This thesis, titled "BUILDING PEOPLE UP: LEADERSHIP AND EMPLOYEE RESILIENCE," explores leadership behaviors that foster employee resilience in the public sector. The research uses a contemporary definition of resilience, viewing it as a set of behaviors that help employees grow and develop in their jobs, even in challenging environments. The study is structured into five phases: 1. **Cross-sectional survey**: Examines the relationship between paradoxical leadership behaviors and employee resilience, mediated by perceptions of organizational support. 2. **Qualitative studies**: Identifies additional leadership behaviors and their mechanisms, generating an explanatory framework for resilience-enabling leadership. 3. **Scale development**: Develops a four-dimensional scale for measuring resilience-enabling leadership. 4. **Content validity**: Gathers feedback to validate the scale's content. 5. **Validation study**: Tests the reliability and validity of the resilience-enabling leadership scale (RELS) and its predictive power on employee resilience. The findings suggest that a unique combination of leadership behaviors fostering growth, trust, and collaboration is crucial for developing employee resilience. The RELS scale is an innovative contribution to organizational scholarship, providing a leadership model that recognizes the evolving nature of leadership and responds to the development needs of employees. The research emphasizes the importance of effective, resilience-enabling leadership in public sector organizations to build adaptive and resilient workforce.This thesis, titled "BUILDING PEOPLE UP: LEADERSHIP AND EMPLOYEE RESILIENCE," explores leadership behaviors that foster employee resilience in the public sector. The research uses a contemporary definition of resilience, viewing it as a set of behaviors that help employees grow and develop in their jobs, even in challenging environments. The study is structured into five phases: 1. **Cross-sectional survey**: Examines the relationship between paradoxical leadership behaviors and employee resilience, mediated by perceptions of organizational support. 2. **Qualitative studies**: Identifies additional leadership behaviors and their mechanisms, generating an explanatory framework for resilience-enabling leadership. 3. **Scale development**: Develops a four-dimensional scale for measuring resilience-enabling leadership. 4. **Content validity**: Gathers feedback to validate the scale's content. 5. **Validation study**: Tests the reliability and validity of the resilience-enabling leadership scale (RELS) and its predictive power on employee resilience. The findings suggest that a unique combination of leadership behaviors fostering growth, trust, and collaboration is crucial for developing employee resilience. The RELS scale is an innovative contribution to organizational scholarship, providing a leadership model that recognizes the evolving nature of leadership and responds to the development needs of employees. The research emphasizes the importance of effective, resilience-enabling leadership in public sector organizations to build adaptive and resilient workforce.