More change ahead

Jake Maxwell looks at what resilience means for workers today

In recent weeks HR and Learning teams have turned their attention to wellness and resilience in times of change, quite understandably. They have taken a step back to consider what ‘learning’ might be required over the next 12 months and beyond.

Much of the content on building resilience and the like was designed for management or personal effectiveness programs, not for now. I do not believe most of this content is especially relevant now, we are in such a new and unique situation and the types of change we are experiencing daily is rapid and unpredictable.

While I am certainly not a subject matter expert on stress management and resilience, I have been a long-term remote worker. So, I do at least have long-term experience of what works well regarding the ‘Zoom life’ – what keeps you physically and mentally healthy, what works, what hurts and how to be better.

In some ways I feel that what lays in front of us is an opportunity to create far more personal and meaningful training experiences when it comes to resilience. This is because the training can be created from the shared experiences of many, rather than the ‘subject matter expert’ pushing a singular message.

And as we are all in a similar pressured and stressful situation, we can generate approaches and apply techniques in the here and now. Such experience will be had by people who are on a level playing field with all of us, at home, Zoom to Zoom, juggling life as best we can and unsure of what will unfold the next day.

This is a new form of resilience; one I believe you cannot go it alone on. We all have valid experiences and insights and we are all able to advise and help each other – which I believe to be a tremendously positive thing as we navigate this new reality together.