How to Develop Resilience in the Workplace

You found our guide on how to develop resilience in the workplace.

Resilience at work means maintaining excellent productivity even in the face of workplace challenges. The ability to develop a schedule and working balance allows you to meet and exceed your duties. The purpose of building workplace resilience is to help workers develop and navigate a fulfilled working experience.

Workplace resilience is one of the best productivity tips to help boost employee productivity. Resilience is also a key leadership skill and is one of the top good leadership qualities.

The article includes:

• what is resilience in the workplace
• examples of showing resilience at work
• ways to improve resilience
• how to improve employee resilience

Let’s get started!

What is resilience in the workplace?

Resilience is the ability of an individual to overcome challenges. Resilient individuals try to learn a lesson from every challenge and push themselves to succeed against all odds.

Workplace resilience could refer to tackling challenges, recovering from mistakes, overcoming obstacles, and returning stronger. Resilience is also a worker’s ability to complete every duty, regardless of the difficulty and barriers that may arise. For many companies, resilience is an essential skill for any employee. Businesses go as far as offering resources for their employees to help them become resilient at their workplaces. Some resources include detailed reports of past tasks, dedicated teams that support and encourage workers, and workshops and courses to improve their knowledge of handling tasks.

Employees develop resilience by embracing confidence in their duties, determination to attempt and follow through with new tasks, and humility to seek help. On the other hand, managers can help facilitate resilience among their employees by building an environment that does not hinder their workers’ performance. A company that enforces resilience and providers its workers with the right tools and settings opens more opportunities for success.

Examples of showing resilience at work

Resilience is an empowering tool that fuels an individual to approach different angles of life positively.

​Here are some examples of showing resilience at work:

• Remain calm and composed during crises and remind yourself that the present climate is short-term.
• Become a beacon of support and reassurance for teammates.
• Encourage yourself and others.
• Show maturity when handling change and accept when new authority takes over.
• Manage your time and duties to avoid burnout while completing all required tasks.
• Do not give up on tasks. Instead, seek help from those who might be more informed.
• Seek help where necessary without pride or nonchalance.
• Build healthy communication with your colleagues.
• Relate better with other employees and managers.
• Help others and get help from others when need be.
• Be ready to continue with tasks while educating others when they have failed to assist or understand the principles of the job.
• Help, educate, and train colleges to be better at duties and tasks for the company’s overall good.
• Take every piece of criticism and advise others professionally without holding a grudge or getting offended.
• Let others take center stage, especially when their ideas seem better than yours.
• Demonstrate emotional control when your colleagues get praise or glory over you.
• Take accountability for mistakes and take steps to correct missteps and prevent future errors.
• Develop conflict resolution skills, deepen EQ, and hone emotional regulation.
• Learn how to de-escalate tense situations.

This trait helps workers focus when solving challenges around them. Resilience is strength, and employees should learn how to leverage it to achieve a successful career.

Ways to improve resilience

Workplace resilience is an integral part of a company’s success. Although resilience may not eliminate your problems, it can help you solve them. This trait can also teach you how to manage your time and tasks to ensure you better handle stress. There are several ways to improve resilience, including the following techniques.

1. Connect Yourself

An excellent way to build resilience is to learn to work with others. Building and nurturing positive relationships with employees in your workplace can help you solve challenges when they arise. When events do not go according to plan, these folks can assist you. It is advisable to relate with individuals positively wherever you are, at work or home, because they might be the key to scaling a difficult obstacle.

2. Make the Best Use of Your Day

You should plan your day to include meaningful activities that will generally benefit you. While working, schedule your day to ensure you can handle all your duties while giving yourself time to rest. It is better to give each task extra time just in case of difficulty. Creating a schedule can also help you calculate your time and how much you can take in a day. A proper plan and schedule are not complete without the determination to follow through. Resilience is your ability to complete your daily duties at the right time and within the dedicated timeframe.

3. Learn from Experience

Experience can teach you critical lessons, be it of yours or those of others. Past workers once encountered the difficulties that you now face. You can take advantage of past projects and reports to learn how others managed the situation. You can seek the wisdom and experience of superiors in your workplace. A good idea is to ask questions and communicate with other players in your field and industry.

Also, revisiting your diary or journal is a good way to get details of how you solved past problems. It is advisable to have a work diary highlighting various difficulties and the steps you took to handle them. You can highlight how well those strategies worked. Although the circumstances might not be the same, you have an insight into what can work for your current situation.

4. Never Lose Hope

Keeping hope for a solution is an important step to resilience in a challenging work situation. No matter how impossible the problem is or how bad the mistake is, never lose hope in your ability to find a way. You should be optimistic that the difficulties and errors you face and make today will have you an experienced and better worker tomorrow. Hope also keeps you from getting frustrated and falling into depression and stress.

5. Self-Care

Being resilient also means knowing how to take care of yourself. This step ensures that you are on top of every task. A good idea would be to participate in activities and hobbies you find very interesting. You can include physical activities in your routine every day.

​Other important self-care tips include:

• Pay attention to your sleep
• Get plenty of rest
• Develop robust bedtime habits
• Remember to eat an adequate and healthy diet
• Develop stress management habits
• Practice relaxation techniques such as mantra, meditation, yoga, and chants

A clear mind and a rested body can help solve many issues. It is important to take self-care seriously if you want to be a successful worker. Your needs and feelings require maximum attention.

6. Be Proactive

You should be proactive and find a way to figure out how best you can solve problems as they come. A good idea would be to develop an actionable plan and take steps immediately. Although recovering from significant setbacks or losses may be hard, you should get moving as quickly as possible. If you keep on moving, then you will probably have less time to worry about the setbacks. You should keep in mind that worry and anxiety hardly resolve any situation. Action and strength can change a situation from impossible to possible.

