.

2. Arm Yourself With Knowledge

Resourceful people are resourceful because they have the knowledge to truly see what is in front of them. The true potential of a situation isn’t always easy to recognize. Growing your knowledge also increases your ability to provide value to others, and will make you more in demand.

3. Be Honest About Your Weaknesses

Resourcefulness is about recognizing actions you can take with your current materials and skills. You don’t need to know everything!

Learn to recognize your weaknesses, and consider delegating tasks you find boring or difficult to an assistant, a consultant, or an employee. This gives you time to prioritize and focus your resources on the things about your work that you excel at or love doing.

4. Focus on Getting Things Done

David Allen’s “GTD” or “Getting Things Done” methodology is one of my favorite pieces of business advice.

Simply put, Allen’s method is about organizing and prioritizing your to-do list in a way that makes overwhelming tasks seem much more manageable. It’s about getting your to-do list out of your head and systematizing your daily tasks. The main benefit is that you can quickly see everything that you need to do, and focus on the item that need urgent attention.

Whether you use Allen’s method or a different one, the main point here is that you have a system for working methodically. If you are constantly reacting to emails or requests, you won’t have the time or the resources to focus on those big-picture tasks.

5. Don’t Take Shortcuts

Resourcefulness means getting things done quickly and efficiently. It doesn’t mean cutting corners and sacrificing quality. Taking shortcuts might be attractive when you’re on a deadline or have a hefty workload, but in the end it will only generate more work, or worse–lead to the loss of a client or customer.

6. Optimize Your Systems

Just like your personal productivity, your business’s productivity can be enhanced by streamlining systems in a way that helps people be more organized and efficient with their time.

A review of your current systems could reveal bottlenecks, poor communication, or bureaucratic processes that are holding you back. If you and your employees are having trouble figuring out where the problem lies, consider hiring a business consultant for a fresh perspective.  

7. Be Realistic

There’s no point in aiming for the sky only to crash and burn. Big, long-term goals are good, but you need to be clear about what you can achieve with your current resources and time constraints. Instead of tackling huge tasks on tight deadlines, try breaking your goals down into smaller “chunks” that are easier to complete.

Communicate clearly and honestly with your staff or co-workers about what can be reasonably achieved, and manage the expectations of clients and stakeholders.

8. If It’s Free…Use It!

Time and again I’ve seen companies pay a premium price for a product or service that they could easily get for free. Can you use Facebook as a customer service platform rather than paying tens of thousands for custom software? Can you barter a few hours of your time for a license to an expensive tool?

Can you offer to provide a case study to a business in exchange for them letting you try out their latest product? Can you leverage connections in the media to get free articles published about your business rather than paying for advertising?

Why is it Important to be Resourceful?

Resourcefulness is not a means of coping with deprivation; it can be a virtue that opens the door to greater accomplishment. Being open-minded about new possibilities is critical to putting resourcefulness into action. The leader who steps up and says “yes we can do this” is one who can push colleagues to do things that some might consider impractical.

Turn innovation inward. Resourcefulness is about optimizing what you have to work with. Innovation is not just about creating something new; it also applies to making old things work better. An experienced mechanic can do wonders in car repair with a combination of after-market parts and his own resourcefulness.

We see this same spirit in maintenance of large facilities — factories, buildings, even ships. Those who service them may not always follow a manual; they diagnose problems and figure out what tools and materials there are at hand to fix them. Call it resourceful innovation.

Choose specifics. If you’re thinking of the bigger picture of the downturn, it may be tempting to consider ways to re-invent how your company does business. Adopting a realistic attitude about what you can do in the short term might be more productive. That is, think revising specific tasks as well as specific roles and responsibilities. Processes and procedures can be revamped with an eye toward simplicity and cost savings.

Lean on your staff. Conventional thinking in frugal times says stop spending, but sometimes managers conflate that mantra with “stop doing.” A resourceful leader doesn’t stand still and encourages staff to follow her example. Have discussions about what the team and individuals can do to turn doing more with less into a pragmatic process for improvement.

Celebrate the lessons. As evidenced by the popularity of frugality in consumerism lately, people feel good about exercising their resourcefulness. But to encourage the spread of resourcefulness, leaders must make certain that this pride in accomplishments is publicized and praised. Those who are resourceful need to be recognized and rewarded, and in turn, teach their lessons to others.

What is an Example of Being Resourceful?

To help you better understand what resourcefulness is and what effect it can have on your road to success, we are going to look at real life examples of individuals who have exhibited this trait overtime in their career.

