When we take a closer look at the modern workplace, we can clearly see that it’s not easy to navigate the current landscape, maintain a healthy work-life balance, stay productive, and achieve our career goals without getting stressed, overwhelmed or facing adversity at some point.
Resilience is the capacity to withstand and manage stress. It includes being able to adapt to changing circumstances and rebuild wellbeing through self-care strategies such as maintaining supportive personal and professional networks.
That’s exactly why building resilience and effectively adapting to change is more crucial than ever and should be taken into consideration by supervisors and managers at all levels.
Strong Mindset & Learning from Difficulties
Resilience at work helps employees and team members to:
- see change and uncertainty as an opportunity, not a threat
- stay active and motivated
- engage more in daily work activities
- promote innovation
- build both physical and emotional wellbeing
- maintain a positive attitude and optimistic vision of the future
- stay mentally strong and centred
- be more productive
Resilient people view difficulty as a challenge, not as a paralysing event. They see failures and mistakes as lessons to be learned from - opportunities for growth.
Strategies and Tips
It goes without saying that building a strong and healthy team should be one of the top priorities in the workplace. Below you can find some useful strategies and how to incorporate them into your organisation.
- Clear Leadership and Expectations — effective leadership is one of the most important characteristics of a happy and successful workplace. Employees should always understand what they are doing, how their work contributes to the organisation, and what results are expected (clear deadlines and to-do lists; description of responsibilities). This approach helps to eliminate conflict and miscommunication, contributes to higher productivity, and maintains strong work culture.
- Organisational Culture — a secure work environment should incorporate certain values such as trust, honesty and fairness. Employees should be treated with respect and taught how to be considerate in their interactions with one another, as well as with clients, business partners, and the general public.
- Psychological Support— creating an environment where people are supportive of each other's mental health concerns; responding appropriately as needed; handling crisis situations in a professional way; highlighting the importance of psychological and mental wellbeing.
- Recognition and Reward — appropriate acknowledgement and appreciation of employees' efforts help to keep everyone engaged and motivated. It should be done in a fair and timely manner so it encourages your staff to give their best Recognition of employees’ achievements is an effective tactic in building confident individuals and successful teams.
- Workload Management — this is one of, if not the most important factors when talking about employees’ satisfaction in the workplace and their productivity. Helping your staff to effectively manage their tasks and prioritise workload will have a positive long-term impact on your organisation. A healthy work environment means a place where all tasks and responsibilities can be accomplished successfully within the time available (that includes realistic expectations from the management, setting up manageable deadlines, and eliminating distractions).
- Work-Life Balance — often neglected however very crucial element in building a healthy team. Recognition of employees’ need for balance between the demands of work, family and personal life is an important factor in creating a positive and rewarding work environment. It also helps to eliminate work-related stress and contributes to higher involvement and overall job satisfaction. Maintaining the right work-life balance and being able to stay assertive is crucial for both physical and mental staff wellbeing. It prevents burnout and other serious psychological problems that may be encountered in a modern workplace.
- Engagement — keeping your team motivated and actively participating in various tasks and activities doesn’t have to be a massive undertaking as long as you incorporate certain techniques and have a proper plan in place. To improve employee engagement, you need to focus on things like professional development, team building, and boosting confidence and self-esteem in your team members.
Employee engagement refers to how committed employees are to the business and its success. It is also encompassed by how motivated they are to complete their work, how closely they relate to the company values, and their willingness to collaborate and work as a team. As you can see, employee engagement is so much more than someone liking their job or not.
- Involvement and Influence— a successful workplace includes employees in discussions about how their work is done, how company goals are expected to be achieved, how important decisions are made, and what changes are expected in the near future.
- Growth and Development — creating an environment where staff receives necessary encouragement and support in the pursuit of their interpersonal, emotional and job skills.
- Protection of Physical Safety — management should always take appropriate action to maintain the physical safety of all employees.
Helping your staff build resilience starts with incorporating all these values and practices into your organisation. By creating a supportive work environment and having a positive organisational culture in place, you build a strong foundation which will serve as a crucial tool in supporting employees during times of adversity. It is, without a doubt, a very valuable investment for the future.
Eliminating Risk Factors
There are various circumstances and risk factors that can impact the resilience of individuals and teams. They may include:
- lack of motivation
- poor utilisation of skills or full potential
- unhealthy work-life balance
- technological disruptions and constant information flow
- unmanageable schedules
- demands and work duties increasing at an accelerated rate
- business models evolving too quickly
- not being assertive (responding to requests anytime, being hyperconnected to work, taking up too many projects and tasks that exceed one’s abilities)
Recognising and eliminating those factors should be one of the strategies in building your team and helping staff develop resilience.
Summary
- Resilience is one of the most important abilities and should be cultivated in every workplace.
- There are several strategies that can be implemented and executed to help staff become more resilient, effectively adapt to change, and embrace daily challenges.
- Managing stress and maintaining a positive outlook through various techniques should always be encouraged and incorporated into staff wellbeing manuals.
- Building a strong and healthy team should be the ultimate goal of every supervisor and manager as it’s one of the most crucial elements of a successful workplace.
Modern workplaces are continuously evolving. This constant change makes it necessary to incorporate and sustain resilience strategies to support individuals and teams.
References
Government of Canada, Resilience at Work – Building a Strong and Healthy Team, https://www.csps-efpc.gc.ca/tools/jobaids/resilience-work-eng.aspx
FELLOW, 7 Ways to Keep Employees Engaged and Motivated, https://fellow.app/blog/management/ways-to-keep-employees-engaged-and-motivated/
Forbes, 5 Top Reasons Resilience At Work Matters, https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2020/11/04/5-top-reasons-resilience-at-work-matters
Government of Canada, Resilience at Work – Building a Strong and Healthy Team, https://www.csps-efpc.gc.ca/tools/jobaids/resilience-work-eng.aspx