Recently, while looking for a birthday present for a 7 year old, I came across a story book named “The Hugging Tree”. It tells the story of a tree growing on the edge of a steep cliff that fell towards a very rough sea. Through storms and cold winters, the tree manages to hold fast on the side of the cliff. It does this by getting the help of the world around it and the kindness and compassion of a little boy who'd come to visit it. Eventually the tree grows strong, and it is able to hold and shelter others.
I instantly loved the story, because the resilience of the Hugging Tree reminds me of the potential in all of us to thrive, struggle and difficulty. We all know what it is like to hold onto hope, determination and resolve so that we can reach our goals.
I am also sure the following scenario is familiar to some of you: The feeling of constantly being connected to work, the need to always be switched-on and contributing to highly demanding work cultures, working in environments that are constantly changing, and being stressed to the point of burn-out. Perhaps sometimes we are "The Hugging Tree", facing the storms and winter challenges of an ever busy workplace.
There is far from only anecdotal evidence about how stress and burnout (related to the increasing pace and intensity of work) is on the rise. A global survey of over 100,000 employees in 2014 found that employee depression, stress and anxiety accounted for 82.6% of all emotional health cases in Employee Assistance Programs. Also, a recent large-scale, longitudinal survey of over 1.5 million employees in 4,500 companies across 185 countries found that approximately 75% of the workforce experienced moderate to high stress levels.
Why is this cause for concern? Firstly, there is an adverse relationship between negative stress, wellness and productivity. It also decreases a team's ability to handle change. And not only is the cost of stress high on the wellbeing of staff, but it eats into the bottom line of organisations.
Since the pace and intensity of the workplace is unlikely to change, particularly in the social services sector, it’s more important than ever to build resilience skills to effectively navigate our work lives. Australia's National Mental Health Commissioner, Lucy Brogden, recently stated that organisations “need to be prepared to sit down and look at the way people are doing their work. It's about enhancing personal and organisation resilience as well as promoting and facilitating early help-seeking and prevention." At the core of this is a refocus on workplace design and culture and increasing individual skills and access to habits that increase resilience and wellbeing.
But what are the qualities of resilient staff and teams? Here are a few indicators that you should be looking for or building:
1) They develop high-quality connections and relationships with others. They do this by respectfully engaging in conversations and being effective listeners. They also build trust by relying on people to follow through on projects and follow through on their own commitments.
2) They create time for playfulness, which evokes positive emotions and is often associated with creativity and innovation.
3) They treat problems as a learning process and use challenges as opportunities to acquire or master skills.
4) They manage stress and avoid burnout by using self-care and recovery techniques. They know how they spend their energy each day and they take time to re-fill their energy levels.
5) They are authentic and work in accordance with their values and strengths.
6) They grow their grit, which is defined as having the passion and perseverance to pursue long-term goals.
7) They stay inspired and find meaning in their work
8) They have mental toughness, awareness and flexibility. Resilient employees track their thoughts, emotions, and reactions when they're under stress in order to notice counterproductive patterns that might be undercutting success. They avoid catastrophizing or increasing their need to control the situation.
9) They manage change and setback and go with the flow while planning for the next steps.
Resilience goes a long way in improving wellbeing at work, increasing productivity and helping your team be prepared for change. We can all be like the little boy in "The Hugging Tree", and support our teams to grow even in the most adverse conditions. Let's change the global story of increasing stress in the workplace.
If you’d like help in building your own resilience or the resilience of someone on your team, so that you display the qualities above and deal with change positively, Vermelho is holding a Resilience workshop in July 2017 in Perth. Details can be found here.
References
Maddi, S. Kkhosshaba, D. (2005), Resilience at Work: How to Succeed No Matter What Life Throws at You, American Management Association, New York
Norem, J., (2001), The Power of Negative Thinking; Using Defensive Pessimism to Manage Anxiety and Perform at your Peak, Basic Books, Cambridge, MA.
Seligman., M, (2003), Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realise Your Potential for Lasting Fulfilment, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, London.
Duckworth, A.L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M.D., & Kelly, D.R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087-1101. See also Duckworth, A. (2013). The key to success? Grit. TED Talks Education.
Dutton, J.E. (2014). Build high-quality connections. In J.E. Dutton & G.M. Spreitzer (Eds.), How to Become a Positive Leader (pp. 11-21). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Beyond Blue State of Workplace Mental Health in Australia. Accessed online (2017) http://bit.ly/2dsNXqL