1. Brian Chesky

Starting out as a personal need, Chesky turned his “air mattress with bed and breakfast” business into a hospitality marketplace empire. Today, Airbnb boasts 6 million listings and on any given night, two million guests stay at one of Airbnb’s rentals. Recently, the company launched Trips to allow travelers to tailor unique experiences that give them the optimal vacation opportunity.

2. Lynda Weinman

The founder of Lynda.com started her platform to have an easy way to communicate with her web design students. She then saw the potential to reach others who were seeking information and instruction in tech, business, or the creative arts. Her company ultimately sold to LinkedIn for $1.5 billion.

3. Madam C.J. Walker

Born in extremely difficult circumstances, Walker had to be resourceful to overcome her situation and find success. She worked as a washerwoman for $1.50 a day to put her daughter through school and attended night school.

After developing a scalp disorder that caused hair loss, she leveraged her resourcefulness to create a line of hair products through her self-made business Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. Walker became one of the first female self-made millionaires in history.

Is being Resourceful a Talent?

Resourcefulness is a skill. And the good news is: this skill can be learned and mastered. Solely having a resourceful mindset is not sufficient to solve problems and achieve our goals. And this is where the skills come in to bring the mindset into action.

Having skills in being resourceful is especially important in data science as this field is still young and there are no definite paths for it. It’s the subtlety that makes this field so much challenging, exciting, and rewarding at the same time.

Resourcefulness is to know who/what to look for and what to ask.

What Qualities does a Resourceful Person have?

It is already a known fact that those who are resourceful are more successful. But, what are the qualities of these seemingly well organised, motivated people? We did some research and compiled our top favourite characteristics for you to look at so that you can work on them. 

1. Open Minded

The number one trait seems to be, having an open mind. Successful business people, entrepreneurs and all around resourceful people seem to be positively working at breaking boundaries and redefining what is possible and what is not. You must be able to be positive and willing to give new things a try and hope for the best outcome always.

This seems like an impossibility when facing the daily struggles life throws at us, but maybe, just maybe being open-minded to trying new things could be the cure. Push yourself to go to that new event in town or meet that person you spoke to online. Stretch your horizon to new opportunities and in turn welcome new people into your life as well as letting go of the positive energy thieves. You never know what lies around the corner. 

2. They read

We say it often on our programmes – read a book, then another and then another. You can never read too much. Reading opens doors to imagination, education, and information like no other past time can. Resourceful people seem to be valuable to others because of the wealth of knowledge they have found through reading. If you struggle to think of conversational topics or icebreakers, pick up a book. You don’t have to read an academic journal if that isn’t your thing, but maybe try reading a book on animal behaviour or motivational speeches and watch your conversations flourish. When you find content that you like, follow the author or writer and keep up to date with their latest publications. You will never find a resourceful person lost for words. 

3. Imaginative. 

Resourceful people ask the right questions, draw the right pictures and say the right words. By this, we mean they never regret not asking someone that question they have on the tip of the tongue or find themselves regretting not being more observant. Being imaginative is not necessarily about creating something and is more to do with ingenuity. By making things look better and old things work more efficiently you are making yourself endlessly resourceful. Creative thoughts come and go quickly, one idea may not work but try another. One of those ideas may lead you to the solution you have been looking for.

4. Resilient.

This is tough as we all have those bad days. Days where unfortunately we are not able to pick ourselves back up from something that shook us. Resourceful people, however, seem to have an ability to compartmentalise those things that throw us off balance, enabling them to power through and succeed. There is no such thing as procrastination in the mindset of those who are resourceful.

Instead, they understand that what motivates them is what must come first. There is no sitting around, only doing. When opportunities arise (and they will) do not overthink the situation for fear of talking yourself out of them. Get on board and don’t be a passive observer. Take life by the hands and grab at it. 

5. Honesty

This is perhaps the most important trait that can be found in resourceful people. You will never find someone who is a resourceful lie about a task or a promise. They are known for delivering not over-promising on things they cannot achieve. It is okay to say “no” or “I don’t know” because, in the end, it will waste more time to lie than it would be spending the time researching and learning through others.

Instead of dreading the task because of your lie, resourceful people will remain hopeful that a solution can be found for any task. Train yourself to see the benefits of all situations. If you don’t know something – great! It is an opportunity to learn.

How can Teachers be Resourceful?

Many teachers work in difficult contexts. They may have large classes. They may have few resources. The pupils in these contexts are not likely to have resources at home to compensate for limited school resources.

