We know that collective resilience has been more than tested and one year on despite seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, more and more clients are telling me that their teams are on the edge. As organisations start to recover from the lost opportunities from the pandemic, it is quite possible that leaders will start to consciously recruit against the qualities of resilience. HR leaders may have already torn up their old recruitment frameworks and be rewriting them as we speak. I would be shocked if resilience and agility are not on there.
But what if you have a team that right now is fragile and not agile?
What if you have a team that is broken and not delivering on results?
What if you have a team that if you ask them to step up, they will step over (the edge)?
Leaders are worried about the mental wellbeing of their teams but their dark secret they wouldn’t dare to say aloud is that they are even more worried about results. The good news is that you can develop a team that is high performing, delivering results post pandemic AND have their mental wellbeing in tact.
The answer to helping your team reform and perform, starts with resilience.
People with low resilience are at risk of experiencing stress, depression, anxiety and interpersonal difficulties. The impact of this in the workplace is absenteeism and underperforming teams. That means you will sacrifice results.
Even the most resilient of employees are starting to struggle now and the high performers and perfectionists mask it well and are at risk of burnout. If you haven’t pushed wellbeing up the organisational agenda yet then you need to.
Developing a resilience strategy is more than responding to the chimes of ‘its ok to not be ok’ and training a few MHFA (Mental Health First Aiders). Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a great initiative and trained as one myself.
It’s not enough.
You get it. You support it. But right now you need to concentrate on results. The resilience stuff feels like a nice to do and for those really struggling or mental health issues right?
Wrong.
Definition of resilience: The process of negotiating, managing and adapting to significant sources of stress or trauma. Assets and resources within the individual and the environment facilitate this capacity for adaptation and ‘bouncing back’ in the face of adversity. Windle et al. (2011).
There are lots of things I could share with you about how to develop resilience but this blog is to help you see why it is important and that it is not some pink and fluffy HR initiative. It’s what your people need if you want them to get results.
Here are some reasons why you may want to step away from the sales graphs and connect with the soft skills instead.
Employees with well-developed resilience strategies:
· Can enjoy protection against mental health problems. This also reduces the risk of presenteeism and absenteeism
· Cope better with everyday hassles and stresses. Every demands at works such as high pressure phases such as multiple product launches, stretch targets, restructures and organisational uncertainty. Not to mention recovery from a global pandemic.
· Are emotionally stable. This forges better working relationships and increases team performance. As a high performing team is the single most competitive edge, why wouldn’t you help your team develop their resilience?
· Are able to remove barriers to execution. They are highly attuned to problem solving and can access innovative ways to think and be in order to overcome challenges.
If you want to learn how you can build and develop and resilient team get in touch. I use the RQI Psychometric tool developed by Dr Matthew Critchlow (Thrive/University of Westminster) and Dr Julian Edwards (Open University). The RQi measures beliefs, behaviours and environmental factors that are proven to protect people against stress and burnout. Users complete a secure online questionnaire and receive a 26-page report with personal scores and recommendations for building even greater resilience.
If team results are not where you want them to be, then maybe this is an opportunity to try a different approach and you can get in touch hello@jocowlin.com