Resilience

Ella Gabriele Amann

InhaltThe phenomenon of resilience 5J What it means to be resilient 6J Why some people are more resilient than others 8J The resilience factors 17J Crisis as a teacher 19J Resilience is a lifetime development 25

Resilience as an economic factor 27J Companies in a state of flux 28J Surviving in the VUCA world 29J Robust in turbulent times 33J Strong employees – strong companies 40

Becoming more resilient 43J Flexibility and agility encourage resilience 44J The latest research findings 45J Getting safely through a crisis 53J Three pillars for more security 61

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Contents

Eight factors that build up resilience 79J The resilience circle 80J Optimism and positive self-assessment 82J Acceptance and realism 84J Solution-focused thoughts and actions and creativity 86J Self-regulation and self-care 88J Personal responsibility and decisiveness 90J Relationships, networks and role models 92J Shaping the future and developing a vision 94J The ability to improvise 96

What about your resilience? 99J How resilient is your company? 100J How resilient are you personally? 106J Exercises to build resilience 111

J Index 116

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ForewordThe new world of work: we perceive it as fast-moving, ambig-uous, complex, precarious, unpredictable. Planning was yes-terday; today, rapid reactions are what count. For more than adecade now we have been seeing a dramatic increase instress-related illnesses. Burnout is the term on everybody'slips.

We wish we had greater powers of resistance and moreflexibility to be able to cope with the large and small crisesthat bring changes in their wake. But how are we to gainthese skills?

The answer is resilience. Research into resilience has uncov-ered ways to deal appropriately and successfully with stressand remain psychologically and physically healthy.

In this book, I invite you to explore the subject of resiliencefor yourself, your team or your company. Learn how to con-quer difficult situations steadily and securely, and build yourconfidence for dealing with crises and turbulent times.

Ella Gabriele Amann

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The phenomenonof resilience

Why do some people and companies manage to emerge evenstronger than before from crises and periods of high stress,while others literally fall apart when faced with the samechallenges?

In this chapter you will learn

J what resilience means,J what factors influence our powers of resistance,J why a crisis does not always have to be a bad thing,J why resilience is something that we can acquire.

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What it means to be resilientResilient people are able to deal with pressure or stress insuch a way that they can return to their normal state oncethe period of tension is over:

J Sick people become healthy again.J Sad people become happy again.J Stressed people find peace and tranquillity.J Overworked people are able to relax.J Life crises are overcome and economic problems are con-

quered.

Similar to our immune system, which protects our body fromillness, resilience refers to the immune system of our psycheor soul: it helps us to deal with stress, pressure and crises.

A person's or an organization's resilience is, however, notregarded as a permanent state that has always existed and isretained forever, but rather as a lifelong learning process. Ourresilience and thus our powers of resistance can vary fromsituation to situation and be stronger or weaker depending onthe stage of life we happen to be in.

Example

! Walter Strong is the director of a mid-sized company. He canwell remember the year 2008. The economic crisis hit his com-pany quite suddenly. Within just a few weeks he had to makeseveral people redundant and negotiate severance packages. Itwas mainly the older employees who were affected. Walter couldhardly bear having to discharge so many competent, loyal col-leagues into an uncertain future.

6 The phenomenon of res i l ience

At the same time, Walter's wife was diagnosed with a seriousillness. She had to spend three months in hospital, followed by along stay at a rehabilitation facility. Practically overnight, Walterwas left alone to look after their two small children. He had to bethere full time not only for his company but also for his wife andchildren – a balancing act that took him to the brink. Yet hesucceeded. Now his wife has regained her health and the com-pany has recovered.

When Walter reflects on this time of crisis, he sometimes doesnot know how he coped with it and survived. He only knows thatthe events have brought his family closer together. Without hiscompany's understanding and the active support of his parents,he would not have been able to master the situation. And heknows that, despite all the fears and worries, he never lost hisoptimistic attitude, his sense of humour or his confidence.

Through long-term studies, researchers have discovered thataround a third of us possess the resilience needed to facecrises and difficult situations and emerge from them evenstronger than before. Many people display this talent in theirvery early years; others develop it later, over the course oftime.

A serious illness, a separation or an unexpected job change,for example, might act as a trigger, causing us to question ourpatterns of behaviour and develop a new, positive attitude tolife.

Example

! A former senior manager: “Now, after my burnout, I set totallydifferent priorities. I no longer try to satisfy everyone. I've learnedto pay attention to my own needs.“

What i t means to be res i l ient 7

Getting back on one's feet

The term “resilience“ (meaning “elasticity“ or “vigour“; fromthe Latin resilire, meaning “rebound“) originates from physicsand describes the ability of a material to change shape, thenafterwards regain its original form. In general, resiliencestands for a system's tolerance to disruption.

