Resilience for Growth: Decode It, Build It, Sustain It

These days, resilience is something that’s on all of our minds. We often hear it talked about in the context of how well we can “bounce back” from a setback or crisis. In some ways, though, bouncing back implies that we’re at the mercy of everything that’s going on around us. Or as Ann Herrmann-Nehdi put it in a recent LinkedIn post, “It feels like I am in a pinball machine.”

Isn’t there something more intentional we can do, especially with all the chaos we’re going through in our work lives right now?

We at Herrmann wanted to find out, which is why we’ve been doing some digging into the topic of resilience and how stress and mindset affect our ability to cope with adversity.

As part of this effort, we recently conducted a survey that takes a look at the role resilience has played for people and organizations as they’ve navigated through the pandemic and other uncertainties. We also called up a few colleagues who are doing great work in this area to tap into their perspectives and ideas.

One thing our research has clearly confirmed: When it comes to resilience, it’s not a case of either you’ve got it or you don’t.

You also don’t have to feel helplessly knocked around by circumstance.

You can build resilience. So can your team and your organization.

In our webinar on how to decode, build and sustain resilience for growth, you’ll hear about some of the key data points that came out of our survey — including a few findings that surprised us.

You’ll also get to hear from those experts we reached out to: Linda Hoopes, author of Prosilience: Building Your Resilience for a Turbulent World; Chandra Alexandre, CEO of Community Action Marin; and DeAnne Aussem, PwC’s Leadership Development and Well Being Leader. And because resilience starts with a mindset, we’ll be taking a closer look at what the HBDI® and Whole Brain® Thinking tell us about resilience and how it can be developed.

Here’s a preview of what the webinar covers.

3 Areas of Resilience in the Workplace

We’ve all gone through a lot of change over the past six months, and that’s reflected in the results of our survey, where the majority of respondents told us they’ve spent at least a quarter of their time since March acclimating to their organization’s “new normal.” Almost 20% said dealing with these huge shifts has taken 75% or more of their time.

Considering the magnitude of the disruption, this is a good opportunity to take a few moments out to stop and think about how well you’re doing with resilience personally, as well as with your team or group, and how the organization is faring overall.

Panelists Linda, Chandre and DeAnne approach resilience from these three different vantage points to give you some ideas about what you can do to increase resilience in each of these areas.

They also tackle some key questions that can have a big impact on the workplace and how we go about developing resilience for growth, including:

What factors affect individual resilience and what you can do to be proactively resilient
What techniques you can apply to keep a team’s morale and energy up, especially when they’re doing intense, demanding work on a daily basis
What really works when it comes to maintaining well-being in a large organization and helping people adapt and thrive in the midst of all this uncertainty

Building Resilience Under Pressure

Disruption is also a huge stress producer, and this has consequences for how your brain processes information.

If you’ve taken the HBDI® assessment, you know that your thinking can shift under stress and create a sort of “all circuits are busy” feeling.

Can you relate?

The respondents in our survey sure are feeling it right now. Sixty percent said they’ve been operating in their “Under Pressure” thinking profile since the outset of the pandemic.

How has your thinking shifted? And what can you do about it?

If you’ve shifted strongly to the:

A Quadrant ( Analytical) - Focus your thinking: You might be obsessing over the data. This is challenging when things are constantly changing and it’s hard to nail down the specifics. Focus in on what you can get your arms around. Set shorter term objectives that will keep you (and others) motivated and moving forward.

B Quadrant (Practical) - Build a sense of control : You might be trying to get a sense of control over something — anything. Try retooling your work processes, coming up with a detailed schedule for homeschooling or organizing your home office in a way that’s coherent and will help you navigate uncertainty.

C Quadrant (Relational) - Reach out: You might be struggling if you can’t physically be with people who matter to you. Think about how you can still spend quality time with friends and family and connect with coworkers in different ways. It doesn’t have to be high tech. Write a letter. Get involved with a cause that means something to you. Check in to see how others are doing.

D Quadrant (Experimental) - Get More creative : You might be feeling depressed about the things you can’t do right now, but this is a perfect opportunity to flex your creative muscles. For example, if you miss traveling, create an escape in some other way. Maybe it’s exploring new territory through outdoor activities or driving somewhere you’ve never been before. Constraints can be a great catalyst for new ideas.

Be sure to watch the webinar, where we share a lot more data. Our speakers will offer specific techniques you can use to increase your resilience, use your thinking to your advantage, and break free from that “bounced around” feeling once and for all!