Having watched John Bishop complete his “Week of Hell” charity triathlon recently I got thinking about resilience again. The simple fact that Bishop cycled from Paris to Calais, rowed across the Channel and ran from Dover to Trafalgar square shows levels of resilience (not to mention dedication!) that we as HR professionals would love to bring out in our teams.
On the same sporting theme, the recent HR Zone Olympic focused newsletter also highlights a key message which HR should really be listening to this year – we can learn a lot from our Olympic athletes.
When you consider some of the key characteristics for top athletes, I would say dedication, passion and resilience are some of the top traits required; all qualities we would like from staff in an ideal world. In previous blog posts I have discussed the importance of developing resilience in leaders, but this sports connection is probably the best example of how vital resilience is.
Take Sir Steve Redgrave for example. Redgrave is one of only four Olympians to have won a gold medal at five consecutive Olympic Games, an amazing feat for an athlete. To consistently come back event after event and compete at such high levels will require incredible levels of resilience, particularly when you also consider the serious illnesses he was battling at the time.
How athletes prepare for these events and manage their levels of training could provide HR with a real insight into performance training and assessment best practice. Janine Milne’s recent article delved deeper into these performance traits which we could learn from during the development stage, but from my perspective this should also be incorporated into the assessment process. It is through correctly assessing the levels of resilience in your current workforce that you will be able to identify and train the ‘sports stars’ of your business.
When considering resilience in sports terms, I think of the 8 elements of resilience in the a&dc model, and in particular, the area of "purposeful direction". For John Bishop and all Olympic athletes to put up with the hours of pain and discomfort, they need a clear vision, a purpose and a dream of why they are doing this.
For Bishop it is perhaps the money to be raised for his charities and to be doing something bigger than oneself. For athletes, it is perhaps the dream of reaching full potential and pride to represent and win for their country in the Olympics.
As resilience has been and is likely to remain a key topic, a&dc will be hosting a free webinar next week which will explore the characteristics of resilience and why it is critical to help individuals and organisations improve their resilience, particularly during times of change.
The session, next Thursday 22nd March at 2pm, will include case studies that demonstrate how organisations have identified and developed resilience in diverse situations in order to maximise organisational success. Space is limited so pre-booking is highly recommended: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/623928912
