Reading the Economist’s leader entitled ‘’Sticky patch or meltdown?’’ this week (18th June) is a sapping experience even for the more optimistic among us. As the piece outlines, factory production is down, consumer spending is weak and nearly all US economic indicators are looking pretty feeble. This recession shows few signs of imminent useful retreat. In addition, many organisations have long term structural and technological challenges to contend with on top of grim economic times. So how can we help to build the capacity and resilience of an already buffeted workforce so see us through a few more tough years?
Resilience is our ability to bounce back in the face of adversity; it’s about adapting successfully to changes in the business environment with mental, physical and financial well-being intact. It creates the capacity to cope with challenges for the individual, the team and the whole organisation. Most important, evidence shows that there are plenty of things we can do to build and support it at every level.
Starting with the organisation as a whole, you need to be asking (preferably with a psychometrically designed measure) are the messages about purpose and values getting through to the workforce and do they believe them? Are managers supporting those values in the way they behave? Are your survivors going to feel that they can hold their heads high because leavers were dealt with in a fair and principled way? Research shows that these are all key to an organisation’s resilience and interventions can be designed to support all of them.
At a team level, research shows that collective resilience is strengthened by support networks. People do better under pressure when they feel they have the support of their manager and colleagues. When people feel relaxed enough to make light of their problems and share them rather than feeling constantly oppressed by the difficulties and pressure they feel around them, research shows that they are more likely to retain their well being and be productive. There is mounting evidence that maintaining a positive working mood creates an upward spiral that contributes to team resilience.
There are many techniques available that help to build people’s individual resistance to pressure and stress and engage their sense of personal responsibility for their own and others’ well-being. Individual programmes can be designed and tailored to the organisation. This can include coaching – either one to one or in teams – and workshops which use language appropriate to your organisation. The added benefits of these are that they can keep reminding your people of your common purpose, while also offering some respite from the daily routine.
The Economist concludes that the world economy is probably just going through a sticky patch (although there is some possibility of meltdown). But regardless of how long it takes, you want do all you can to ensure your organisation emerges fit to thrive rather than exhausted and demoralised.
Here's the detailed research on resilience that Antonio’s been involved with.
