When faced with adversity or a difficult challenge, how do you respond? Do you fight through the problem head-on? Or do you shrink away from the obstacle?
Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity and stress. This includes family and relationship problems, serious health issues, and workplace stressors.
While workers across the globe face adversity, not every workplace will bounce back from stress in the same way. The ability to adapt and overcome after a setback comes down to a person’s resilience. And this is one of the hallmarks of success.
Luckily, it isn’t the type of trait that you either have or don’t have. It’s a combination of learned behaviours and actions, which can be gained through resilience training.
Resilience doesn’t mean that people won’t have stress. Quite the contrary; it relies on how well we handle stress and adversity. In fact, stress is practically a prerequisite.
In this post, we’re sharing how to build more resilience at work. You’ll learn how to build a workplace that adapts and thrives beyond difficulties. And we’ll share how to emerge stronger and more determined than ever before!
Jump to:
- What is Resilience Training?
- Why Resilience is Important at Work
- An Example of Resilience Training
- Why Resilience is Important in Leadership
- How to Build Resilience
- Personal Benefits of Resilience Training
- Facts About Resiliency
- Resilience Training Course for the Workplace
- More Resources on Resilience Training
What is Resilience Training?
Resilience training is the active cultivation of a mindset that can handle adversity. It gives you the ability to get back up when life knocks you down.
Resilience is the enduring force that keeps you moving forward despite setbacks. At first glance, it’s easy for people to assume resilience is an inborn trait. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Everyone has experienced some form of adversity during their life’s journey. And thus, we all have some level of resilience within us. Surviving our human condition necessitates it.
Resilience, much like other important character traits, is trainable. Anyone willing to put in the time and effort can build it up. It helps companies develop a united approach that centers around positivity and purpose.
Because of today’s high-stress, high-pressure workplace, many have gained interest in the benefits of resilience. This training works to boost emotional, cognitive and mental, physical, and spiritual resilience. Rather than teach participants to avoid stress, it teaches people to thrive in the face of adversity.
In this way, resilience training is akin to endurance training. Improving both requires you to push and persist outside of your comfort zone.
Why Resilience is Important at Work
The challenges of a dynamic workplace are often the primary stressor’s in a person’s life. Long hours, peer conflict, uncertainty and more can all be detrimental to one’s mental health. And when this kind of issue goes unchecked, it starts to drag down the company.
Building resilience in today’s workplace is vital. It empowers employees to survive routine setbacks. It helps them to deal positively with stress and to overcome challenges.
Resilience can help to set the morale of a workplace. It creates an environment that’s impervious to petty criticism and negativity. A company that’s resilient will adapt well. It’ll use disappointments as opportunities for improvement.
When workers strive towards resilience, it helps to improve the health of the company. But it also helps workers to develop their own mental health. Employees will be able to handle day-to-day stressors, both at the office and at home. They’ll develop a sense of control over their life’s events. And they’ll learn how to positively approach negative situations.
Resilience helps employees maintain a sense of calmness and an attitude of ambiguity, even when faced with hardships. When members of a company aren’t focused on the negative aspects of stress and adversity, and are able to find a positive in any situation, then the company’s better equipped to handle anything that comes its way.
This helps produce a stronger company. And it increases the chances of success in spite of setbacks that the company might encounter along the way.
Without resilience, morale and the general mood of the workplace can drop. As a result, the workplace ceases to work like a well-oiled machine.
Thus, implementing resilience training programs throughout your organization is a worthwhile pursuit. Here is a shortlist of the many ways resilience training can have a positive impact on your work culture.
- It gives your team a healthy way to cope with stress and ambiguity
- It provides a sense of control when things go haywire
- It promotes employee well-being
- It increases productivity and performance
- It improves relationships between employees
- It cultivates job satisfaction
Fostering a resilient workforce benefits everyone within your organization and the company itself. Because when employees can stand tall in the face of hardship, so can the business. Having a trait like this is essential in the modern business arena.
Examples of Resilience at Work
There are many different examples of resilient behaviour and when it can be used. Some characteristics of people who exhibit resilience include:
- Reframing adversity and challenge as an opportunity for growth
- Being able to manage strong negative emotions
- Viewing difficult challenges as impermanent
- Adapting when faced with adversity
- Overcoming setbacks without high stress and anxiety
A perfect example of Resilient behaviour can be demonstrated through a sales person losing a client. The salesperson can take this challenge and clarify it as a burden or stressful situation or they can look at it as impermanent and seek ways to avoid this challenge in the future. Resiliency is a key characteristic to adopt a mindset which believes these challenges are only temporary. A resilient salesperson will use this situation as a growth opportunity rather than viewing it as a liability and burden.
Why Resilience is Important in Leadership
Resilience is a key trait for every successful leader.
In order to be a successful one, they must be able to push through difficulties. They must maintain motivation, for themselves and others. And they have to encourage others to “think positive”, even when the odds are stacked against them
To achieve this goal, leaders must develop personal resilience. But they must also model it and encourage the development of this trait in others as well.
