We’ve all heard the word resilience; it’s been bandied around quite frequently since the pandemic and its disruption. The sheer speed, scale and depth of the change brought to personal and working lives is unrelenting and unprecedented.
But are there lessons we can learn to help us improve organisational responses and performance in future periods of rapid and unpredictable change?
What is resilience?
Resilience is the ability to bounce back and recover from, or stay well and flourish, in the face of adversity or unprecedented change. In a work setting, this translates into an employee, team, or an organisation a whole, having ‘the capacity to thrive, rather than just survive, in high stress environments. Essentially being resilience increases levels of confidence enabling you to adapt, cope, gain resources and respond positively to business challenges.
Are you prepared?
It’s widely understood that being resilient gives you a business advantage – namely stability and greater efficiencies, but what does it mean and how can we ensure that we, as employees, team members and leaders, as well as organisations as a whole, are more resilient?
Whether as an individual or a business, there is a need to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to incremental change and sudden disruptions. This means we need to control how we process information, are able to manage our thoughts and emotions, believe that outcomes are within our control and that what we do can make a difference.
Embrace the challenges
Of course, our external environment is always changing. Organisations must watch it closely and realign strategies to changing dynamics in order to guarantee prompt responses to the increasing demands they are facing. Research has found that organisations that invest in resilience will be the ultimate winners.
Here are some top tips for how to build a resilient and agile organisation:
1. Define who should be driving resilience in your organisation? HR or other stakeholders.
2. Have a clear organisational vision that reflects employees’ goals and creates a strong sense of trust, purpose, value and loyalty.
3. Invest in your employees through learning, training and development to encourage a flexible growth mindset.
4. Foster a passionate yet compassionate workplace culture where employees feel they belong and are rewarded and listened to.
5. Promote enhanced mental health and wellbeing and its benefits throughout the organisation.
6. Develop a transparent networking of internal and external communications to foster better team interactions and relationships through the flow of information.
7. Inspire team autonomy so employees can decide how best to perform their tasks and learn how to take ownership. This will increase creative thinking and problem-solving abilities.
8. Ensure leaders are empathetic and caring, whilst also having the capacity to deliver a transformational leadership style so individuals can extend their skills.
9. Celebrate success so individuals and teams feel appreciated and motivated.
10. Instil an ethos of experimentation, creativity, innovation, change and business improvement.
How can we help?
If you need further help and support so you can start to build a resilient organisation, please contact caroline.robertson@actifhr.co.uk for non-obligatory advice.