How to turn £1 into £3 with Resilience.
- Oct
- 06
Build your resilience not your stress
Stress results in a heavy cost to business and individuals
With half a million people in the UK believing that they have work-related stress at a level that is making them ill* and the cost to UK employers of 10.4 million work days lost**, how can we build greater resilience as individuals, teams and organisations?
Resilience yields a great return on investment
According to Dame Carol Black, expert Adviser to the Department of Health, every £1 spent on workplace wellbeing can yield between £3 and £6 in gained productivity and efficiency.
The amount of stress in organisations and our personal lives isn’t likely to dramatically reduce anytime soon so how can we be better prepared? With greater resilience we increase our ability to overcome obstacles and cope with change. This increased capacity to maintain wellbeing and work performance under pressure is created through the combination of personal characteristics, learned skills, habits and behaviours including:
Flexibile thinking
This involves recognising what you can and can’t change and also thinking about things differently. “If you see as you always see and do as you always do you’ll get what you always get”. This is often referred to as having a growth mindset. What could you do to encourage greater flexibility and adaptability personally, in your team and the wider organisation?
Emotional agility
How we feel impacts our thinking and our behaviours. Being able to control our response to emotions enables us to navigate situations much more smoothly and constructively.
Health
Being physically and mentally fit enables us to deal with the ups and downs of every day life much better. Good exercise, diet, relaxation and sleep habits can all contribute to our physical wellbeing and resilience.
Growth and purposefullness
This relates to values, goals and direction. At the very least individuals, teams and brands should have thought about, and set out their values. In times of challenge and stress this ‘purposefulness’ should be used as the ‘compass’ to navigate difficult situations, set the course of action and inform behaviours. Seeing obstacles and deviations from the plan as opportunities to grow gives us a sense of hope.
Support
Perhaps most importantly is the support we recieve from those around us. As workplace pressure continues to increase how can we all support each other better? If times are tough the value of a smile should not be underestimated and showing compassion has been proven to benefit both those who are suffering and those who provide the support. But what more could we do?
Diversity
In the workplace diversity can help us think of things from different angles, open up to new ideas, spread our risk (don’t put all your eggs in one basket) and more. By embracing diversity we become more resilient.
Adapting to our environment
We are at one with our our environment whether we know it or not. From cultivating an effective and inspiring workplace, to revitalising our energy from being in nature, to ensuring the sutainability of our planet, our environment plays a big part in our resilience.
Integrity
Seen from two perspectives, one being our moral compass and the other the soundness of our systems, integrity is core to our resilience. If we treat others poorly then they may not be there to support us in times of need. In terms of our finances we all need a rainy day fund and a regular flow of cash. Without these we become more susceptible to the downturns of markets.
Resilience can be learned
The good thing is that we can learn to build our resilience. In fact, when we start to look at things differently we understand it is from our greatest adversities that we have grown and learnt the most. And, even if things aren’t looking good, it’s worth remembering that ‘this too will pass’.
Contact us now for coaching that helps build resilience
Improveon helps improve organisational, team and personal performance with a focus on wellbeing. Call or contact David now to find out how Improveon can help you build greater resilience through our consulting, coaching and speaking services.