Talk to anyone, read or watch the media right now and you’ll be very aware that resilience is an essential capacity to have and to develop to keep going in this time of global crisis. The ability to ‘bounce-back’, to recover quickly, is to some extent inbuilt. And, it can be improved and developed.
There’s much written of ‘organisational resilience’ and now is a time to focus on how it is a cultural necessity and, as such, it begins at the level of individual. The good news is, as an individual capability, resilience can be learned and grown within us.
Forward-thinking organisations are therefore treating the development of resilience, along with other aspects of mental fitness, as a strategic imperative: they are making space to support individual self-awareness, to capture data on the levels of resilience currently, and they are investing in support (coaching and development) to enable individuals to build resilience, weather the current storm and build capacity to be bigger and better in the future.
Through our Global Mental Fitness Index we, (at Cognomie), know that, not surprisingly, the world is feeling less resilient right now than it did 12 months ago (pre-pandemic). We have captured data across continents and from thousands of individuals and the data show that, overall, a sense of personal resilience is lower than it was a year ago. However, data from those organisations who have invested in 1:1 coaching support and group development programmes, have shown improving levels of resilience in the last few months. Whereas the total resilience score from our Global Mental Fitness Index has declined since January 2019 (56 percent now compared to 79 percent pre-pandemic), for those organisations with a wellbeing development strategy (meaning that they have invested in developing the mental fitness of their employees), the relative resilience scores are now 69 percent.
We can measure, benchmark and track resilience, as with other elements of mental fitness, through self-perception questionnaires and surveys (such as the individual Cognosis survey, or the collective Mental Fitness Pulse). Using benchmarked data we can show individuals and organisations how their relative levels of resilience compare to other individuals, organisations or sectors depending on their interest. We can also evaluate relative levels of perceived strength across the other 11 foundation elements of mental fitness (stress, anxiety, confidence, sleep, work/life balance, happiness, relationships, motivation, optimism, physical health and communication). We can report on what the gap is between where individuals are now and where they would like to be in three or six months’ time and from this can gauge the desired improvement in relative scores.
Having generated insight and awareness of the current and the desired picture, there is potential to develop capacity and capability to make the necessary shifts (in beliefs, attitudes and behaviours). Working with a coach/ facilitator (1:1 or 1: group, in a coaching or training setting) can help individuals and teams/ organisations build resilience to enable them to ‘weather the storm’ and bounce back to performing at their best/ to their potential.
We believe developing resilience has three core elements:
1. Perspective
We first focus on developing the awareness and ability to know that our own view is subjective. We can help to build a sense that our current view of the world is subjective in nature, that the current challenges will pass, as previous challenges have too, and to be able to look up and forward enough to see that our ‘struggle’ is temporary.
2. Finding meaning
In order to build resilience and to keep going, we need to feel that our lives have meaning. This includes micro-moments where we feel that our purpose is being achieved and we are in flow and ‘on song’. Sometimes finding meaning relates to us identifying daily goals. It may be more to do with gaining clarity on the long-game for ourselves (our own personal ‘Why?’) and/ or how the values and aspirations of an organisation match with our own. Whichever is right for us as individuals exploring meaning as a concept and generating greater awareness of these aspects for oneself constitute the second element of building resilience.
3. Optimism and creativity
Thirdly, and some would say only when points 1 and 2 have been attended to, we can make space for creativity and new thinking. Giving time to focus on what’s working (rather than what is not), to look ahead to the future positively and with optimism, and to focus on what is within our control (rather than putting energy into things we can’t control) is the final step towards exploring and building resilience.
Individuals and organisations who see that resilience can be developed, provide support (through coaching, peer support and development programmes) and see now as the perfect time to work on developing it, are those who will thrive in the coming months and years.
*Kate Hesk, Co-Founder and Global Coaching Director at Cognomie, will be speaking at the Wellbeing@Work Middle East Summit on 22-24 February. Join us at the Summit to hear more data from the Global Mental Fitness Index and to join the conversation about how to build measure, track and build Mental Fitness in your organisation.
Follow us on
