This session is concerned with how we maintain the energy and persistence that we need in the face of change, disorder and distress.

1. Resilience
Stuart Hunt

3. This session is concerned
with how we maintain the
energy and persistence
that we need in the face of
change, disorder and
distress

4. What words or phrases come
to mind when you think
about resilience?

5. This?

6. “A set of cognitive, behavioural and
emotional responses to acute or
chronic adversities which can be
unusual or commonplace. These
responses can be learned and are
within the grasp of everyone....
.... the most important factor is the
attitude you adopt to deal with
adversity. Therefore attitude
(meaning) is at the heart of resilience.”
Neenam and Dryden 2009

7. Please take a few minutes
to discuss with a colleague
how the many and varied
changes you have
experienced over the last
few years (at work) have
impacted on you

8. Robertson Cooper:
i-resilience - 4 Components
• Confidence (personal resilience)
• Motivation (and a shared sense of
purpose)
• Adaptability, and the way we view
problems and uncertainty
• Social (and other) support systems

9. Confidence: Personal Resilience
• An awareness of personal strengths
• High order social skills, personal
assertiveness and a willingness to
accept and engage with conflict
when it arises
• A focus on ‘positive’ emotions and
positive attitudes like commitment,
control, and challenge, while
decreasing those of isolation,
powerlessness, and threat

10. Purpose
• Our work must make sense to us
• It must be something that we feel
benefits some greater good
(a vision?)
• It must provide a sense of self-worth
It is important to consider “people's
sense of whether their lives have
purpose”
Carol Ryff, University of Wisconsin –
Madison

11. Adaptability
• The quality that enables us to
cope with ambiguity and deal
with uncertainty
• It involves skills in terms of
re-framing our current
perception of ourselves and
our situation
• A tolerance for risk and
anxiety

12. "People who are high in
hardiness enjoy ongoing
changes and difficulties. They
find themselves more involved
in their work when it gets
tougher and more complicated.
They tend to think of stress as
a normal part of life, rather
than as something that's
unfair.''
Maddi and Khoshaba, 2005

14. Social (and other) Support
• We all need people around us – at
least some of the time. (Some of
us need it a lot of the time!)
• The positive effects of social
support have been widely studied
and shown to buffer against the
effects of distress
• Physical exercise, a good diet,
active participation in activities
outside work, getting into the open
air and rest are also good support

15. The HSE Management
Standards – 6 Key Risk Factors
1. Demands (balanced workload)
2. Control (influence)
3. Support (informed/equipped)
4. Relationships (collaboration)
5. Role (sense of purpose)
6. Change (well managed)

16. Organisational Resilience
• A Consistent Culture:
– values, purpose, communications, style of
decision making are aligned
• Inclusivity and Networking (learning)
• Emotional contract
• Ruthless prioritisation (a particular
problem in HE?)
• Don’t try to avoid or hide real problems
(it’s both patronising and self-defeating
– beware the rumour factory)
Jenny Campbell, Lifetimeswork

17. Lessons from the nursery…
• A glass of milk and a biscuit is good
to keep us going in the mid-morning
• A nap in the middle of the afternoon
stops us getting fractious
• When we go out into the world, we
should keep together and hold hands