How to be more resilient in the workplace in 2019

How to be more resilient in the workplace in 2019

By Royston Guest

Resilience determines whether you succeed or fail in life. It’s true in sport, in business, entertainment, and it’s true in the workplace.

Many of the early theories about resilience stressed the role of genetics. Some people are just born resilient, so the argument went. There’s some truth to that, of course, but empirical evidence today shows that resilience can be learned. The reality is that sometimes in life you don’t realise how much resilience you actually have until you are tested. As the saying goes: cometh the hour, cometh the man.

There are many arguments around what makes one individual more resilient than the next. In my experience it comes down to three things;

• A unique ability to confront reality head on
• An unwavering belief that life is purposeful
• An uncanny ability to improvise and adapt.

A UNIQUE ABILITY TO CONFRONT REALITY HEAD ON

Individuals who possess a strong bias and a rich reservoir of personal resilience live their life in a constant state of reality. They don’t bury their head in the sand when faced with challenging times. They don’t go into denial hoping that a situation or scenario will just sort itself out. And they’re never delusional about the magnitude of opportunities or challenges facing them. They simply have a unique ability to confront reality head on. They are what I call ‘pragmatic optimists’.

A common belief is that resilience stems from an optimistic mindset. While that’s true up to a point, it applies only when optimism doesn’t distort reality. In extreme scenarios and situations, rose-tinted thinking can actually spell disaster.

Now this is not to diminish optimism. When you’re turning around a demoralised team or helping a team member going through a difficult time, a sense of optimism and possibility is a powerful tool. But for bigger challenges, a cool, calm, almost pragmatic sense of reality is critical to your success. This is why I see the resilient high achiever as a pragmatic optimist, where both characteristics work in positive tension to the benefit of each.

We all have a tendency to slip into denial as a coping mechanism. Facing reality is gruelling work. It can often be draining and emotionally wrenching. But once you’re prepared to confront your reality, then you have a solid platform on which to build.

AN UNWAVERING BELIEF THAT LIFE IS PURPOSEFUL

Creating purpose is the way resilient people build bridges from their current state reality to a compelling future state. The moment we create the bridge – the link between our personal goals, business goals and what we do daily during work – self-motivation takes hold. This is the defining moment a person changes from someone with a job to someone with a purpose. And at that point, resilience will naturally kick in when that purpose is challenged or under threat.

AN UNCANNY ABILITY TO IMPROVISE AND ADAPT

In one word, it’s bouncebackability. Yes, you read that correctly. It is a real word, albeit a recent addition to the English dictionary. It’s official definition is ‘the ability to be successful after a period of failure’. It was first coined by ex-footballer Iain Dowie, when he was manager of Crystal Palace Foot- ball Club, who famously described his team as showing ‘great bouncebackability’.

Behind any great success is years of dedication, trial and error, mistakes, successes and setbacks. Achievers don’t always get it right and, yes, in some situations they might actually fail (or experience what others perceive as failure).

I know in my life I have experienced stunning successes and some fantastic failures. But I view the failures as learning opportunities, stepping stones to the ultimate goal. And if plan A doesn’t work, the great news is that there are 25 more letters in the alphabet.

Imagine bouncing a rubber ball; the harder the ball hits the ground, the higher it bounces back. That’s bouncebackability!

You’re going to take knocks, some days are going to feel like a train crash, and you will go down blind alleys. But if you have an ultimate destination in your mind’s eye, a focused goal and purpose coupled with drive, determination and motivation, then, when you do fall over, you’ll pick yourself up, dust yourself off, improvise, adapt and refocus on your goal.

That’s personal resilience in action!

Royston Guest is a leading authority on growing businesses and unlocking people potential. Entrepreneur, author of #1 best-seller Built to Grow and RISE: Start living the life you were meant to lead, CEO of Pathways Global and founder of The Business Growth Pathway™ . Follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Connect with him on LinkedIn or check out his blog at https://www.roystonguest.com/blog/

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