In these challenging and uncertain times, resilience is the word on everyone’s lips and often the word in employee’s development plans. People are advised to become more resilient – financially, emotionally and physically.
But what does resilience really mean?
It’s not just about getting through tough times; it’s also about having the skills to sustain a high level of performance in the face of constant demands, pressures and challenges without compromising your health and wellbeing.
Resilience is not a trait easy won. Yes, it can be trained. Yes, it is more than just a reframing of positive psychology. But your learning is tested not on an exam paper but in the daily cadence of our work and personal lives and when the crises crash down on us.
What is resilience?
Resilience is multifaceted and it’s about accepting that the tough times will come, we will experience setback, crisis and disappointment and resilience is being able to bounceback, learning how to deal with those adverse situations and still be able to move forward in the direction of your vision or goal.
It’s not about ignoring problems; it’s about approaching them in a way that makes you more effective and allows you to learn from what you’re going through instead of just feeling stuck.
Why do we need resilience more than ever in these times?
The world is a complex and uncertain place right now. Change is happening at a pace. Leaders need to accept the change, manage the change and manage the people going through the change.
The pace of change in society, technology and business has become so fast that some people are feeling completely overwhelmed, both emotionally and in terms of the volume of demand and pressure being placed on them.
This can compromise both performance and wellbeing. In today’s competitive workplace, leaders and their teams need to develop the skills to increase their capacity and capability to thrive in the face of these demands.
That is where resilience training comes into play.
Resilience training helps individuals develop the skills needed to think clearly and strategically, to make rational decisions and emerge stronger. Resilience has always been fundamental to our performance and wellbeing but with the challenging times we are experiencing it is more crucial than ever. Resilience is the game changer that will help individuals, teams and organisations to adapt and sustain high performance.
What is resilience training?
Resilience training allows people to develop skills, behaviours and attitudes to prepare for, cope with and recover from adverse events.
Developing resilience is not a “one and done” training, while trainers can give hints, tips and scientifically-backed exercises which help develop resilience; it’s a bit like a muscle, that needs to be regularly worked in order to get stronger.
The best resilience courses will offer you frequent ‘challenges’ to strengthen your skills and ultimately raise your resilience threshold over time.
Resilience training does not mean the elimination of all stressful events or pressure in someone’s life, but it does teach coping strategies to reduce the impact of these events and techniques to increase motivation and productivity in the face of increased demand.
What should resilience training include?
A quality resilience training program will include elements of physical, mental and emotional resilience and ideally start with an assessment to establish your current level of resilience.
Resilience training could include:-
Self-awareness – resilience, like much personal development, comes from building a foundation from where you are. To do that, you need a better understanding of yourself, how you are showing up to yourself and to others and what takes you from pressure to stress and what you personally need to rebalance.
Positive psychology and growth mindset – allowing you to reframe situations from problems to opportunities and go beyond resilience training into building better mental health through controllable habits.
Building emotional control – understanding how to control your emotions is a huge part of your resilience and our emotions have a profound impact on everything from our performance, to our mood, our energy and health.
Performing under pressure – so that you can think clearly, correctly and make great decisions in the heat of the moment. Techniques for thriving under pressure will help you to stay focused on what is important and filter out distractions and negativity.
Stress reduction techniques – to help reduce stress hormones like cortisol that inhibit neural connections in the brain leading to pain relief and improved mood. Effective stress management techniques help us to manage emotions and respond appropriately in the face of challenging events. While resilience training doesn’t begin and end here, it’s an important part of our resilience.
Breathing techniques – Employing proven breathing techniques – like those proposed by HeartMath which help to create balance in our nervous system, lower heart rates and blood pressure, improve immune responses, as well as improved focus, clarity and decision making.
Energy management to enhance your physical resilience – this includes nutrition and the food you fuel your body with for consistent energy and performance; exercise and movement to increase your energy capacity and energy renewal at the end of the day through sleep and regular recovery throughout the working day to improve energy, focus and productivity.
How do you choose a resilience training provider?
This starts with what you want your resilience training to do for you or your company.
Is it the resilience in and of itself? Is it the wellbeing aspect? Is it to address workplace stress? Or promote the behaviours consistent with high performance under pressure?
Resilience programmes come in many shapes and forms. Once you know your desired outcome, you need to source a provider that has broad knowledge across the topic areas and who has a proven track record in training and excellence.
What to do now?
Beyond the Barriers is a high-performance consultancy delivering sport-inspired business training. Our holistic approach includes resilience training, leadership training and corporate wellbeing programmes – all designed uniquely to help people feel better and perform at their best.
If you want to find out more about our resilience programmes or discuss how we could create a bespoke programme for you, then get in touch.
Get in touch to discuss how we can help you today!
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