Resilience is an essential skill for employees in our VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) work environments. Resilient employees manage transition, stay productive, and are less likely to burn out and disengage. Rather than complain about changes and challenges, they manage both and continue to develop their careers and look for opportunities to make a positive contribution to their organizations.
Resiliency Strategies
As a leadership coach and corporate trainer, I treat resilience as a business competency. In coaching sessions and workshops, I focus on developing resiliency strategies. All my clients work through my Benatti Resiliency Model, which consists of five strategies:
- Well-being: physical, emotional, and spiritual health
- Self-awareness: purpose, mindset, and type
- Brand: attributes, impact, and reputation
- Connection: cultivating relationships
- Innovation: challenging yourself
In each of these key resiliency areas, I ask clients and workshop attendees to answer powerful questions to see how they measure on the resiliency scorecard.
Well-being. Do you exercise regularly? Do you give your body the fuel it needs to perform? Do you get the amount of sleep you need to be at your best on a regular basis? What do you do to recharge your battery? Are you stretched so thin that you feel ready to snap? Are you deeply connected to something outside yourself such as art, music, literature, nature, or religion? Do you have a spiritual practice that works for you? Do you know your stressors and have strategies for dealing with them?
Self-awareness. Do you have a clear purpose? How is your career fit? Is your career aligned with your values? Are you proactive in designing your career and life, or are you passive and just letting things happen? What is your mindset—do you regularly set an intention for how you want your life and career to be, or are you on autopilot? Do you see yourself as adaptable or do you cringe at the thought of the next transition in your organization? Are you aware of your personality style and how it affects how you deal with people and situations? Are you able to be flexible in your interactions with people whose styles are different from yours?
Brand. Do you know what your brand is? Can you articulate what makes you unique in the workplace and the positive impact you’ve made in your positions? Is your reputation consistent with the brand you want to have? Do you regularly get feedback the way the best brands do?
Connection. Are you around people who move you forward, or people who stop you in your tracks? Even the people you choose to be around during your personal time can affect your resilience. When I think of my most resilient clients, I notice each has a key group of people they trust and from whom they can get feedback.
Innovation. What are you doing in the next three months to challenge yourself, to learn something new and innovative? Innovation can be career-related or it can be a new hobby or interest. It can be attending a class or as simple as reading a book or blog that is relevant to your field.
Many organizations require their employees to focus on specific competencies every year as part of a development plan. Career resilience is a key competency that organizations should emphasize for enhanced productivity and engagement. The organizations that win awards for being the best places to work offer their employees opportunities for career and resiliency development. These companies’ benefits include ways for employees to recharge themselves and be proactive in their careers. How does your organization measure up in offering opportunities for career and resiliency development?
Excerpt adapted from Career ReCharge: Five Strategies to Boost Resilience and Beat Burnout.
For more about Beth Kennedy, please visit her website at: www.bethkennedy.com.