The term was embraced by psychologists to describe thehuman ability to recover from adverse circumstances, failures,grievances and illnesses and to start afresh. Resilience standsfor psychological robustness – or in other words, psychologi-cal elasticity.

Why some people are more resilientthan othersWithin the framework of long-term studies, foundationalresearch into resilience identified a number of protectivefactors that can increase a person's powers of resistancewhen dealing with crises. These are divided into internal andexternal protective factors.

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The internal protective factorsInternal protective factors exist within each individual. Theymay be genetically anchored within us, or they may evolvefrom childhood to old age through our education, learningexperiences, and experiences of crises. They include, for exam-ple,

J character or personality traits,J inner attitudes, opinions and convictions,J talents, gifts and abilities,J experience and competencies.

Character or personality traitsResilience depends, among other things, on traits that areascribed to a person's character or personality. Research hasestablished, for example, that highly resilient children exhibita certain readiness to help at an early age. They also enjoysolving problems and are in the position to develop a realisticview of the world. In addition, resilient people are creditedwith a sense of humour and a willingness to communicate.

Example

! In his role of manager, Walter Strong had to learn how to dealwith his employees' different ways of thinking and their variouscoping strategies. One particular colleague, the company's busi-ness controller, felt a very strong sense of responsibility foreverything during the restructuring process. He focused his entireattention on everything that was going wrong, for examplewhere problems existed and what disadvantages the new com-puter system entailed. It was extremely important for this collea-

Why some people are more res i l ient than others 9

gue to regularly express his worries and fears. He needed theassurance that his observations were being acknowledged. Wal-ter noticed that the weekly team meetings were not sufficient forthis. Only when he met his controller for a brief personalconversation every week was the latter able to voice his concerns– and also his suggestions for improvement – which then enabledhim to relax and become more productive again.

Walter also realized that there were a few employees who werenot stressed by the changes. They welcomed the new computersystem from the outset, recognizing the advantages and newpossibilities that it brought. Walter decided to facilitate a posi-tive atmosphere by inviting these employees to meetings wherethey could report in more detail on their experiences and sharetheir thoughts and ideas with colleagues. This stimulated thelearning process and led to an overall improvement in teammorale.

Inner attitudes, opinions and convictionsBesides character traits, the attitudes and opinions peopleform throughout life also play a decisive role in their resi-lience. Resilient people can, for example, more easily acceptthat crises, illnesses and debilitating incidents are part of life.They see the glass not as half-empty but as half-full; theyfixate less on the mistakes they make, since they are able torecognize what they can do well and what they are successfulat. Resilient employees are not thunderstruck when they hearthat their company is soon to be taken over by another. Theymight at first react by being just as surprised at the news asothers, but they are then likely to be more interested in thenew situation than shocked by it.

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Whether we perceive an event to be a crisis or not depends toa great extent on how we evaluate the situation and what ourexpectations are of life, work and society. People who areconvinced that they will keep the same job until they retirewill inevitably feel disappointed and under stress when theyencounter the new reality of economic activity, with itspermanent state of flux.

If we keep up with the times, however, and realize thatchange is part of the business world today, this attitude willhelp us to deal more easily and constructively with thetransitions to come.

Talents, gifts and abilitiesThe question as to whether or not we are resilient – able toreact to unforeseen circumstances with a certain agility,flexibility and inner vigour – also depends on whether we areconfident that we can cope well with a new situation basedon the abilities and talents that we have.

Resilient people have a feeling of inner strength and self-confidence. Even in critical situations, they see themselves aspeople who are capable of achieving something. They do notremain stuck in a victim mentality; instead, they act autono-mously and take action to alter their situation themselves.They are ready to attempt something new and to learn fromthe current situation.

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Example

! Walter Strong recalls a team assistant who was already over 50when the company was sold. She was very good at languages andhad spent many of her early working years abroad. She perceivedthe impending change as a chance to refresh skills she hadalmost forgotten: since her children had long since left homeand she lived alone, she decided to accept the offer of a transferto the new company and began working in a French-speakingcanton of Switzerland. She loved the mountains, was able to useher French again and started a completely new life.

Experience and competenciesResilient people learn from the ways in which they have dealtwith crises in the past. As they deal with problems, they gainexperience, learn more new skills and consequently adapttheir attitude to life.

Example

! Walter Strong is very relaxed about the third company takeoverhe is now experiencing. He knows what has to be done on thebusiness side of things, and he has learned how to keep his teamtogether in a time of crisis such as this. He is now even consider-ing whether he could perhaps make more out of his experienceand expertise regarding company takeovers. What if he were totake a course in coaching so that he could share his knowledgewith the next generation of managers?

The more wide-ranging people's experience of crises is, themore securely and flexibly they are able to deal with difficultsituations in life. They react with less fear and uncertainty,have more confidence in themselves and are better able todeal with stress.

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