A group of teachers working in such circumstances recently brainstormed suggestions about how to be resourceful despite such difficult conditions. They came up with many ideas and decided that the following seven were most useful:

• Make maximum use of the local environment as a teaching aid. All schools have an environment that can be exploited for discussion, investigations, and sources of classroom data.
• Make maximum use of the local community as a teaching aid. Parents and others are an important source for stories, for remembering what things were like in the past, and for having opinions on everyday issues.
• Exploit the communication systems currently in place. Nearly all communities now have access to radio, often with many channels available. Use the systems available to stimulate debate and discussion.
• Make teaching aids from materials around the school. Old boxes, magazines, newspapers, and even plastic bottles can be turned into teaching aids (one of the teachers in the discussion group described how she had built a model of a volcano using such materials, the model could be opened out to show the ‘inner workings’ of the volcano).
• Cooperate with other schools, directly or by the exchange of letters. This can be highly motivating for pupils and it opens up all sorts of possible exchanges of information (for example, exchanges of information between urban and rural schools can lead to interesting comparisons).
• Let the school become a resource for the local community: one teacher described how mothers joined in the reading classes and thus improved their own literacy.
• Set up a school garden: plants can be grown in even a small area. Pupils of all ages can benefit from participating in the planning, planting, growing, and use stages in the development of a garden.

How can Being Resourceful help you to Become an Effective Leader?

Resourcefulness is often misunderstood. Some people believe it’s a means of coping with deprivation but this is not true. Resourcefulness is about optimizing what you have to work with and being clever with the tools and resources you have at hand to still get the job done. We call it; ‘redefining the possible’ and it is a tremendous skill to have as a leader!

The most resourceful leaders are adaptive when faced with obstacles, they find ways to get information quickly when needing to find answers to make decisions and they shape the environment around them all with the purpose to finding ways to getting a task done.

Being resourceful is a mindset and requires pragmatism. Leaders need to be open-minded, mindful of environmental change and have an understanding of all the resources they have at hand whilst retaining their focus so they meet their targets and objectives.

Importantly in today’s business environment, resourcefulness could not be more important because it’s a path to innovation. Innovation is not just about creating something new; so being resourceful assists in making older things work better.

Just like an experienced mechanic can do wonders in repairing an old vehicle with just a simple set of different tools and their own resourcefulness, we see this same spirit in the maintenance of large facilities — factories, buildings, even aircraft. Those who service them may not always follow a manual; they diagnose problems and figure out what tools and materials they have at hand to fix them.

Call it ‘resourceful innovation’. Resourcefulness is about leading change. Change can sometimes catch us unaware and ill-prepared. In those circumstances, it’s resourcefulness that makes you flexible to respond and keeps you focused so you can navigate quickly.

10 Ways to Be Resourceful as a Leader

1. Create a constructive story

If we asked you to write a story about your what’s happening for you as leader, the concerns you face, the challenges and frustrations, what would that sound like?

Here’s a typical story: “This job is driving me insane! My boss Mike doesn’t listen to me and does not value me or my ideas. He’s only interested in himself. None of my great ideas are taken seriously. My team doesn’t deliver on time and I am sick of copping the blame both ways!”

A story is not a fact, it is an interpretation or judgement. These kinds of stories typically produce a feeling, blame, a sense of helplessness and hopelessness or frustration.

Your story is based on your unique way of interpreting what has happened to you, around you and the way you see the situation, others and yourself as being impacted.

If your story is a negative one, the good news is that you can change it. The way you see things is generated by you! Being resourceful as a leader requires you to first see that the way you’re seeing things can be the issue in itself.

You can begin asking yourself if there are other ways to interpret what’s happening and if there are, it can help to switch the negative phrases with more neutral or generative ones.

For example: “This job is challenging! I have not been able to make the space for Mike to hear my view yet, and that means I am doubting my own value. He’s seems to have other concerns. I wonder how I can make a time to share my ideas in a way that engages him? That might give me more confidence to lead the team in a shared direction.”

When you ‘try on’ new ways of interpreting what’s happening you can open possible future conversations. Compare the first and second narratives we shared and you will see that the second one creates a range of different opportunities based on a more effective interpretation or story. Reinterpreting your story then becomes a choice. This is one of the most ‘resourceful’ moves any leader can make.

2. Reveal your standards

For whatever story you have been generating up to now, it is important to know how it has formed.  In our example before, it was probably not ‘caused’ by Mike (even if we feel it was), but by the way, our ‘example leader’ has historically read and interpreted their world.

Consider that from the time you’re conscious, you are interpreting your world. What you like and don’t like. What’s right and wrong. What makes you feel good and bad.  Influences from early life, particularly family and culture play a huge role in shaping these interpretations.

