Collective activation of enacted resilience in managing unthought‐of situations: An examination of the reconstruction of a critical situation on the polar traverse

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to give a detailed description of how resilience is activated in the case of an unthought‐of event through the study of a critical situation encountered on a polar traverse. The situation studied is that of diesel freezing during the return of the 56th polar traverse. Seven raiders participated in the study. Activity traces, such as traverse diary reports, and self‐confrontation interviews were used to reconstruct the event. The results show the need to (a) study repeated failed attempts at solving problems and the need to discuss solutions based on (b) shared or (c) personal experience in finding creative solutions to problems. In this sense, the activation of resilience is a process enabling the transition from habitual adaptive actions to a transformative collective activity. The management of unthought‐of situations is discussed in relation with the expansive learning and transformative actions. Implications are developed in a final section.