Investing in resilience includes some very straightforward actions you can put into your daily rhythm, thus buffering any stress, says Jenny Campbell
Did you know that while the vast majority (95%) of managers and leaders want to perform really well in their job, they are compromising their wellbeing to do that? A whopping 77% do so dangerously in fact, according to a 2019 survey on performance vs. wellbeing from the Resilience Engine.
And yet it is entirely unnecessary. Resilience underpins sustainable high performance and you can’t have the highest resilience without taking care of both physical and mental wellbeing. Investing in resilience includes some very straightforward actions you can put into your daily rhythm, thus buffering any stress.
Yet high performers continue to trade on their wellbeing and therefore put themselves at long-term risks associated with the negative stress reaction which can overtake the body. Importantly for organisational performance, these same high performers also inherently limit their own chances of going further in performance terms.
Why would they do this?
It may be partly because they don’t have the real understanding of what either transformative performance really is. Perhaps the organisation rewards them for their current level of performance so much that they don’t recognise that it can be much higher; indeed those with the highest resilience at least double their capacity, are most able to lead successful change, all whilst keeping themselves well.
But there is something that stands in the way of seeing the truth about resilience: the seductive nature of what we call ‘bounceback’.
Let me first explain the core finding of the Resilience Engine’s many years of research in the field. The Resilience Dynamic® model is both simple and profound in its implications:
The model shows first what resilience is. It’s your ability to reshape. Your adaptability. Indeed it’s your capacity for change. It is interrelated with capability; skills such as how to get perspective, prioritisation, focus, boundary management, embracing optimism and groundedness together, these are some of what it takes. But it is not just the skills; it is whether these skills, these resources inside you, are actually available to you in any given moment. Low resilience means they will be difficult to get hold of when under pressure or when tired. Burnout is where they are not available at all; it’s as if they are in a locked drawer and someone has thrown away the key.
The second part of this model shows that resilience is dynamic. For everyone, it goes up and down, according to the resilience demand versus the resilience capacity you have. One day you can’t see how to solve that tricky issue; another day you have had the ‘aha’ and you’re already underway solving it. The interesting thing is that you can get caught or hijacked by the issues that you face, rather than considering how to increase your resilience. You become inefficient in all sorts of ways as a result: you don’t see the issue for what it really means, and therefore might solve only part or even none of it; you will be inefficient in tackling it; you then feel it drag you down, thus draining your confidence.
It’s a downward spiral that is tough to interrupt. Higher resilience means seeing things for what they really are, solving them as appropriate (or ignoring them), and learning, learning, learning. It’s all about adaptation.
The third part shows the main states of resilience:
Breakdown where there is no resilience, and it is a result of living incoherently.
Fragmentation which is pre-Breakdown, and where cracks start to show up. If these are not shifted, this is a state defined by serious stress, where there is no capacity for change, and where issues overwhelm. This is the state of burnout.
Breakeven – the ok state. It’s where most of the working population is. One side of this is coping – where there is no surplus resilience, and therefore even if the person could learn, they can’t right now. The other side is bounceback, the zone of talent within an organisation, often the place of hero’s and what we often will name as ‘success’. It’s about coming back to some kind of normality after a major challenge.
It is inherently up and down: you rise to meet the challenge, and then you have to recover in order to regain normality again, until the next challenge comes along. In the ‘up’ parts, you release adrenalin and you can feel exhilarated and on top of the world! You punch through! Your organisation applauds your efforts, and indeed the next big challenge that comes along will come right to your door.
You may even be an adrenalin junkie, loving that release of energy that comes with it. So you may create the conditions for bounceback in the normal day-to-day tasks; if you leave things to the last minute you are indeed creating the adrenalin release that comes from having your back against the wall and having to drive hard. It can feel great. And yet there is a deep consequence of always being like this. You get fatigued and that can create overwhelm, and you slip back to coping. Too much up and down, and you start not to even Cope. Wellbeing at this stage is under threat.
The Resilience Engine research shows there are many further states, leading towards the more strategic capability of breakthrough. This is where, no matter the context ,you are never hijacked in the moment, and remain resourceful, adaptable and energised.
That’s the news for bounceback folk: there is another way. This way is learnable, and through good resilience –building habits, you can achieve a wholly different level of both performance and wellbeing. Now, why wouldn’t you want to get to that resilience state?
It will mean leaning into your own resilience, creating good resilience-building habits that include wellbeing and a whole lot more, and putting them together in a really aligned and cohesive way. We call this way ‘ The Resilient Way’. It delivers great adaptability, and ultimately you can feel at ease, no matter what’s going on.
The first step towards any shift in the way you are working or living is to notice more. Notice more of whether you are up and down. The easiest way is to track your energy. See what the ups and downs look like, and if you see a lot, consider what is driving that.
If you are seduced by bounceback, start to consider another way – a resilient way – where high performance and wellbeing are wholly synergistic. It may mean letting go of the adrenalin hits, and instead embracing a much deeper satisfaction.
Jenny Campbell is Chief Executive at the Resilience Engine and the author of The Resilience Dynamic (Practical Inspiration Publishing, 2019). She holds an MBA from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland and ran the IMD Alumni Club in Scotland for several years.
