Thrive under Pressure: Encouraging Resilience for a Sustainable and Scalable Business

Start-ups and established businesses alike continue to grapple with the task of fostering wellness within their organizations. For founders, it's tempting to equate wellness with a stress-free environment. However, I'd argue that an accurate measure of organizational wellness is the degree to which resilience, or the capacity to overcome adversity, is instilled in the members of the organization.

Here's why this matters: Some entrepreneurs fall into the trap of viewing stress and pressure as unequivocally negative, potentially fostering an entitlement culture where stability is expected. I've heard comments from founders who tell me that they are trying to create a culture where people enjoy coming to work, by reducing pressure. But research supports that stress and pressure are necessary catalysts for driving personal and professional growth. Isn't there that one guy you know who just loves challenges? Yeah.

I know it's impossible to keep driving oneself at 100% every time, and every moment. A wise person I heard from said that the pressure we experience these days as founders is like training for sprints. You sprint, then rest. Then you sprint again, and rest. You continue to do that until you are spent, but you have to next take the time to recover. This way, you are training yourself to get to better results.

The entrepreneurial journey is one of highs and lows. While entrepreneurs naturally aspire to create happy, balanced workplaces, they need to understand that this doesn't equate to the absence of challenges. Achieving work-life balance is not about escaping stress, but about making conscious choices about what you're willing to sacrifice and what you'll prioritize. These decisions will be unique to each founder and their individual circumstances, but the research pans out. Professor Alia Crum suggests that the way you view stress is a key to turning it into either a disaster or an inspiration. Check out the Stanford University article that summarizes her research.

It seems to me at least, that the core of every founder's leadership style will need to change to include language that supports a new approach to engaging with employees, communicating to uplift, developing strong bonds, assuring support, and giving people hope due to their trust in you and your leadership team.

In the same vein, changes and restructuring, often seen as negative due to the pressure and uncertainty they bring, should be viewed differently. They can be an opportunity for founders and their teams to learn, grow, and build resilience. The idea that there's a perfect, stress-free work environment somewhere out there is a fallacy that can hinder an organization's ability to adapt and thrive.

Wellness extends beyond physical health. It encapsulates mental and emotional well-being too, which can be significantly impacted by stress and pressure. Some individuals may even experience stress due to lack of engagement and boredom. As a founder, your goal should be to create an environment that is engaging and challenging enough to keep your team members motivated and invested. I've also encouraged our Super Scaling clients to start diving into the heart of the business - their purpose, mission and passion. When your people align with why you do what you do, you create energy and momentum.

Adversity is an undeniable part of life, and by extension, of entrepreneurship. The resilience to bounce back and grow stronger in the face of adversity is a quality founders should strive to foster within themselves and their team members.

Resilience is not something that just happens; it needs to be nurtured and developed through experience and training. To ensure the well-being of your organization, founders should strive to create opportunities that challenge and stretch their team's abilities. by extension, this is about a deliberate talent development effort, and the ability to see clearly how to grow them. Do you have regular development conversations with them? Are you able to provide projects that align both with the organizational as well as the individual interest? How will you be able to assess a "return on engagement" even if they do something that interests them that may have nothing to do with the bottomline directly? This might mean giving your team more responsibilities or assigning them projects that are outside their comfort zone, but within their zone of motivation. Not sure, or not clear? Have a chat with them. Ask them what their aspirations are. You'll eventually be able to gather useful information that can bring you to the next level.

When founders understand the benefits of these challenges, they can communicate them effectively to their teams and become better leaders. This will help team members perceive these challenges as opportunities for personal growth rather than unnecessary stressors. Through this perspective shift, team members can learn to appreciate and embrace challenges, which will improve their resilience and overall wellbeing.

Founders also need to develop their own resilience and self-regulation skills. I've spoken at length about this ability and share various thoughts on emotional regulation skills through self leadership and self talk that are far more profound than many know. These skills are essential for navigating the tumultuous journey of entrepreneurship.

I've seen the pain of a founder getting lost in meaningless actions, unable to execute on tasks that truly are the root of the problems they face. No matter how "resilient" they think they are, they end up scratching an itch that isn't there! This is largely due to blind spots. A good and clear way to knowing if this is the case for you is simply that the actions that you take cause more problems. It's a clear sign that you're not really solving the problem.

Oh, and just ignoring the problem will not cause it to go away. I've done that many times in my career. You need moral courage to address the problem, gather the right people, imbue the sense of the vision of the future, and track progress like crazy. Will that be pressuring? Heck yeah! But I doubt that it will be something you can avoid. So why not just embrace it, and buckle up for the ride.

In conclusion, as a founder, it's not about shielding your team from pressure or adversity. Rather, it's about fostering a culture that sees these as opportunities for personal growth and development that is backed up with solid trustworthy support from you. Invest in building a resilient team that's excited by challenges and equipped with the skills to navigate them. This will ultimately contribute to the overall wellness and success of your organization.