Investing in Resilience - A Strategic Imperative

Having dedicated 36 years to the field of crisis and emergency management, I've witnessed the evolution of support for individuals facing tough times. My own experiences have taught me that in the past, advice sought tended to be dismissive and unhelpful, but thankfully, we've progressed. Now, we acknowledge that it's okay to struggle, that our personal resilience levels matter, and that resilience can be cultivated and strengthened.

Personal resilience is an individual’s ability to handle, adapt to, and bounce back from stressful situations. Our industry demands that we perform at a high level while facing copious amounts of pressure. This is a difficult ask. While personal resilience training won’t remove the amount of stress and pressure we face, it can help us better manage the stress that we experience. The goal of CHEMTREC’s personal resilience training program is to help individuals expand their adaptive capacity, overcome stressful situations, grow and develop from difficult experiences, shift perspectives, and harness the power of positivity. 

Behind our successful resilience training program lies a tale of dedication, passion, and unexpected turns. Bethany Elliott, our internal organizational psychologist, championed by Chris Scott and Gareth Black at CHEMTREC, began the organic development of resilience courses built upon the success of our psychology of incident command courses, in what felt like a very natural follow on driven by the needs and wants of our clients.

The initial rollout of our courses has been a resounding success, attracting participants from diverse backgrounds and industries. These companies recognize the value of enhancing resilience in their personnel, leading to stronger organizational resilience overall. This starts with a pre-course resilience assessment to support our initial understanding of the subject and set a baseline for participant resilience levels. Then, we delve into the fascinating aspects of resilience and understand how we can enhance our resilience levels and grow as individuals. A post course assessment 6 months later allows you to track your individual progress and allows your organization to see where the investment in this intervention made its mark within your workforce.

My years of experience would suggest that investing in staff resilience is a strategic imperative for companies seeking to thrive in today’s volatile business landscape. By cultivating resilience among employees, organizations can unlock a wealth of benefits that contribute to improved performance, employee engagement, and overall business success. In essence, resilience isn’t just a trait, investing in our people provides a powerful catalyst for organizational resilience and growth.

Increasing resilience is such a valuable asset for any company aiming to thrive amidst uncertainty and change. When organizations invest in resilience among their staff, as our feedback from UK AND USA suggests, it unlocks a multitude of benefits that directly contribute to their success and supports with adapting to new situations and helps maintain a positive outlook even in the most challenging circumstances. Here’s how increasing resilience among staff can profoundly benefit a company and the individuals within through:

• Enhanced Performance
• Reduced distraction
• Improved Problem-Solving
• Heightened Employee Engagement 
• Effective Change Management
• Reduced Turnover and Absenteeism
• Enhanced Team Dynamics
• Greater Customer Satisfaction 

We’re now really excited to see this important and very topical subject of resilience being rolled out across our industry and others. If you're interested in our resilience courses and the benefits that they can bring to you and your organization, or want to speak to Bethany and the team, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at crisissolutions@chemtrec.com.