It was a pleasure to be interviewed by Mabbly founder Adam Fridman for a recent Inc. article on the relevance of well-being for organizations. My contribution was on resilience and the need to keep people focused on a positive future even in the face of adversity. Resilience is about the ability to bounce forward. When leaders model and articulate a “We can do it!” attitude, they inspire confidence and help calm fears. This is essential if you expect people to take risks, make decisions, and offer new ideas.

Is this just happy talk? Research would suggest not. Fridman cites two studies:

A recent paper from professors at Warwick University in the UK indicated that happiness and well-being led to productivity gains of up to 12% in the workers they studied. Gallup’s employee engagement polls show that more-engaged teams are up to 21% more profitable than less-engaged teams.

I’ve written in strategy+business about resilience as well. It’s an oft-used and often misunderstood term. Leaders in organizations should draw upon and integrate the three distinct disciplines that explore resilience: psychology (how humans deal with trauma); environmental science (how natural systems adapt form to preserve function); and engineering (how materials flex without breaking). There are also insights from neuroscientists as they explore how the brain reacts to threat and adversity. Each is valuable to understanding how to support your people and help them adapt to change.

If you’d like to know more about how to build personal and organizational resilience, please be in touch.