Should Resilience be our 'North Star' Skill in the Workplace?
Mary Jane Roy
LinkedIn Top Voice | Advisor, Facilitator & Speaker | Helping Individuals & Organizations Navigate Stress, Build Resilience, Foster Emotional Agility, and Create Thriving, Inclusive Intergenerational Workplaces
I’ve been promoting building personal and team resilience for more than 12 years. Never have I seen a time when its needed more, than now.
Earlier this month, the World Economic Forum published its ‘Future of Jobs Report’. What didn’t surprise me is that Resilience in the 2023 report went to number 3 as a top skill, from number 9 in 2020.
Analytical thinking is at the top of the list for both reported years. Creative thinking went from number 5 to second place.
My potentially controversial thought is since without resilience during stressful, challenging times, you can kiss Analytical and Creative Thinking good-bye - shouldn’t Personal and Team Resilience be desired skill #1?
Our analytical and creative thinking functions get hijacked, if our ability to be emotionally Agile and Flexible ‘in the moment’ isn’t highly developed. Staying calm is of paramount importance in the face of disruption and uncertainty.
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A variable of resilience, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Dep’t, is Self-Awareness (#4). Building resilience means building self-awareness. It’s actually the first stepping stone to being able to ‘bounce forward’ and not just ‘bounce back’ from adversity. Bouncing forward means we’ve learned something from what we experienced.
Another of the variables of resilience, as mentioned above, is Emotional Self-Regulation or Agility. With this, we can make choices that are much more likely to serve us.
Curiosity and Life-long Learning skills are also dependent upon being resilient and developing stress ‘hardiness’. When our pre-frontal cortex is heading down the proverbial drain, we start to narrow our focus, which means we’re less likely to be open-minded and have the mental agility we need, when we need it.
When we are self-aware, emotionally and mentally agile, we can be more analytical, more creative, more curious, and more open to learning.
Am I biased in thinking that in addressing the shortage of resilience skills (most of us haven’t received this in our education or in our upbringing) might just be the antidote to many of the other skills we need?
I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts on this!
Career Transitions on your own terms. From the heart, with a brain
1 年Agree, resilience is the key to any other skill we need to do the work. I am trying to build it and yes, self-awareness is very important. My problem is that sometimes I feel that -ironically- my analytical mind undermines my resilience. And I am not talking about ruminating. But you got me thinking, I have to say
Sr HR Consultant at Deutsche Telekom & Yoga Teacher | Business Spirituality | LOOP Fellow | Designer by Heart
1 年You make me think ??, to build resilience it needs continuous inner- & outer connection & awareness, to build this, all the other components like courage, creativity, curiosity, agility, …, can support you going inward & when these experiences are being INjoyed you also grow in resilience. It also needs a reasoning, a purpose, you experience that it brings you something, that inner spark of true happiness. Like the limbs in yoga it isn’t step by step from yama to niyama to asana to …, it’s interwoven, interconnected, growing by practicing all ??? towards unconditional love
Senior Technology Advisor - Health/MedTech/Agri/Food in Niagara Region
1 年Important thoughts, Mary Jane … I may have mentioned this book on Fika Friday, but I’ll note again to check Dr. Michael Ungar “Change Your World, The Science of Resilience and the True Path to Success”. Dr. Ungar is Dalhousie University professor and the Canada Research Chair in Child, Famiky and Community Resilience; he works with UNESCO, Workd Bank and the Red Cross.
???? ?? ???????????????? ?????? ???????????? | Creator Wize Move Society | Founder Female Wave of Change | Top 40 over 40 World's Most Inspiring Women | Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise 2022
1 年Whether it is the North Star or not, it is very important in this world where change is the only constant factor.