The world of work is changing fast. Here’s how to build resilience to weather tough times and bounce back from setbacks stronger than before.
Vanessa Gibbs — January 3, 2023
Resilience is the ability to adapt to changes, handle challenges, and pick yourself up when knocked down. It’s easy to see why this is so valuable in the workplace.
Resilient employees aren’t afraid of failure. They take risks, learn from their mistakes, and withstand stressful times without breaking a sweat.
But resilience isn’t just good for organizations: it’s good for employees, too. A 2019 study found high resilience at work was linked to better mental health, less stress, and greater well-being.
Let’s dive into four ways to build resilience at work, so you—and your coworkers—can face whatever this new year throws at you.
Research from the ADP Research Institute (full study here) found those who love what they do at work are almost four times more likely to be highly resilient. Perhaps surprisingly, loving what you do is key to resilience, regardless of your ability.
Not feeling the love? That’s where your purpose comes in.
The Blink to Bounce Back explains that having a clear purpose at work can help you get through challenging periods.
Your purpose reminds you why you’re doing this work in the first place.
If you were an outsider, how would you describe yourself as an employee? What do you contribute to your company? Why does it matter?
Each night before bed, write down three good things about your day. Ask yourself why those things went well. Do this for a week and see if there are any overlapping themes or meaningful tasks that pop up again and again.
Ask yourself what you love doing, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you could be paid for. Think of your answers as a Venn diagram (or sketch one out on paper). Are there any overlaps? This may be your purpose.
Whether you want to take a risk with a new supplier or share a disruptive idea that could fall flat, you need the confidence to leave your comfort zone and make it happen.
Plus, when you face setbacks at work, you need confidence to pick yourself back up again.
The Blink to Future Shaper explains that confidence and self-belief can foster persistence too—another trait needed for resilience.
The Blink shares a few strategies you can use to develop confidence at work, including:
To further cement workplace confidence, note down your strengths and remind yourself of them regularly. Boost coworkers’ confidence by giving praise and highlighting their strengths too.
When a project doesn’t go as well as you hoped, reflect on what went wrong and what you can learn from the experience. Share these learnings with coworkers so everyone can have the confidence they won’t make the same mistakes.
The ADP Research Institute study we mentioned earlier found one factor that’s crucial for resilience: trust.
Workers with the highest levels of self-resilience trusted both their team leader and senior leaders in their company. Trusting one but not the other still contributed to resilience, but the biggest boost came from having full trust in both.
Building trust at work is no easy feat, though.
The Blink to Maximize Your Potential explains that being open and honest can help make your work relationships more resilient, and ultimately more trusting.
*Groan.* We know you’ve heard this one before, but hear us out. When you don’t get enough sleep, it’s not just your energy levels that suffer, your mental performance, emotional processing, and ability to handle stressful situations all take a hit too.
A 2022 review of sleep studies found sleep quality and quantity are linked to psychological resilience and mental toughness.
The lesson? Prioritize shut-eye.
To make this happen, check out the Blink to The Sleep Solution. It shares sleep tips from neurologist and sleep specialist Dr. W. Chris Winter.
One actionable piece of advice from Dr. Winter is to develop a relaxing bedtime routine. This will signal to your body that it’s time to sleep and help you disconnect and wind down from a stressful workday, so you can come back the following workday energized. Try reading, meditating, or taking a warm shower—and no, checking work emails in bed doesn’t count toward relaxing.
Many factors go into resilience—purpose, confidence, trust, and getting your eight hours is just the start.
To learn how to build an unshakeable team—and to become unshakeable yourself—head to this Collection on resilience. It rounds up advice from leading authors and researchers on the topic, including some we’ve mentioned above, and teaches you how to reframe setbacks as lessons, take calculated risks, and develop good old-fashioned grit.
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Vanessa is a freelance writer living in London. She mostly writes for tech companies in the health, travel, and education spaces, and loves diving into topics about work culture and professional development. When not at her laptop, she loves to run, travel, and scuba dive wherever she can.
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