Early education and work experiences equally shape the ‘standards’ we adopt, and we use our judgements of what’s right and wrong to navigate life, most often unconsciously. In adopting these ‘worldviews’, over time, we develop ‘standards’ and these play out when things don’t go our own way. We just want the world to conform and do it our way!

Is this ringing true?

If so, what standards of yours are not being met and where did they come from?  How long have these been with you in life and are they serving you for the next steps you want to take in leadership and life? If you can’t change others to meet your standards, would you consider revisiting your standards and learning about them?

You see, you ‘own’ your standards.  They have been with you for a long time, and in revealing them, you also have the power to change them.

3. Recognise your mood

So, what is a mood and what does a mood have to do with being resourceful as a leader?

Moods are predispositions for action you recurrently find yourself in. The key word here is recurrent. Moods typically reflect the ‘story’ or narrative you have about yourself and the world – typically founded in a long-standing narrative that you have been living with and in for some time (yes, a story).

Quite simply, the quality of your story impacts and generates your mood. Some moods and emotions predispose, open you, or incline you towards certain actions and others have the opposite effect.

Moods are generated by the way you think about and talk about yourself and typically follow your habitual thinking patterns.  This is an inner dialogue which plays out in the way you speak, think and feel about your future and what is /what is not possible.

To discover your mood, begin by asking whether you are opposing what’s happening around you, or are you in more of an accepting mood?  If you’re opposing, you might find yourself feeling frustrated, angry, feeling no hope, or feeling anxious and wanting to control matters. 

Conversely, if you’re in a more accepting space, you might find yourself feeling open to what’s happening, actively searching for opportunities despite what’s presented, in a space of curiosity, or wonder or feeling as though you’re ready to meet the challenge.

Do you want to remain in the opposing position, or would you prefer to be more able to ‘go with’ what’s happening in an adventurous mindset?

4. Shift your Mood

If you have discovered your mood is more opposing by nature, that’s OK.  It need not be this way, and there are ways you can shift it.  In order to shift your mood, you’ll need to be willing to revisit the narrative you’re generating, and this can be tough. You might have been living with this story and built your identity around it for some time and it can be difficult to see the story you’ve been living from, for perhaps a lifetime.

We have a few questions you can use as a self-coaching option to help shift your mood.  This process begins by tuning in and being present, and then following the questions in a deliberate way to identify a new way of seeing an old situation, event or person.

1. What is happening for me now, in this moment?
2. What is happening around my body?
3. What story or assessment am I telling myself about the situation?
4. Is what I am telling myself absolutely true?
5. What other ways might explain this situation?
6. What am I opposing/fighting against – what am I not accepting?
7. How would it be for me ‘now’ if I stopped opposing or fighting against the situation?
8. Is it possible for me to accept what’s happening?
9. What mood I am now present to?

By asking these questions in succession, and really challenging your own story, you can begin an important mood migration. This will help you ‘show up’ resourcefully.

5. ‘Show up’ in a resourceful way

How you ‘show up’ as a leader matters, since your body or physiology is always a reflection of the story you’re in and the mood that follows. Think of someone you’ve worked within the past who tends to oppose new ways and shut down any of your good ideas. 

Their body will likely reflect this in some way.  It’s either rigid and tight or slumped and lacking energy, embodying a mood of opposition. Now, think of someone you know that loves new ideas and is always opening possibilities. The way they show up is likely to be more upright, energetic, and agile.

How do you want to show up?  What kind of leader would you follow?  Are you a Leader that shows up confident, open, upright and influential? If not, what kind of story would create a body like this?

When a constructive story, accepting mood and engaged body are aligned you ‘show up’ far more powerfully and resourcefully as a leader!

6. Declare a new future

A declaration is a statement we make that shapes our future, so long as we have the authority and capacity to bring that new future to life.

You can make declarations about your own future, emerging or changing circumstances to produce your “new reality” and by working to bring this about, become far more resourceful as a leader.

Every person has the authority to make statements about how they want their life to be – occupation, relationships, future events, and material aspirations. Examples include:

• “I’m going to apply for the promotion!”
• “I’m going to lose 5kg by training for this year’s Thailand 500km bike ride.”
• “I am going to support my team’s skill development over the coming 12 months.”
• “We are going to identify 3 acquisition prospects by July next year.”.

These are all declarations that an individual can make and in making them we immediately impact how we see and act in our future.

You can shape and design important parts of your life through declarations, especially when you ensure you have a support system in place to assist you to bring the statement to fruition.

