How to Build a Culture That Cultivates Resilience

Conventional wisdom would have us believe that resilience is built through adversity; a series of setbacks that challenge our beliefs and help us build new skills to cope with difficulty. In a recent article from Harvard Business Review, The Secret to Building Resilience, the authors argue our ability to be resilient during difficult times can also be influenced by the health of our interpersonal relationships, and not just the ones we have at home.

The article states, “We can nurture and build our resilience through a wide variety of interactions with people in our personal and professional lives. These interactions can help us to shift or push back on work demands and alter the magnitude of the challenge we’re facing. They can help crystalize the meaningful purpose in what we are doing or help us see a path forward to overcome a setback — these are the kinds of interactions that motivate us to persist.”

If having strong relationships can contribute to increased resilience, how can leaders utilize this insight to encourage a positive and engaged organizational culture that prioritizes relationships?

To build a strong network at work, it takes each individual reflecting on their own behaviors to gain the self-awareness necessary to stretch when needed. That ability to stretch and adapt our responses to the unique needs of those we work with is the starting place for more effective work relationships. However, learning the social and emotional skills necessary to stretch is not a one-size-fits-all process and that’s where Everything DiSC^® can help. Everything DiSC is a personal development learning experience that empowers individuals with the social and emotional know-how for increased self-awareness and more effective relationships.
 
Everything DiSC utilizes the DiSC model to describe four basic behavior styles: dominance, influence, steadiness, conscientiousness. While identifying your DiSC style is a step towards deeper personal growth and understanding (a big one, at that), it is only one piece of the relationship puzzle. Taking that knowledge a step further and putting it into practice is where the magic happens.

Take the first step towards cultivating a resilient organizational culture with Everything DiSC. When you focus on communication and personal development, you can build an organization that prioritizes strong relationships which can be an added source of strength during challenging times.