Resilience At Work

Resilience at work would be that  capacity that allows us to flexibly assume the extreme situations that occur in our work environment. We talk about situations that produce great stress peaks, because they put our abilities to the test. On the other hand, this anxiety is also fueled by another idea: we have to overcome these situations if we want to survive in the work environment in which we find ourselves.

Often times, spots of these so-called extreme situations -associated with a strong emotional impact- occur in the personal sphere throughout our lives, for example, with the death of a close family member or a great friend, a breakup of a couple or A serious illness. However, these situations can also appear in the workplace, so we would speak of resilience at work.

In this sense, we may find ourselves facing a business problem for which we are solely responsible, bankruptcies of our own projects or legal matters that can lead an entrepreneur or employee to a personal crisis. Given this,  a good resilience capacity will help us get out of the well.

How to develop our resilience at work?

Contrary to popular belief, resilience is not an innate quality of every person. Rather, it is a skill sensitive to experience. In fact, some people have managed to develop it taking as an example someone close to them with that quality, but others have done it by facing problems and giving their best when solving them.

In order to develop our resilience capacity, we can follow some of the following principles:

• First, resilient people at work are highly aware of their capabilities and what they excel at. At the same time, they know their limitations and those areas in which they are not comfortable. In this way, achievable objectives are set and, to achieve them, they use resources more logically, delegating or acquiring more tools before tackling tasks that they do not handle with ease.
• They try to surround themselves with people with a positive outlook. On the contrary, pessimistic people do not bring them anything useful.

• Obstacles are taken as an opportunity to learn and grow. Therefore, it must be borne in mind that you only grow with adversity.
• They are persevering and do not give up at the first few changes because they know that success requires effort and perseverance.
• They are flexible in the face of changes, since they know that changes and evolution are something necessary to improve. At work, modifications are taken optimistically, knowing that it may take an effort at the beginning, but that the objectives will be more achievable after overcoming this adaptation period.

How to be resilient at work?

Following the previous ideas, we can gradually develop our resilience at work. But, in addition, we can expand the characteristics of a resilient person in a more internal way, knowing ourselves and following these ideas:

• Increase awareness of our emotions, especially in times of tension. If we ignore fears, we can never have a positive attitude towards them.
• Manage stress and uncertainty. Resilient people have a greater capacity to manage these two common concepts in the workplace. Although it is not always so easy, the idea is that negative feelings do not upset us excessively and that stress does not last long or reach very high peaks.
• Be flexible with the opinions of others. If we know how to adapt to changes, as we have said before, even if they are negative, there will be less chance of having a bad time with them. If there is a breakthrough at work soon, disputes and opinions will appear. Therefore, by being able to practice active listening, we will avoid discussions and misunderstandings.

• Have patience. Sometimes the obsession with obtaining short-term results causes us to make hasty decisions, and this, at work, is the worst enemy. Therefore, patience and the capacity to wait must be put into practice when medium or long-term goals prevail over the desires of the moment. Controlling impulses is a guaranteed success in teamwork.

In this article we have described the importance of resilience as an influencing variable in job success. In addition, we have described some strategies that can help us to work it. Now we only have to practice them and adapt them to our needs.