What is resilience? What does it look like and what are the features and characteristics of a resilient person or a resilient business?
The science of resilience does not have the same historical depth as the science into other related ideas such as personal motivation, or workplace stress. Much of the literature on resilience is in the form of anecdotal evidence from individuals who have in some way endured severe personal hardship. Scientific studies into resilience are rare to say the least.
Nevertheless, there is a growing body of writing on the subject which is interesting, believable and informative even if it is not entirely backed up with large sample scientific studies and statistical tests.
One such study has recently been published which describes three core features of a resilient person or a resilient business (1). The features are
- Facing down reality
- Finding meaning
- Ingenuity
Facing Down Reality
Resilient people and, indeed, resilient businesses, face the reality of the situation. They do not ignore, misinterprete, nor under estimate the reality of the situation, but rather face it down (or more appropriately for us Anglo Saxons, face up to it).
The essence of this characteristic is to avoid slipping into denial since this prevents the opportunity to take proactive steps to over come the situation (click here to read about the importance of a proactive coping style).
The paper also refers to the dangers of unrestrained optimism since this can rose tint what may in reality be a terrible situation. Indeed the paper refers to the dangers of optimism in general suggesting that resilient people are more likely to be pessimists but other work can be cited which would contradict such as assertion (e.g Martin Seligmans work on learned optimism).
Even within this paper there are references to possessing an optimistic outlook. Resilient people build bridges from present day hardships to a fuller, better constructed future. This capacity to see beyond the reality of the current hardship to a bright positive and better future sounds to us like authentic optimism.
Finding Meaning
Making sense of a situation and finding meaning in a situation is another key feature of resilience. We all engage in the search for meaning, even in trivial and stress free activities. When faced with a tribulation of enormous magnitude the search for meaning becomes critical. Resilient people work hard to find meaning in situations.
The paper cites a woman who has suffered terrible tragedy in her life and rather than ask why me?, she asks why not me? I may have lost one thing but I have found another (true friendship). The search for and the finding of meaning removes the sense that the present is overwhelming.
Resilient people search for meaningfulness even when facing a hopeless situation.
The search for meaning can be helped by having a strong value system, a set of values that will help to guide us in troubled times. Companies with robust and ingrained value systems are more resilient and will bounce back quicker after a period of trauma.
Ingenuity
The third key feature of resilience is ingenuity, to make do with whatever is at hand, to be inventive, the ability to improvise a solution without proper or obvious tools. The paper refers to the ability to think broadly, to quickly recover, to imagine possibilities where others founder.
In the business context it is not unbridled creativity, rather it is more akin to empowerment, allowing people to do whatever it takes to survive through, and to quickly recover from, a severe shock. Citing the example of UPS the parcel firm it describes the way in which the business empowers the staff to do whatever it takes to deliver the parcel on time, providing them with the freedom to use their ingenuity to overcome barriers. Thus, UPS were delivering parcels the very next day after hurricane Andrew in 1992.
(1) Coutu., D. (2008) How resilience works. Harvard Business Review. May 2002. pp46-55
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