How to improve employee resilience

Resilience at work begins with managers and employers. One of the critical factors to a company’s success is that employers must understand how to improve employee resilience. Understanding this fact will lead to benefits like maximum productivity and better output. The following are the ways you can improve an employee’s resilience.

1. Set a Positive Example

An encouraging workplace should have leaders who demonstrate what they preach. When employees see this trait, they will learn. Workers will embrace the positive example you have set as a leader. Setting this example will motivate employees and strengthen them in the quest to improve their resilience. To achieve this feat as a leader, face challenges without exercising any fear, establish workplace priorities, and constructively manage stress.

2. Organize Relevant Work Training and Courses

Organizing seminars, training, and workshops that give your workers the proper knowledge and skill to handle various tasks as they come.

​These seminars and courses can teach soft skills such as:

• stress management
• proactive thinking
• creative thinking
• problem-solving
• research

An excellent way to achieve this goal is by scouting experts to motivate your staff and teach them everyday working skills. You may also consider letting your employees and team members create presentations or take on projects to establish how well they manage difficulties. You can also discuss the basis of resilience and hard work. During staff meetings, you can discuss why resilience is important at work and share examples of showing resilience at work.

Here are more professional development ideas.

3. Understand the Needs of Your Employees

Understanding what your employees need to thrive is an excellent way to help them develop resilience. Complex tasks are integral to building resilience since they encourage workers to push themselves and learn. However, your workers will experience frustration when they have to handle a difficult task and do not have the right tools. You can ask your team what they need to know and what resources to provide them.

You can also get training as a team leader or manager to understand how to improve employee resilience. When you know your employees’ needs, you can provide tools and encourage improvement. You can also request that your workers complete surveys. During your routine feedback or assessment sessions, ask employees to write their challenges in detail. You can then strategize how to develop ways to help employees build resilience and foster a positive work environment.

4. Acknowledge Failures

Acknowledging failures is an excellent way to help your employees build resilience at work. Whenever you recognize the failures of the company, manager, or team, you encourage the workforce to own up to their errors and find solutions. Acknowledging failures ensures that you make room for encouragement. Where necessary, motivate your workers to do better and move past failure. With this strategy, you let your workers know all employees are prone to committing errors. You can encourage your employees to see failures as a lesson, not a definition of their skills and capacity.

5. Improve the Work Environment

Whether you operate in a physical location or virtual office, always look for a way to improve your team’s work environment. When possible, flexibility and independence are essential. You should try not to micromanage employees that are working productively. It is important to accommodate a change in process that can improve an employee’s working experience.

As the boss, give compensation for hard work. Also, give support and access to necessary information and data that may help your employees be more effective.

Check out this guide to creating a positive work environment.

6. Give Access to Necessary Information

Data and files showing past solutions to tasks are valuable for workers. Where necessary and possible, allow workers access to these files. Except when you are dealing with sensitive information, workers in any field or team should be able to access general reports. Also, open up access to data from other industry businesses.

7. Be Fair, Flexible, and Free

You should be considerate about what you expect from workers. As an employer or team leader, look for ways to improve work policies, expectations, and hours. If you are too concerned about driving your employees to success, then you may notice increased burnout, affecting overall productivity and outcome.

8. Create a Resilient Culture

There are many layers in the organization’s culture, including trust, accountability, purpose, and empowerment standards. A company’s comprehensive statement that reveals its support and dedication toward resilience can help foster a resilient culture. You should consider an open and trusting style of management. A good idea would be to organize special training for your managers and team leaders to help them know why supporting staff’s mental and overall welfare is crucial. It may not be enough if you only make the announcement without action. You should show actionable commitment and communicate with your workers regularly.

Here are more ways to improve company culture.

9. Offer Incentives to Volunteers

Workplace volunteering serves as an avenue for employees to move out of their comfort zones. You can help employees build their resilience when you let them take on a new task or a challenging project. For workers who volunteer, offer incentives. These incentives can make your employees enthusiastic about taking on new challenges. You may offer paid time off or some gift item for workers who effortlessly complete volunteer work.

Read about employee volunteer programs.

10. Provide Outlets for Stress

As an employer, providing employees with stress-relief opportunities will foster resilience in the workplace. Outlets for stress offer your team the time to recover between challenging tasks. You may consider incorporating various stress stress relief techniques and resources with employees. You can set up wellness training sessions to help employees learn how to relieve stress. You may schedule these sessions to encourage workers to understand the habits before, during, or after work.

Coordinating a support team will help your employees share the most difficult issues they face at work. This step will also help to encourage your team in their respective area of designation. Employees supporting each other allows them to handle their workplace challenges more confidently. Workplace flexibility will help your employees develop resilience. Flexible work routines can also help, such as allowing employees to work remotely or take half days. Giving workers breaks can be a great way to reduce stress and burnout.

When your employees are comfortable, it will be easy for them to relieve their stress. You may dedicate a portion of your workplace to lunchrooms, break rooms, or lobbies where workers can unwind and rest before going again at any task. Having an affirmation board can boost your team’s confidence and foster positive thoughts in the workplace. An excellent approach is posting affirmative signs or stickers in the office. You can also send your workers positive texts or emails.

Check out examples of virtual team stress relief activities.

Conclusion

Every worker is bound to face challenges at work. Challenges tend to weigh you down and can even alter your productivity. However, maintaining resilience at work can give you a way out and help you recover from big falls. While resilience may not prevent challenges from happening, it will help you find solutions. Therefore, you should practice resilience and constantly prepare for the worst days.

Next, check out our lists of internal communication tips, company culture books, and books on change management.