The strong link between organizational resilience and well-being

Imagine for a moment, a ship’s captain taking their vessel across a stormy sea. If the captain is out of sorts, at odds with the crew, distracted by unnecessary demands, the ship’s chances are imperiled. But a fit captain able to focus on the task at hand, will not only survive with the crew but be stronger when fair waters are reached, more capable, more experienced, and with a team able to work together and thrive, even in the toughest times.

Now, multiply that exercise by the number of people across an organization, where each individual is the captain of their own work place, and the impact of mental well-being on resilience in troubled times begins to show itself.

Today, executives are faced with extraordinary disruptions to their businesses triggered by climate change, geopolitical tensions, new technologies, and the unforeseen impact of globalization, among other agents. Building resilience to not only survive this tumult, but to emerge stronger should be central to any corporate strategy.

The strong connection between well-being and organizational resilience can be explored starting with a look into the formal definition offered by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). “Organizational resilience is the ability of an organization to absorb and adapt in a changing environment to enable it to deliver its objectives and to survive and prosper.” Less formally, resilient organizations anticipate and respond to threats and opportunities that arise from extraordinary situations.

The core concept is not merely to survive, but to adapt and prosper.

Organizational resilience is more than the sum of its parts, more than the collective total of individual resilience within a company.

Structures, processes, tasks, organization, and internal and external relations all come into play. And with a progressive approach to building resilience, a company’s capacity to learn and adapt allows it to emerge from the turmoil stronger than before, with new capabilities, insights, fortitude.

Often, however, resilience is only as strong was its weakest component. For example, a critical supplier that crumbles under the weight of change can damage the entire supply chain and the company itself, perhaps even critically.

Resilience is also a balancing act. A company that resists disruptions without any changes risks stagnation and losing connection to its market and community and could ultimately perish. At the same time, however, one that reacts too quickly could also be in danger of becoming adrift amid market powers and relinquishing its identity and brand. Resilience rests between these extremes.

The ISO sees several aspects of solid organizational resistance, and each is important. However, three stand out as especially relevant to leadership:

• effective and empowered leaders,
• a supportive culture,
• and an environment of continuing improvement.

Essentially, organizational resilience flows from the interaction of multiple attributes linked to individual behavior and workplace design, and a critical factor that helps binds all this together is employee well-being.

Employee well-being – particularly mental well-being – is a mosaicof factors balanced into a harmonious whole. It is essential for individual performance, optimal teamwork, and overall corporate health. Well-being goes beyond physical health, the absence of disease or injury, and encompasses conditions with minimal tension, where assigned tasks can be performed without undue stress.

Individual well-being allows employees to bounce back and adapt to?challenging events, to become individually resilience. This then has a multiplying effect for organizational resilience as it affects processes, collaboration, and other important factors.

While some aspects of employee well-being are external to the corporation, executives can be instrumental in designing work places that promote well-being and contribute to individual resilience. Crucially, they can reduce as much as possible stressors, factors in the company that create unnecessary tension.

At Siemens, we look at well-being at work across several dimensions. It not only includes avoiding any risks or physical hazards, but also explores stressors that might be embodied in procedures, processes, and activities. We strive to create a culture where honest conversations about well-being are possible all along the hierarchy.

Managers play a vital role in creating this environment, broadly by focusing on three core aspects:

• Introspection: Executives should reflect on their own self-care and work on their own well-being and resilience. Those suffering under their own stressors will find to more difficult to help others in the organization eliminate or overcome theirs.
• Empathy: They should promote care for others by creating an atmosphere of psychological safety, trust, mutual understanding, and support. They should also clearly demonstrate interest in employee well-being and listen closely to employee concerns.
• Design: Leaders should create healthy and safe working conditions. A good starting point could be surveying workers to identify unnecessary stressors, such as workloads or insufficient resource, then follow-up by finding ways to reduce these.

Organizational Resilience is a touchstone in today’s volatile business climate. It is critical in turbulent times to continue to grow, taking advantages of opportunities brought by the disruptions. While the resilience is the culmination of myriad factors, employee well-being is an essential adhesive that binds these all together.