How Your Business Can Promote Resilience
Mentally healthy workplaces are something a growing number of Australian businesses are striving to create.
While employers are responsible for most of the heavy lifting when it comes to creating a work environment that promotes good mental health, employees also have an important role to play.
Why is building resilience important?
Building resilience is one way we can reduce our stress at work, contributing to a more mentally healthy workplace.
Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; challenges or some sort of trauma. Resilient people are flexible, adapt to new and different situations, learn from experience, are optimistic and ask for help when they need it.
Whether or not a person develops psychological stress (or a mental health condition) at work depends on the balance between their exposure to stress and their coping resources. Most employees will be required to deal with a certain level of stress in the workplace however, if the level of stress is too great for a person's coping resources, they can and usually do run into trouble.
Resilient people have strong resources and skills to manage conflict and stress, as well as a good support network to help them deal with the pressures of work.
As a workplaces how you can help promote resilience?
Resilience Training Program - These types of programs can help employees deal with work-related stresses and challenges in a way that is better for their mental health.
Coaching and Mentoring - Coaching and mentoring are specific relationships that are helpful in developing resilience. Coaching focuses on improvement in current performance, skill and wellbeing while mentoring supports longer-term skills and career development.
Physical Activity - It is well publicised that exercise is good for your health, but there is also evidence that promoting physical activity in the workplace can help improve an employee’s mental health and resilience.
So as you can see, it is important for organisations to strive for a mentally healthy workplace, as not only does a mentally healthy workplace protect workers from psychological harm, there is evidence to suggest it can also increase productivity and peak performance in individuals, teams and organisations – which is a win for everyone.