Resilience: more about us and less about me.

Thinking again about resilience in the work context and it is taking me back to some work we did in the early 2000s on building resilience in children (https://www.riskandresilience.org.uk). Revisiting this in the contexts of adults and work it strikes me that there is a need to go back to basics.

Resilience is connected to change. It often gets associated with changes in self. How many articles have you seen on making yourself more resilient at work? But. It can also be about change in the context itself. Our day to day lives can become a hotbed of resilience for ourselves and others. Collectively. Hold that thought.

So, can building resilience in work be more about us and less about me.

Edith Grotberg in her work on building resilience argues that resilience has three elements:

· I have: external factors that promote resilience

· I am: personnel strengths particular to me

· I can: learn social and interpersonal skills.

Resilience development tends to focus on the later. How can we better deal with the situation in which we find ourselves on a day to day level.

We can also, I think, stir the pot a little more and help to push our resilience and that of the others around us by focussing on 5 behaviours that speak to the I have and I am part of being resilient.

1. Show empathy to those you work with: empathy is the gold dust of effective relationships; key to building trust. It is also part of being resilient personally and cascading resilience around us. Empathy can be nurtured and developed in our environments as well as in ourselves. Try it.

2. Develop trust in your work world: get to know the people around you. Really know them. Understand them, their motivations, and priorities, be unfailing in your commitment to the relationship. If they miss a meeting ring them if you commit to doing something do it. Be the person you would most like to work with.

3. Be a positive part of the world you work in: this is about seeing beyond your job and taking account of the networks and loops you work within. Know and understand where you fit, see those around you, their qualities, and skills. Take the step forward and pull others in after you.

4. Build your role model: look around you at your colleagues, what inspires you about them. What is the unique quality that each of them brings? How do they use this quality, what is the magic? Tell them how much you appreciate what they bring. Understand the quality of yourself and weave it into how you work.

In this way we might not only improve our resilience, help those around us and change the focus.