BUILD YOUR RESILIENCE - A PRAGMATIC APPROACH

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A greater focus on mental health and well-being alongside conversations around coping mechanisms to manage the demands that life presents has, rightly, seen a surge in media coverage recently. However, resilience and the ability to cope specifically with workplace pressure has seen less exposure, so I’d like to share my expertise to ensure you and colleagues can keep achieving your goals.

Why the importance on resilience?

Developing greater levels of resilience and being able to bounce back from seemingly increasing levels of pressure is becoming so important. There’s a widening range of factors that are contributing to the pressure and demands that people can feel, such as:

  • We are always connected, which means we have blurred boundaries, information overload, lots of distractions, and increasing expectations from social media.

  • Expectations at work seem to be increasing, so you feel you must cope with the workload, deliverables, having to learn to stay ahead and the pace of change.

  • Modern living sees many of us unhappier, lonelier, living longer, needing dual incomes and with increased expectations.

I believe we can only be effective, perform and achieve if we keep ourselves in good physical and mental health. As Stephen Covey’s 7th Habit of Highly Successful People states, we must ‘sharpen the saw’, or as air stewards always comment, ‘put your own oxygen mask on first before you help others’.

What is important is to find out what levels of pressure help us perform at our best alongside developing our ability to manage greater levels of perceived pressure.

The relationship between performance and pressure

Let’s be clear, I’m not trying to say that pressure is unhelpful, as we know the right amount of pressure can help us to perform at our best. The diagram below, highlights this point. What is important is to find out what levels of pressure help us perform at our best, alongside developing our ability to manage greater levels of perceived pressure.

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Defining what pressure really is

I often hear pressure and stress talked about as though it is something external that is done to us, that we have little control over, that we are victim to. I’d like to suggest a more helpful way of thinking about pressure and stress. Whatever situation you are in, there will be a level of demand placed upon you and there will be a level of resource or capacity you have to meet that demand. It is when the demand outstrips the resources that we experience unhelpful pressure and stress.

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Thinking in this way helps you start to see how you can build your ability to deal with demands, by balancing the level of demand with the level of resource.

It is when the demand outstrips the resources that we experience unhelpful pressure and stress.

Balancing demand & resource

Here are some pragmatic ways to develop your resilience and your ability to perform under pressure

  1. Challenge the demand: Can you challenge the demands being made? Are they realistic? Are they aligned with what’s important? Do you accept or reject them?

  2. Consider your resources and capacity: The resources you have to respond to demands usually fall into these two areas:

    Other: e.g. people, money, tools, technology, time.
    Asking how you can manage or negotiate these to more effectively meet the demands you face, may help you balance your demands with resources.

    Own: This is the area where you can build your levels of resilience, and where you have greatest control. Your own resources tend to be either physical or mental. The diagram below highlights the 7 key areas of focus for building greater resilience.

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Taking the time to consider how well you are managing each of these resources may help you identify steps you can take to build your resilience and ability to cope with pressure.

Physical:

  • Are you looking after your brain and helping it to perform at its best?

  • Do you get enough sleep and exercise?

  • Are you focused on having a balanced diet?

Mental:

  • Do you take a positive mindset in dealing with demands?

  • Are you using the support of relationships?

  • How are you balancing work with other priorities in your life?

I often use a simple questionnaire with my clients to help them identify priority areas for focus and change. If you’d like a copy, just email me and I’d be happy to send you one.

Or if you’d like to talk some more about how Down To Earth Development can support you build levels of resilience, and drive performance and success I’d love to hear from you.

CONTACT US AT:
Claire Hack
e: claire@downtoearth-development.co.uk
t: +44 (0) 7881 915657

w: downtoearth-development.co.uk

To download a PDF version of this article please click here.

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