How to Become a More Resilient Team
Are you a leader looking to create a more resilient workplace or team?
Resiliency training is something that we all could use more of right now. Between the pandemic, the Great Resignation, the war in Ukraine, and an impending recession, life is stressful, both at work and at home.
Challenges are always going to arise, the difference is how we are able to handle it.
I like to think of resilience as a rubber band. If you think of a rubber band, you can stretch it and stretch it and if you stretch it only a couple of times, the rubber band remains fine. However, if you stretch the rubber band too much and too often, the rubber band will start to break down, or worse, snap.
Like a rubber band, we each have the ability to stretch beyond our perceived limit. The problem comes when we stretch our rubber band too much. Resilience training is what we can do to help restore the rubber band back to its original state again and allow us to stretch to our maximum, without breaking.
So the question is, how do we build up our own resilience so that we can keep stretching and keep going without breaking down?
There will always be external circumstances we are faced with. The way you deal with these challenges is how you can grow and lead in a way that is beneficial to yourself and your team.
When teams start to slip, high performers fall behind, or your business starts to fall apart a little bit… that’s when you know it’s time for resiliency training.
When you implement resiliency training with your team or in your workplace, you’re able to create a workforce that can handle challenging times and go on to do great things, in all types of unfavorable circumstances.
Here are four benefits to implementing resiliency training.
1. More productive and happier teams
Productivity is what we want in business! But, not all companies are able to get their team to a high level of productivity.
Resiliency training helps with that. If people are able to concentrate on their job and aren’t as stressed, they are naturally going to be happier, healthier, more motivated, and more productive.
According to new research done in 2020, “resilience at work increases employees’ enthusiasm by 45%, energy by 39% and concentration by 27%. Resilience also impacts their confidence and satisfaction levels – these increase by 32% and 44%, respectively.”
If your team is constantly under pressure without any release, they are going to start to wear themselves down and become tired, unmotivated and less likely to do their job well.
If your workforce gets really overworked and stressed, they may even start to feel like their job simply isn’t worth it anymore and may start looking for other jobs that require less demand from them. And when a member on your team decides to leave, it only puts more stress on the rest of the team because they are left to fill the gap.
It’s pretty clear that creating a resilient workforce has its benefits not only for the people that work in your organization, but also for business.
2. Better mental health = better business
Now, more than ever, resiliency is needed in the workplace. Not only for business' sake, but for mental health sake. There is a mental health crisis happening and it’s affecting people and businesses greatly.
According to the SHRM 2022 Mental Health in America Workplace Report,
“One trillion dollars worth of lost productivity for the global economy was due to anxiety and depression, according to the World Health Organization.”
That’s huge! And it can’t be ignored.
As leaders, it is our responsibility to not let our people or our work suffer and instead, give them the tools and resources needed to help manage this global crisis.
The SHRM report also states,
“America’s mental health crisis is multifaceted, resulting in a wide range of residual consequences. U.S. workers experiencing mental health issues are not only at risk for other health issues but also less productive in professional situations. As a result, companies’ bottom lines suffer.”
Leaders, we have to help our teams!
The best way to do this is to not only educate, but also implement resiliency training programs into your business model and systems. Different teams require different levels of training and support. The resiliency training provided should equal the amount of stress your team is under.
When it comes to resiliency training, I teach four pillars for creating a more resilient mindset within yourself and with your team. (Read about it here!)
Communicating and connecting mindfully, magnifying your network, maintaining positivity, broadening your perspective, and managing your stress are the four ways you can create a more resilient team.
While all four pillars are important, right now, managing stress is the most relevant. Finding ways that you and your team can put “release valves” in place so that when the stress gets high, you have effective methods in place to help you ease the tension is absolutely essential.
Everyone’s release valves will be different. It is up to you as a leader to find what works best for you and get to know your team to find what works best for each of them.
When you have a good idea of the ways you can provide relief to your team, start working it into the workplace. Whether that is establishing a policy for “personal days” where a team member can take a day off when he or she has met their edge, or incorporating mindfulness into the office with free yoga classes or a “quiet room”, it’s important to find what works and do it.
The bottom line is: the more mentally fit your team is, the better your business outcomes will be.
3. Grow faster than the rest and reach success
People and teams who feel successful and are growing stay motivated in their role and become loyal employees who want to follow you towards achieving great things.
The growth of a company depends on the growth of its people and people can’t grow if they feel stretched to their maximum with no relief.
To keep your team happy so that they want to stay, you have to become a leader that implements and inspires resiliency within yourself and in the workplace.
McKinsey did a report based on 1,000 publicly traded companies and found that
“during the last downturn, about 10 percent of those companies fared materially better than the rest.”
And guess what they called those companies? They labeled them “resilients.”
To be a resilient leader and create resilient teams in times of chaos and uncertainty not only does right by your people, but it will also shoot you ahead of the growth curve. Resilient teams are successful teams that can weather storms and come out the other side victorious.
“Your business context is and will remain uncertain. But if you get moving now, you can ride the waves of uncertainty instead of being overpowered by them.”
Make resiliency your company’s strategic advantage and watch how you, your people, and your business can thrive.
Build resiliency and become unstoppable
We are facing really challenging times, both at home and in the workplace. And the truth of the matter is that these challenges are never going to go away.
When we are going through any time of crisis, it can really start to get to us. Times of stress can start to break down the fibers of who we are. Resiliency is what can rebuild those fibers again so that you can go out and take on the world with gusto.
As we start to go into a possible economic recession and downturn, people are feeling the financial and mental stress. Resilient teams and leaders are able to work through all these different circumstances to make sure their own rubber band is still in good shape.
There are many resources available to guide you on how to build a more resilient team and I encourage you to start doing your part to learn how you can master mental toughness, teach it to your team, and implement it in your organization.
A resilient leader with a resilient team is unstoppable. Your organization or business will be more productive, happier, less stressed, and want to follow you to success.
If you or your team needs inspiration, motivation, or guidance on how to become more resilient, then reach out to me today and let’s get started.
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