Resilience at work

Resilience at work would be that capacity that allows us to flexibly assume the extreme situations that arise in our work environment. We are talking about situations that produce large peaks of stress, because they test our abilities. On the other hand, this anxiety is also fueled by another idea: we have to overcome these situations if we want to survive in the work environment in which we find ourselves.

Often, many of these so-called extreme situations – associated with a strong emotional impact – occur on a personal level throughout our lives, for example, with the death of a close relative or a great friend, a breakup of a couple or A serious illness. However These situations can also appear in the workplace, so we would talk about resilience at work..

In this sense, we may find ourselves facing a business problem for which we are solely responsible, bankruptcies of our own projects or judicial matters that can lead an entrepreneur or employee to a personal crisis. Given this, a good capacity for resilience will help us get out of the hole.

How to develop our resilience at work?

Contrary to popular belief, resilience is not an innate quality of each person. On the contrary, it is a skill sensitive to experience. In fact, some people have managed to develop it by taking as an example someone close to them with that quality, but others have done so by facing problems and giving their best when it comes to solving them.

In order to develop our resilience capacity, we can follow some of the following principles:

First of all, People with resilience at work are very aware of their abilities and what they excel at. At the same time, they know their limitations and those areas in which they are not comfortable. In this way, they set achievable objectives and, to achieve them, they use resources more logically, delegating or acquiring more tools before facing tasks with which they do not cope with ease.They try to surround themselves with people with a positive outlook. On the contrary, pessimistic people do not contribute anything useful.Obstacles are taken as an opportunity to learn and grow.. Therefore, we must keep in mind that we only grow through adversity.They are perseverant and they do not give up at the first opportunity because they know that success requires effort and perseverance.They are flexible to changes, since they know that changes and evolution are necessary to improve. At work, modifications are taken optimistically, knowing that it may require effort at first, but that the objectives will be more achievable after overcoming this adaptation period.

How to be resilient at work?

Following the previous ideas, we can gradually develop our resilience at work. But, in addition, we can expand the characteristics of a resilient person in a more internal way, knowing ourselves and following these ideas:

Increase awareness of our emotions, especially in moments of tension. If we ignore fears, we will never be able to have a positive attitude towards them.Manage stress and uncertainty. Resilient people have a greater capacity to manage these two concepts that are so common in the workplace. Although it is not always so easy, the idea is that negative feelings do not upset us excessively and that stress does not last long or reach very high peaks.Be flexible with the opinions of others. If we know how to adapt to changes, as we have mentioned before, even if they are negative, there will be less chance of having a bad time because of them. If something new happens at work soon, disputes and opinions will appear. Therefore, by being able to practice active listening, we will avoid arguments and misunderstandings.Have patience. Sometimes, the obsession with obtaining short-term results causes us to make hasty decisions, and this, at work, is the worst enemy. Therefore, patience and the ability to wait must be put into practice when medium or long-term goals prevail over current desires. Controlling impulses is a guaranteed success in teamwork.

In this article we have described the importance of resilience as a variable of influence on work success. In addition, we have described some strategies that can help us work on it. Now we just have to practice them and adapt them to our needs.

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