What is Resilience & its Association with Brain

Resilience is the perseverance in the face of adversity, or it is a good outcome in the face of adversity. The capability of a person to respond during the pressure is also known as resilience. The resilient people are capable of adapting themselves to new and different workplace requirements. The other significant thing about resilient people is they have potent resources and professional skills for coping stress and an excellent social network to help them during pressures of work.

Resilience at the workplace is acknowledged as a defining feature of employees who cope well with stress and non-favorable circumstances of the workplace. The resilient people are most suitable to handle the condition at the workplace, mainly dealing with constantly changing priorities and a considerable workload.

Association Between Brain and Resilience

The moment your body goes into a stress response almost 60 % of the frontal part of the brain stops performing the vital functions. The frontal part of the brain has a crucial role in decision-making and being analytical. If 60 % of the brain has stopped working so, you have only 40% availability, and it is going to reduce the decision making. The moment you become stressed is the moment your decision-making abilities are only 40%, and you will make irrational decisions. The frontal part of the brain is responsible for emotions and amygdala stays on and does not stop functioning, and you have 100% availability of emotions and 40% analytical thinking.

How does it impact the workplace

In a workplace, resilience can be implemented to the capabilities of employees to manage different challenging the tasks to frustrating coworkers. Research has revealed that those individuals who have greater resilience are best for managing stress and depression. Resilience is critical in the workplaces are continually changing. Earlier the workplaces were a very different place and highly structured and highly predictable.

However, now most organizations regularly go through restructural changes merges acquisitions downsizing. The people workloads have increased while resourcing has decreased. The result is we need people in our workplaces to be little more resilient. Things are always changing, and resilience is one way to cope better with the situation.

Components of workplace resilience

Social Awareness:

People with high resilience have a high level of social awareness. They are socially well aware of their feelings and emotions and also have good knowledge about others. It is essential because they can quickly identify difficult situations and behave accordingly not only themselves but also with other people.

Perspective:

The second most significant component of resilient people in the workplace is they have a perspective. They have a vision, and they are capable of putting things in perspective and able to achieve their goals.

Social Network:

The third principal component of resilient people is their social network. They have a strong social network which is vital for them. In certain circumstances when things are tough and challenging, they are relaxed because they have a network of people they can rely on from simple to the complicated tasks.

Optimistic Approach:

The fourth important component about resilient people is they are optimistic. Due to their this optimistic approach, they will see the adversity as an external to themselves and temporary. It means that they will always be thinking about things which are going to get better and they are confident to do something extraordinary according to the situation.

Clarity and Focus:

Clarity and focus are the other significant components of resilient people. The resilient people are very determinant and focus on things that need to happen. They are very exceptional at planning things and working out steps to achieve the get targets. So the excellent choice for becoming more resilient is to have more focus and more clarity about your work life as well as personal life.

Internal Locus of Control:

It is the other essential component of resilient people. They have a strong locus of control. Locus of control is all about whether you consider that you have some control over what happens to you and how you deal with it. If you have an internal locus of control when adversity strikes, you would be mentally prepared to accept the challenge.

The sense of humor:

It would sound pretty funny, but it is that fact resilient people often exhibit a sense of humor to release stress and anxiety. The sense of humor is essential because it is a coping mechanism. It is good that someone lightens the mood and makes us take a break from the adversity and the problematic condition that is causing us trouble. The other important thing about the sense of humor is to make sure that it is appropriate.

What employers can do to develop workplace resilience

The resilience levels depend upon the overall wellbeing of an individual. Some individuals can manage stressful condition more comfortably than others, and it is due to being more resilient. These individuals succeed while others around them fail under pressure. However, the good thing is that resilience is not a trait or something or something that a person is blessed with, or not. It can be learned at the workplace to build resilience.

Focusing on your past experiences and resources of personal strength might help you to understand what strategies might work for building resilience. By answering these questions and your response to challenging circumstances, you may discover how you can respond effectively to stressful situations in your life.

Thinking and managing techniques such as mindfulness can be very beneficial in improving analytical thinking and decision making. The life factors are the other factors which may have a significant impact on developing resilience. The lifestyle factors include regular exercise and a healthy diet for keeping your mental health on track. The other factors include a strong social network outside workplace which can play a vital role in contributing to developing resilience.

Factors that disturb workplace environment

It is necessary for all employers to keep in mind these factors to obtain maximum results and avoid any unpleasant incident at the workplace.

The employer should encourage employees for their efforts and contribution to the organization. Mostly employers hand over everything to their manager, and there is no proper mean of communication between employees and employer. This thing is not productive for organization and employees, in such condition negative culture develops when employees are not encouraged.
The employer should keep an eye on the tasks assigned to the employees to check whether there are any unrealistic deadlines or any extra workload on employees. Such an act can develop a healthy environment in the workplace, and the employer can obtain maximum benefits in the form of workplace resiliency.
Communication has a significant role in workplace resiliency. Poor communication is a barrier in developing workplace resiliency.
The employer should support the employees with certain clinical or mental health conditions. This act of kindness can be very beneficial for developing workplace resiliency.

Guidelines for Employers

It is essential for employers to focus on developing a healthy workplace environment. If it is necessary employer can make changes in the team to get maximum results following are some guidelines :

The employer is responsible for providing training, education, and health care facilities.
Develop a friendly relationship with your employees, and they do not feel any hesitation. Arrange social meetings to a get together to make the workplace environment more comfortable for them.
Create flexible working arrangements for the facilitation of employees in the form of discounts from super stores or membership of fitness club.
There should be proper counseling of employees through a proper program to provide better support.

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