Resilience!

An article in November Coaching at Work magazine considered the current and future trends for coaching and commented that people are experiencing more pressure in the workplace as a result of cost cutting and restructuring, which was particularly so in the public sector.  The resulting pressure can either push people to produce amazingly high performance or it can push them to the edge, destroying performance.

I was also struck by a blog by Nick Robinson of the BBC, who said that "we all thought the Spending Review was the toughest set of decisions ever to face a modern Prime Minister.  Perhaps.  But it also blocked out the day-to-day realities of power when things beyond your control and over which you do not take decisions go wrong.. and then go wrong again.. and then again..."

Both of these made me think of a theme that I have noticed being talked about increasingly by communities on Linkedin and Twitter of Mental Toughness and Resilience.  Resilience is a characteristic I am very familiar with being an accredited practitioner of Emotional Intelligence.

The 'Resilience Factor' by Karen Reivich and Andrew Shatte talks about resilience:

everyone needs resilience, because one thing is certain, life includes adversities.  There are inevitable daily hassles - work dumped on your desk at 4.45pm, children who need to be in the same place at the same time, disagreements with others.  There are probably major setbacks too - a lost job, a failed relationship, and recent events have shown that our lives may also be touched by great trauma.  But if you increase your resilience you can overcome most of what life puts your way.

How resilient are you? Most of us would consider ourselves to be fairly resilient, but most of us are not emotionally or psychologically prepared to handle adversity, which means that instead of facing up to our problems bravely and with confidence, we risk giving up and feeling helpless.

So in the language of emotional intelligence we talk about 'Self Management', which can be described as the emotional competency to manage our energy and emotions in a restraining or energising way:

• Restraining behaviours:
• keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check
• maintaining integrity and acting congruently with our values
• flexibility in handling change

• Energising behaviours:
• striving to improve or meet a standard of excellence
• readiness to act on opportunities
• resilience in coping with setbacks and pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks.

So in these current times, I wonder if we might all benefit from exploring our ability to deal with adversity, set backs, and be more prepared and able to keep picking ourselves  and others up despite set backs and the difficulties of handling change.

If you would like to comment or would like to know more about Emotional Intelligence then do please get in touch!