Teaching Resilience
Posted April 18th, 2016
Resilience is a quality that everyone values. In fact, some see it as the key to success. Since we all will have to face adversity sometime, how we respond to it could be the most important factor in achieving ultimate success.
Companies value resilience in their employees as well. And companies are becoming more interested in developing resilience and in ways to build a resilient workforce. How to help people obtain this quality, however, is open to debate. Is it something we can develop only through experience, or is it something that can be taught?
A recent experiment at one company shows that resilience is something that people can learn in a classroom setting. Researchers from Australia’s Southern Cross University conducted a short training course for company employees on how to increase resilience. Testing after the training showed a marked increase in resilience by the employees.
Companies are interested in this research not only because resilience can increase productivity, but also to help company workforces respond to changing conditions, such as when companies merge or downsize or restructure. These events can affect employee morale, and so companies naturally want to prevent morale from dropping.
What the Training Covered
In the training, employees explored their strengths and how they could use their strengths more effectively in their jobs. They also learned about the importance of healthy lifestyles in developing resilience, and thinking about ways they could build on their own health habits. Other training highlighted styles of thinking and how negative thinking can hurt our resilience. Employees were taught how to reframe their thoughts to more a more positive approach.
They also learned about the benefits of gratitude, thinking about and recognizing things they were grateful for. Other training focused on ways of managing and reducing stress. And the training also covered the importance of having a support network of family and friends to build resilience. Participants also talked about ways of separating work and home life, so that when they leave work, they leave their thoughts of work as well.
The program provided support that resilience can be enhanced through specific educational and skills training. Moreover, the program took only five hours, which shows that such programs are feasible for most work places.
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