Resilience: A skill worth backing in business?

Resilience is certainly THE hot topic these days. With the rapidly increasing pace of organisational change, pressure and workplace stress, a resilient workforce is a necessity for a business to survive.

Resilience is certainly the ability to survive challenges and setbacks, but it is more than simply the ability to 'bounce back'. Its about not just surviving the challenges but learning from them so we become better, faster, stronger, smarter. This is what post-traumatic growth is all about – becoming a better version of yourself because of the challenges you’ve faced.

“More than education, more than experience, more than training, a person’s level of resilience will determine who succeeds and who fails. That’s true in the cancer ward, it’s true in the Olympics, and it’s true in the boardroom.” Dean Becker

In his latest book Flourish, Martin Seligman, father of the Positive Psychology movement, emphasizes his concern with our fixation on removing challenges. We seek to minimize negative emotional states, stressors, and challenging situations. He advocates for a more realistic approach, which is learning to deal with it; to thrive in our real and un-ideal circumstances. The resilience training I have developed aims to do just this; to enable people to thrive in the midst of challenge and to function at peak performance despite high demands and unfair or difficult circumstances. Because after all, that's life.

One key characteristic of resilient people that I incorporate in my training is solution-focused thinking. Its a common belief that resilience is about being optimistic, but I believe the ability to be realistic but solution-focused, whereby you see the reality of the challenges ahead but you also have a certain tenacity and belief in your ability to find a way to overcome them, is far more useful than simply being optimistic. A solution-focused person takes decisive action to work through the obstacles they face, whereas an optimistic person can don the rose-coloured glasses and not heed the obstacles, or just have the expectation that everything will work out ok without doing something about it. Obviously, the later can have dire consequences for a company.

Another key characteristic inbuilt in the training, and one that is particularly relevant in the workplace, is a growth mindset. Over 30 years of research by the illustrious Professor Carol Dweck has shown that people of a fixed mindset believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. The seek validation of their talent and don’t look for opportunities to develop new skills or take on challenges. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. People of a growth mindset believe that superb personal qualities can be learned, developed and cultivated. So, they view failure only as feedback about their performance, and not as a judgement of their personality, potential or value. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience.

In the workplace then, having a team of employees who are growth-mindset oriented and solution-focused gives a company the most powerful weapon of all. Staff who are continually learning, innovating, exercising creativity and leaning into challenge. Staff who are engaged and curious, team-focused and not afraid of hard work or failure. This is the workforce that makes a company thrive and outstrip its competitors.

After training 154 staff in major corporations in Perth this year, I can tell you that these skills are very much needed, and appreciated, particularly for people affected by major organisational change projects. Given that many people I have taken through the half-day training have been focused on possible job loss, fearful and anxious of the future, and angry at what is happening within their organisation, I expected a lot more resistance. However, the resounding finding was that staff were thankful for the opportuninty to learn and discuss strategies that can enable them to steer through hard times with the skills to manage their stress, mindset and emotions along the way.

So is personal resilience a skillset worth backing, and investing in, in business? Absolutely. Here is what some of my participants have said recently:

• "Engaging presentation. Great material to inspire acceptance and change". Valuer, Landgate
• "Great workshop all around, learned a lot of valuable skills". Clint Carlson, HR Manager, Southern Ports Authority
• "Was enlightening and gave things to implement in my life". Luke Dymock, Valuer, Landgate.
• "Worthwhile, came out of the workshop with a positive frame of mind to adapt to the current situation". Valuer, Landgate
• "Everyone should do this workshop". Van Dutton, Senior Research Analyst, Landgate

These are the averaged feedback results from the 154 participants, rating their overall impression of the workshop, the relevance of the content, quality of facilitation, and usefulness of the workbook provided.

In summary, if you are a business owner, CEO, manager or team leader, I'd share one piece of advice. Before you invest in systems, strategies, or change implementation, invest in your people. Arm them with the right tools for personal resilience, and they will have the capacity to weather the storms ahead and to work together to build a stronger future.

If you'd like to discuss a tailored plan to enhance the personal resilience of your staff, please contact me. Or join me for the resilience workshop open to the public and hosted by Business Women Australia in Leederville, Perth of the 20th of September, or in Richmond, Melbourne on the 27th of September.

Vanessa, Psychologist & People Development specialist