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Resilience (with a caveat)
"Resilience" is one of the many buzz words we hear in the context of wellbeing.
What exactly is resilience?
It is our ability to deal with everyday stress and to bounce back and manage in adverse circumstances. Someone with high resilience will have an optimistic outlook, persevere and thrive even in unfavourable conditions. They will be able go about their day to day effectively and productively.
Resilience was first researched in the early 50’s by Emma Werner (University of California, Davis) and Ruth Smith (licensed psychologist, Kauai) who began a longitudinal study of children born in that year. Several children faced challenging conditions as they grew up: chronic poverty, parental alcoholism and mental illness. By the age of 10 many of these children had developed serious problems of their own however about one third of the children did very well in their lives. The researchers called them “vulnerable, but invincible”. This group in fact were what is known as RESILIENT – they got better and better as they grew older, they had buffering elements known as “protective factors”. The great news is these protective factors can be learnt.
Before looking at the different resilience traits let’s consider when we are NOT responding to adversity well. It could be that this comes out in our behaviour.
- Anger
- Overwhelming negative emotion
- Blaming
- Hopelessness
- Lack of team cohesiveness
- Impulsiveness
Resilient people are not free of negative emotion, they do become upset, only they then change their pattern to cope with the issue and the environment.
Resilience traits include:
- Being able to manage everyday stress effectively.
- Having emotional awareness so that you can accurately understand how you feel and share this clearly. This also means you have an insight as to how others feel.
- A good sense of competence and inner direction. You’re willing to give something a go and face your fears.
- Being able to listen to constructive feedback and learn from failure.
- Open to learn new things – a growth mind-set and respond to change well.
The Caveat
Images of resilience may conjure up shields of armour. It is important to consider that being resilient does not mean you are incapable of being vulnerable. We are all human after all! Note, Verner and Smith referenced "vulnerable" in their research. Resilient people are often the ones who are there to support peers and colleagues in tough times. There is no greater act of resilience and bravery in recognising when the tough times simply are too tough and you need to ask for help.
Building the resilience of people is just one aspect of developing a strong mental health culture within the workplace. With Mental Health Awareness Week next week in the UK and Mental Health Awareness Month in the USA I thought it would be timely to talk about just one of the many protective factors we can consider at work.
If you would like to know more about building a strong mental health culture or indeed increasing awareness to support Mental Health Awareness week/month please do get in touch.
Meantime, stay well.
Leigh
Work Wise Wellness Ltd - a wellbeing consultancy that has successfully operated for over a decade. Our consultative approach introduces healthy choices, establishing and enhancing your strengths as well as introducing new…
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