What declarations come to mind for you, in the future you want to create?  What constructive story will enable that?  What helpful mood?  What standards will support your declaration? And how will you show up to bring this to life?

7. Get in conversation and generate your new reality

Moving towards a more resourceful ‘way of being’ can be a significant interruption to the ‘way’ you once were.  As you let go of unhelpful narratives, change your moods, ‘show up’ constructively and make new declarations to generate possibilities, those around you might notice a big change.

Now that you have a declaration, and a more constructive story to ‘live into’, it’s time to get in conversations and bring about your new reality.  If you’ve shifted from an old and unhelpful story towards a new one, consider there may be some conversations you should have to ‘clear’ any residual or historical concerns and generate a new kind of relationship grounded in trust and possibility.

It can also be helpful to socialize your declarations. That means, if you’ve made a declaration, by sharing it with relevant people in conversation and enlisting their support, you might more readily bring your commitment to life. They may find innovative and novel ways to support you and your goals. Do you give yourself permission to generate a new reality for yourself?

8. Enhance your listening skills

Listening is a meaning making and relating activity that can greatly enhance your resourcefulness and ability to influence as a leader. Listening includes the silent conversations inside your head, that shape and influence what you listen to and how you interpret what you hear. It therefore involves hearing and interpreting to create meaning.

Listening provides an opportunity to co-invent the future with others through every conversation that you as a leader are engaged in. Listening is also a skill we take for granted, failing to see our own bias and prejudice, which is influenced by our frame of reference (our life’s journey, our past learnings and experiences). We fail to understand our unhelpful listening habits.

To begin to develop more constructive listening habits, try the following 3 tips:

• Consciously choose how you listen to what the other person is trying to communicate, rather than listening to your own thoughts about what they are saying.
• Begin to observe how you create meaning for yourself, your interactions, and relationships with others and the environment.
• Spend time in reflection, exploring your life experiences – especially those that predispose you to anticipate or ‘already knowing’ how life and events ‘should’ play out. These listening practices open moods of acceptance and wonder, generating new possibilities through ‘being’ resourceful.

9. Invest in your wellbeing

Think of this slogan “eat well, move well, think well”. We wholly agree. If you’re not feeling your best, you can’t be performing your best in terms of mood or thinking. Therefore, you cannot be resourceful.

Pay attention to the way you tend to your body.  Food and water are building blocks for your sustained mood, concentration and performance. When it comes to water aim for two litres each and every day and cut out drinks that are sweet or sugary.

In terms of food, a diet rich with nutritious, whole food – organic where you can – will provide you the fuel to sustain your performance. This means planning ahead for those times you tend to grab quick snacks and opting for a low GI alternative to anything processed when the munchies set in.

In terms of movement try mixing up your cardio with movement that enhances your flexibility, strength and quality of breath like yoga and Pilates. Exercising at least 3 times a week for say 40 minutes per session is part of our resourceful success formula. On Friday night, instead of heading to the local bar, try some other way to decompress from your week – a massage, or if your adventurous, try a sound bath!

Finally sleep. Most of us need 7-8 hours to perform well. That means making it a priority.

If you think you know all this, it’s not a matter of knowing it.  It’s a matter of organizing your schedule to make these pillars a priority – put these blocks in your diary BEFORE your meetings. It can be helpful to have someone else support your commitment at home or at work by joining in your new practices and helping keep you accountable.  Try to start your weekly planning by making sure your basic pillars for energy and vitality are in place to give yourself the best chance of being resourceful

10. Scan your operating context regularly

Any resourceful leader is paying attention to their operating context. This means understanding the historical patterns that have influenced your industry, scanning other industries, looking at trends and patterns and investing time each week in conversations that reveal an emerging future.

Read Also: What are the Secrets of Being a Successful Management Consultant?

It can help for you to gain exposure via social groups, conferences and international networks that have a different orientation to your traditional roots and to explore the deeper ideologies that lie behind the assumptions of operating your business.

This will likely confront you, provoke you, evoke discomfort, and unfamiliar emotions and moods on occasion. You might even question your future trajectory.  This is healthy and necessary.  It will help you identify new questions to ask and open you to the new possibilities in the future that is always re-configuring itself.

Final Words

This article has been able to provide an insight into the importance of resourcefulness and why you need it in your career. There are a lot of good qualities that come with resourcefulness and work hard to possess these qualities will prove to be very benefit on your way to success.

So, it is over to you now, you need to work on all the tips that have been provided in this article to help you become resourceful and unlock your potentials and continue to create wealth.