We spent some time talking to Antonio this week about his research on resilience. (By resilience, we mean the ability/capacity to bounce back from adverse events). He has been particularly focussing on people working in palliative care, but from what we know already, his findings are likely to generalise to much of the working population. From extensive interviewing he’s identified 7 major themes that have an effect on resilience:
- Adaptive behaviours – boundaries, self care, work/life balance
- Emotional regulation- recognising own feelings and those of others and expressing them appropriately
- Positive affect – hope, optimism, efficacy
- Support – workplace, family and friends
- Meaning and purpose- values, reflection, sense making
- Active coping – having a structured and planned approach to coping
- Experience – experience, maturity and learning from the past
So why is this important for organisations? What his research shows is that much of what affects our psychological resilience at work is not down to an individual’s disposition or personality, but is impacted by the organisation (feeling supported by managers and peers, work-life balance, shared values, and so on). And these themes are informed by processes across the employee life cycle, especially development and retention. So to create a resilient workforce, organisations need to pay attention to the whole employee life cycle and on an ongoing basis – much like watering your plants!