A leader who gives up easily or quickly surrenders when faced with adversity won’t be a leader for long. To lead others, they must demonstrate determination and a will to succeed in every situation.
Successful leaders don’t harp on minor setbacks. Instead, they stay focused on achieving future goals. They use obstacles and challenges to motivate better performance. And they cultivate a sense of unity, knowing that a team’s “stronger together” in reaching greater heights.
Successful leaders also use their resilience to set an example for their workers. If they’re able to pick themselves up from a so-called failure, learn from it, and change for the better, then surely the rest of the workplace is able to.
By demonstrating considerable resilience, leaders can inspire and unite their workers.
How to Build Resilience In The Workplace
Since resilience is a trait that can be learned by anyone, employees can build it if they’re willing to work towards it.
Learn Data-Backed Frameworks For Developing Resilience
To build resilience, you must develop strategies to deal with stress in a positive way. When focusing on building resilience in the workplace, workers need to develop a unified purpose. This gives them a greater vision for the future.
Resilience lends to a teamwork mentality, instead of a harsh, competitive environment. But workers often need guidance and assistance to arrive at this point.
That’s where resilience training comes in.
Hire Professional Workplace Wellness Trainers
Twello’s course helps workers create a more resilient workplace. Through intense training, workers learn valuable skills and strategies to deal with stress and overcome adversity.
But the training doesn’t stop there. It goes one step further.
It provides employees with meaningful opportunities that allow them to practice healthy strategies and skills they’ve learned. So when employees return to work, they’re armed with the critical tools they need to achieve success.
Resilience training brings employees together in a way that’d be impossible if they were to embark on solo learning adventures.
Empower Resilient Team Members
Employees emerge from training unified and equipped with an ability to empower and support colleagues. They develop skills and strategies to adapt well under stress. And they learn what it takes to turn challenges into chances and to thrive beyond setbacks.
Together, the skills, strategies, and team-building exercises help workers develop crucial traits for achieving success.
The benefits of resilience training are often apparent immediately. But they also continue to give back to the company for years to come.
Personal Benefits of Resilience Training
If you find the picture we’ve painted of resilience training intimidating, don’t worry. Practicing resilience comes with many rewards. After all, Building resilience will improve your life in many ways. Take a look at these three key life areas that resilience impacts below.
- Tenacity
The ability to stay determined no matter what is an essential life skill. Because when things fall apart, throwing in the towel becomes a very tempting option. Giving up feels like the only thing you can do.
As you train your resilience, a fire will grow within your heart. Soon enough that fire will evolve into a fierce, indomitable determination. You’ll refuse to quit anything.
- Courage
There’s a reason why people consider courage to be a cardinal virtue. The heroic tales of brave individuals are among the best stories ever told. What does it take to develop the guts to take action in the face of overwhelming fear?
You guessed it. Becoming resilient to the harshness of life will give you a natural antidote to your fears. You’ll no longer be afraid to make the courageous choice.
- Stress Management
If there’s one thing we all can agree on, it’s that life is hard. Plenty of people feel like every day is a struggle. And to cope with that struggle, many turn to food, distraction, or worse.
Learning healthy ways to cope with stress is thus vital for your well-being. Through repeated exposure, resilience training teaches you how to manage your stress. You’ll gain the ability to keep stressors in perspective and diminish their impact.
Fast Facts About Resiliency
– Resilience is more accessible and available to some people than others, but everyone can strengthen their resilience (Source: Allison Young, MD) – According to one theory, people oriented toward approach goals—who are comfortable meeting challenges and worry more about accomplishment than about failure—recover from losses and setbacks with much greater facility and less stress than their avoidantly-oriented colleagues. (Source: Peg Streep)
– Charles S. Carver and Michael F. Scheier note that thinking about a future goal in more abstract and general terms may inculcate resilience and perhaps even aid recovery and success in achieving it. (Source: Peg Streep)
– The Ohio State University conducted a survey on Resilience. Majority of Americans overestimated their own resilience — by a lot. In fact, 83 percent of Americans polled thought they had high levels of mental and emotional resilience, when in fact 57 percent scored as resilient. (Source: Allison Young, MD)
Key Elements of Personal Resilience (Source: Professor Derek Mowbrays)
Key Threats to Resilience (Source: Professor Derek Mowbrays)
Twello Resilience Training Course for the Workplace
“This class will explore what resilience is and how to cultivate it. Resilience allows us to overcome change and ambiguity with ease. Learn the three pillars of resilience in a workplace context: Challenge, Commitment, and Personal Control.”
Twello is a leader in the workplace training industry. Our highly knowledgeable professionals possess unparalleled experience and exclusive qualifications to help your company achieve results.
Participants will gain valuable skills, pertinent insight, and learn critical strategies to help them handle difficult circumstances and thrive in every situation.
More Resources on Resilience Training
There is a wide variety of online resources you can use to learn more about resilience training. Take a look at these informative videos for more on the subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWH8N-BvhAwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7vYuKvpneM
For other articles on wellness in the workplace, continue reading our blog. We’ll tell you everything you need to create a healthy culture in your organization.
