3 Tips to Build your Resilience at Work

Constantly connected, dealing with multiple tasks simultaneously, shifting work priorities, endless change… Many of us regularly experience persistent stress at work. We can often be left feeling frustrated, anxious, and overwhelmed. This is not a great place from which to be effective or impactful. How do we survive and thrive in times of constant change and challenge? Adaptability and resilience are more important than ever.  

What is RESILIENCE?

Resilience describes the ability to withstand, recover from, and adapt to adversity and stress. It is also a key factor reported in the Opportunities-Obstacles (QO₂^TM) Profile. 

This multi-faceted Profile is particularly valuable to explore building resilience and self-leadership in times of change.
 

This quote shows how each of us perceives things differently.  It’s not the situation, but how we attribute events that is more influential. 

Some of us are more optimistic than others and bounce back quickly from negative events. Others have a hard time effectively coping with obstacles. Our personality, our personal characteristics have a huge influence on our change agility and resilience.  

Where does RESILIENCE come from? 

So, is it a trait we're born with, or do we build it up through life experiences? Or is it what you do day-to-day?  While there appears to be a genetic component, resilience is largely a state, not a trait, and therefore can be developed. It's about learning new skills and habits. 

How can I IMPROVE my resilience?

From our research at TMS, we've come to understand there are four main elements of resilience:

1. Goals - Resilient people are committed to their goals.
2. Pathways - Resilient people put their effort into finding areas where they have the most impact, rather than worrying about things they can't control.
3. Optimism - Also a characteristic of resilience; it helps to expect that good things will happen.
4. Future Focus - Resilience is related to the ability of putting the past behind us and rebounding easily from adversity.

Once you have received a QO₂^TM Profile you can develop these four elements of resilience. Your QO₂^TM results are a snapshot of you at a point in time and you can shift your scores over time. For example, a goal setting programme could increase your Moving Towards Goals (MTG) Energy; exercise can increase your mood and elevate your Optimism score, mindfulness training could shift your Time Focus from future to present focus.  You can use your QO₂^TM Profile data to train your brain to think differently.  

What are proven ways to increase RESILIENCE?

We have a range of research-based techniques and strategies to help you build your resilience. You can learn more in our QO₂^TM Accreditation or QO₂^TM Direct.  Here are three of our favourite simple ways to elevate resilience:

• Tip #1 Set Goals - This relates to MTG Energy and Multi-Pathways. A quick tip for goal setting is to list out the major areas of your life ("career", "family", etc.) and beside each one write "I want..." then finish the sentence.  Don't say, "I need to find a new job," say "I'm going to spend one hour every morning job-hunting on LinkedIn and connecting with contacts."
• Tip #2 Reach Out - Around 70% of your happiness comes from your relationships with other people (Murray and Peacock 1996). So, reach out – send a text, have a video call. Let people know you’re thinking about them.
• Tip #3 Learn from your Past - A powerful way to build resilience is to remind yourself of where you’ve been able to find strength and ask yourself what you’ve learned. Think about a time in your life that was particularly challenging, especially one that was emotionally difficult. Think about how you handled that situation and eventually came through on the other side.

What about improving resilience?

You can build a team snapshot to assess the balance of energy we put into Seeing Opportunities or Seeing Obstacles collectively using our Advanced Reports on TMS Global. These reports help teams take a step back and have a good look at what their strengths and obstacles are. The shared language in the Profile helps accelerate team performance and enable ways to:

• Re-engineer strategic planning processes
• Promote connection and build resilient relationships
• Create readiness for change 

What RESULTS will be achieved?

The QO₂^TM Profile helps us to pinpoint the balance of energy we put into Seeing Opportunities or Seeing Obstacles and gives specific strategies to build our resilience and agility. We can flex our resilience muscle! QO₂^TM Accreditation or QO₂^TM Direct will help you be a catalyst for change and build resilience in your organisation, even when you can’t change the external landscape.

Ramp up your resilience now and find the latest dates for our programmes here!