#HRmust-know: Understanding “Resilience” - The Top Skill in Today's Workplace

Resilience is described as the ability to adapt and bounce back from adverse events in the face of challenging circumstances. We all encounter adversity and fallout in our personal and professional lives; how we respond to those circumstances may impede our development or propel us. In business settings, resilient employees have the potential to rebound from difficult times and changing circumstances and learn from them. 

Since psychologists describe resilience as the capacity to adapt effectively in the front of adversity, trauma, tragedy, danger, and especially causes of stress—such as interpersonal difficulties, severe health problems, or work and financial pressures, there is a mutual relationship between resilience and stress management. In other words, building personal resilience correlates with effective stress management, leading to optimism, strong emotional management, responsiveness to prospects and forward-thinking mindset.

Three types of stress 
As mentioned above, resilience is increasingly important to individuals and organizations as we deal with increased stress and uncertainty. Thus, by locating the specific sort of stress, the businesses are able to bring forward relevant tactics for fostering business operations. 
There are three types of stress:

• Good stress, for example, feeling nervous before an interview – which will result in personal development. 
• Tolerable stress usually comes from a serious illness – this stress is manageable with the right help. 
• Toxic stress or overload is often caused by unpredictable or uncontrollable incidents – this is an unbearable stress.

Some stress is helpful because it motivates us to achieve our best. However, during times of greater confusion, we often fail to toggle off the “stress tap,” and get agitated.

Top 5 reasons why it is necessary to be resilient at work 
In the view of the constantly changing demands and landscape of organizations, it is crucially important to build the capacity of workers not only to bounce back but also to face obstacles and adversity. As a slight practice of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), resilience can promote the general well-being and enjoyment of life among employees which further boosts work productivity as well as acute stress management even during turbulent times.  

1. Resilience increases the welfare of employees 
Stress at work has massively affected American people, which means 120,000 premature deaths each year and prices for medicine represent 5–8% of national healthcare overall annually, according to the AIS Workplace Stress Survey 2019. Resilience can serve as a buffer for personal psychological ability thanks to the inextricable connection with the staff wellbeing in the workplace. Specifically, resilience is associated with greater job satisfaction, work happiness, organizational commitment, and employee engagement. Enhanced mental health results in less absenteeism and presenteeism, which magnifies people’s productivity throughout the workplace.

2. Resilience improves versatility 
Resilient people are more versatile and can respond to rapidly changing conditions and situations. Resilience lets staff retain a constructive outlook towards threats, enabling them to quickly adjust to new circumstances.

3. Resilience improves communication 
Disagreements and ego confrontations within any team are unavoidable. Building resilience can help workers transcend disagreements and minimize negativity in communication with one another. This strengthens team coherence, productivity, and success in general. Moreover, resilient members will talk and express their thoughts more often, resulting in creativity that can boost the company’s result. 

4. Resilience leads to creativity 
Resilience increases the well-being of the staff, which gives them a better attitude to their job. This increases their ability to solve problems and contributes to creativity – which is central to the survival of any company in the tumultuous world of today. Employees that have little resilience are more susceptible to risks that hinder their success and innovativeness.

5. Resilience reduces burnout 
Psychologically stated that resilience is defined as the main protective factor against burnout due to the capacity to recover from negative emotions and adjust flexible responses to the shifting demands of tense exposures. In a study of Australian general practitioners, a reciprocal association between resilience and burnout has been presented. Furthermore, the results of an online survey of 566 surgical residents from ACGME-accredited general surgery programs in 2016 highlight that greater levels of resilience were associated with a decreased risk of burnout due to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishments. Therefore, businesses are encouraged to develop a resilient workplace in order to reduce burnout among employees.

When change is predictable, stable organizational hierarchies can support order, transparent decision-making, and functional silos to ensure maximum efficiency. However, conventional models of management cannot keep up with an age of rapid transition. Therefore, building a resilient workplace is more important than ever.

As the leading HR consulting firm in Vietnam, Talentnet offers employers a robust database of ready-to-use materials and personalized development plans to expedite learning journeys and reskilling/upskilling initiatives to achieve more adaptable and resilient operations.