Resilience: How Resilient Are You?
We all know that tough times lie ahead and that we need to be prepared. We cannot know exactly what the future holds, but we can prepare ourselves for it. This series of newsletters is on the subject of “Resilience” – what it is, who has it, and how the rest of us can get some. What could be more appropriate?
Resilience might be thought of as:
… and all without behaving in dysfunctional or harmful ways.
So what ongoing, disruptive change are you needing to cope with?
What is happening to your health as a result of the constant pressure you are experiencing?
Are you bouncing back from adversity, or do you find yourself being weighed down by feelings of despair and hopelessness?
What changes do you now have to make because the way things were is no longer possible?
Resilient people have a significant advantage over people who respond to adversity with helplessness or a sense of being victims. Consider this:
Now rate your own resilience:
(1 = very little; 5 = very strong)
Total points –
From “The Resiliency Advantage” by Al Siebert
Scoring :
Low score: A self rating score under 50 indicates that life is probably a struggle for you. You may not handle pressure well. You don’t learn anything useful from bad experiences. You feel hurt when people criticize you. You may sometimes feel helpless and without hope.
If these statements fit you, ask yourself “Would I like to learn how to handle my difficulties better”. If your answer is yes, then a good way to start is to meet with others who are working to develop their resilience skills. Let them coach, encourage and guide you. Another way, if you work for a large employer, is to get resilience coaching from a councilor with the employee assistant programme. The fact that you feel motivated to be more resilience is a positive sign.
High score: If you rated yourself high on most of these statements you have a score over 90. This means you know you are very good at bouncing back from life’s setbacks.
A question for you to consider is how much you feel willing to tell your story to others and make yourself available to people who are trying to cope with adversities. People learn from real-life role models. You could be one.
Middle scores: If you agreed with many of the statements and scored in the 70-89 range, then that is very good! It means that you are fairly resilient, but that you could become even more resilient and confident by paying attention to some of those factors that will make the difference.
If you scored in the 50-69 range, you appear to be fairly adequate, but you may be underrating yourself. A much larger percentage of people underrate themselves than overrate themselves on the assessment. Some people have a habit of being modest and automatically give themselves a 3 on every item for a total score of 60. If your score is in the 50-69 range, we need to find out how valid your self rating is.
In the second article, we will look at ways in which you can develop your own resilience, after which we will consider how you might enable your team to become more resilient.
We all know that tough times lie ahead and that we need to be prepared. We cannot know exactly what the future holds, but we can prepare ourselves for it. This series of newsletters is on the subject of “Resilience” – what it is, who has it, and how the rest of us can get some. What could be more appropriate?
Resilience might be thought of as:
- Coping well with high levels of ongoing, disruptive change
- The ability to sustain good health and energy even under constant pressure
- Being able to bounce back after setbacks
- Overcoming adversity
- Being able to change to a new way of living and working when the old way is no longer possible
… and all without behaving in dysfunctional or harmful ways.
So what ongoing, disruptive change are you needing to cope with?
What is happening to your health as a result of the constant pressure you are experiencing?
Are you bouncing back from adversity, or do you find yourself being weighed down by feelings of despair and hopelessness?
What changes do you now have to make because the way things were is no longer possible?
Resilient people have a significant advantage over people who respond to adversity with helplessness or a sense of being victims. Consider this:
- Companies that have resilient employees perform better during tough times than companies that don’t;
- During downsizing (or whatever it is being called this week) resilient employees with a wide set of competencies has a better chance of being kept on
- Resilient job applicants are more likely to be hired than those who are not;
- When a the job skills of a resilient person are no longer needed, he will quickly learn new ways to earn an income;
- When the economic times are tough, resilient people give their families a better chance of pulling through and bouncing back;
- Resilient people are able to make the best out of difficult situations;
- Less resilient people are more likely to become ill during difficult times.
Now rate your own resilience:
(1 = very little; 5 = very strong)
- In a crisis or chaotic situation, I calm myself and focus on taking useful actions.
- I’m usually optimistic. I see difficulties as temporary, expect to overcome them, and believe things will turn out well.
- I can tolerate high levels of uncertainty and ambiguity.
- I adapt quickly to new developments. I’m good at bouncing back from difficulties.
- I’m playful. I find the humor in rough situations, laugh at myself, and am easily amused.
- I’m able to recover emotionally from losses and setbacks. I have friends I can talk with. I can express my feelings to others and can ask for help.
- I feel self-confident, appreciate myself, and have a healthy concept of who I am.
- I am curious. I ask questions. I want to know how things work. I like to try new ways of doing things.
- I learn valuable lessons from my experience and from the experiences of others.
- I am good at solving problems. I can think in analytical, creative, or practical ways.
- I am good at making things work. I am often asked to lead group and projects.
- I am very flexible. I feel comfortable with my paradoxical complexity.
- I am optimistic and pessimistic, trusting and cautious, and selfish, and so forth.
- I am always myself, but I’ve noticed that I am different with different people and in different situations.
- I prefer to work without a written job description. I am more effective when I am free to do what I think is best in a situation.
- I read people well and trust my intuition.
- I am a good listener, I have good empathy skills.
- I am nonjudgmental about others and comfortable with many different kinds of people.
- I am very durable. I hold up well during tough times. I have and independent spirit underneath my cooperative way of working with others.
- I have been made stronger and better by difficult experiences.
- I have converted misfortune into good luck and found benefits in bad experiences.
Total points –
From “The Resiliency Advantage” by Al Siebert
Scoring :
Low score: A self rating score under 50 indicates that life is probably a struggle for you. You may not handle pressure well. You don’t learn anything useful from bad experiences. You feel hurt when people criticize you. You may sometimes feel helpless and without hope.
If these statements fit you, ask yourself “Would I like to learn how to handle my difficulties better”. If your answer is yes, then a good way to start is to meet with others who are working to develop their resilience skills. Let them coach, encourage and guide you. Another way, if you work for a large employer, is to get resilience coaching from a councilor with the employee assistant programme. The fact that you feel motivated to be more resilience is a positive sign.
High score: If you rated yourself high on most of these statements you have a score over 90. This means you know you are very good at bouncing back from life’s setbacks.
A question for you to consider is how much you feel willing to tell your story to others and make yourself available to people who are trying to cope with adversities. People learn from real-life role models. You could be one.
Middle scores: If you agreed with many of the statements and scored in the 70-89 range, then that is very good! It means that you are fairly resilient, but that you could become even more resilient and confident by paying attention to some of those factors that will make the difference.
If you scored in the 50-69 range, you appear to be fairly adequate, but you may be underrating yourself. A much larger percentage of people underrate themselves than overrate themselves on the assessment. Some people have a habit of being modest and automatically give themselves a 3 on every item for a total score of 60. If your score is in the 50-69 range, we need to find out how valid your self rating is.
In the second article, we will look at ways in which you can develop your own resilience, after which we will consider how you might enable your team to become more resilient.
