Are you wasting time building resilience in your teams?

Resilience is a word thrown about a lot - especially in the workplace.

But is it a waste of time?

There’s no doubt that the workplace can be tough to handle. Whether it’s long hours, tight deadlines, difficult colleagues, or budget cuts and redundancies, employees are faced with a mounting list of pressures. 

With so many different demands, it’s understandable that it’s starting to take its toll on people's mental and emotional wellbeing.

Although offering support and resources is a useful solution to the growing issue of stress, burnout and poor mental health, it’s not tackling the root cause of the issue. 

That’s where resilience steps in.

Resilience is all about focusing your mindset and taking practical steps that help you cope with stress and manage challenges before they become detrimental to your wellbeing. 

It’s fast becoming a crucial skill in the workplace and luckily, like any skill, it can be developed with practice.

So to kick you off, here’s a few things you can do right now to boost resilience in your workplace.

1. Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness is a simple but massively powerful way of developing resilience. It’s more than just breathing techniques and meditation, mindfulness is all about living in the present moment and being intentional.

It helps you develop awareness of your thoughts and emotions and increase your ability to manage challenges and cope with stress when it does come along.

You don’t have to sit in a dark room or listen to a guided meditation if you don’t want to. A few deep breaths before you start a new task or taking a break to clear your mind at the end of the working day are easy ways to incorporate mindfulness into your working routine.

2. Introduce reflection into your ritual

You won’t learn from the hard times or grow through your mistakes if you don’t take time to look back and reflect. 

Reflection is essential if you want to develop resilience. However, this doesn’t mean berating yourself or allowing yourself to mope, it’s about looking objectively at what went well, what didn’t, and what could be done better next time. It helps you to take a step back and gain insight into your emotions, thought processes and decision making, which can help you understand how to handle future challenges and make better choices. 

Make sure to introduce reflection into your ritual and take some time at the end of each day, week or project to look back at your experiences and grow from them. 

3. Celebrate your wins

Life is made up of highs and lows. If you’re always focusing on the harder times, you're going to demotivate yourself and do anything but build resilience. 

Don’t let yourself get bogged down in everything that’s not working or going wrong. It’s important you learn from your mistakes but make sure to recognise achievements and celebrate wins to remind yourself that it isn’t all bad.

Take some time to reflect on your accomplishments on a regular basis, no matter how big or small. Did you finish a project ahead of schedule? Did you receive positive feedback from a client or colleague? Have you done anything outside of work you’re proud of? These are all worthy of celebration and can build confidence in yourself and your abilities, keep motivation high and boost resilience. 

Wanna hear more?

In this month’s episode of the Braver Leaders Getting Leadership Right... and F**king it up podcast I’m talking more about how to build resilience in teams. 

I'm joined by Isabelle Campbell, a true legend in the field of all things mindset, mindfulness and resilience.

Isabelle is a Mindfulness and Yoga teacher, Speaker, Resilience Trainer AND VP of Portfolio at the Financial Times and shares her incredible life and how she builds resilience first in herself, then in those around her.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE

One Last thing…

High performing teams aren’t the default and Braver Leaders Team Coaching focuses on providing you with the tools you need to be the cohesive unit you have the potential to be. 

Book in a chat with me here to find out about the different workshops and coaching programmes available.