fail. If they believe failure means not getting something right on
the first try, they’ll stop trying. Being mentally tough means you
know this moment is temporary and you have the emotional sophistication
to shake off negative thoughts and try again.
Next, employees need to learn to recognize their unique
strengths and how they make a positive contribution to the project
or the organization. This helps give employees the confidence
to innovate and push forward, even after temporary setbacks.
The last step is about changing the way we communicate and
respond to our colleagues. Responding in an active and constructive
way versus a passive or dismissive way will help them become
more resilient. Think about the manager that merely says, “Good
work,” in a performance review versus the one that praises specific
achievements and a worker’s personal growth. Employees of the
second type of manager will rebound much quicker from a setback
because they have an active and engaged relationship and can
see their value.
Studies have shown that resilient people are happier and have
higher life-satisfaction. In the workplace, resilient people experience
less stress and are able to grow in their careers from what they
have learned from their challenges or setbacks. They take less time
off, are more productive and can adapt more quickly to change.
The rapidly expanding global market is transforming the way
we work and confronting organizations with an unprecedented
pace of change.
Change can be a force of good, pushing individuals to learn and
develop and driving organizations to evolve and grow. It can also
become overwhelming for employees and businesses if they are ill
prepared. As leaders, we need to focus on equipping our employees
with the resilience and the mental agility to adapt and thrive in
this ever-changing world.
We all want to be happy, productive and successful, and deliver
incredible value to our customers and the people we work with.
Our success is not guaranteed and our failures don’t need to define
our careers. It’s our optimism and resilience that will help us
respond positively to challenging situations and will give us the
opportunity to dream big and push forward.
As leaders, we can help create resilient employees who can steer
through change, pressure, uncertainty and ambiguity and have the
coping strategies to manage stress, overcome setbacks and continue
to innovate. n
Ernie Philip is senior vice president of document outsourcing services
at Xerox Canada.
talent management
28 ❚ MARCH 2017 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL