How to Cultivate a Culture of Resilience Within Your Company
Corporate governance can be tricky if and when circumstances disrupt the daily flow of operations. Today’s employees are stressed[i] due to increasing demands at work, technology making people accessible and ‘always-on,’ and the overall complexity of finding the balance between professional life and personal life.
Ineffective leadership, increasing demands on time and talents, and inefficient processes can lead to shortcomings, stress, and burnout for both you and the team you depend on.
To improve your company’s efficiency and help your employees reach their full potential, you can create and cultivate a culture of resilience. You don’t need to look much further than your leadership and management style to create the ideal conditions for a happy and healthy workplace that thrives under any situation.
Here are three ways you can cultivate a culture of resilience within your company.
Set a Strong Example of Leadership
For a culture of resilience, proper company leadership is of high importance, especially in finance or tech companies. High-level managers in companies, as well as team leaders, need to establish stark work ethics and positive behavior.
In his Forbes article on resilient company cultures and business continuity,[ii] Daniel Newman explains how crucial it is to maintain composure and positive image as a leader. Employees will usually take cues from those in leadership to set the tone for how they work. Therefore, be the type of leader you want others to aspire to be as well. Demonstrate how to work through disruptions and unexpected roadblocks.
Be Transparent
Transparency is one of the most effective tools in fostering resiliency within your company. For a more resilient culture, help your employees understand the bigger vision for the company and how their role and what they do matters to achieving corporate goals.
Especially when a company undergoes a significant change, like restructuring, M&A, or rapid growth, proactively communicating changes with your employees can help them work through them more easily. Speculation tends to lead to false assumptions (possibly negative), and that can lead a team to operate with unnecessary stress and anxiety.
When you are transparent, you show your team respect and consideration, which can lead to a greater trust and, subsequently, resilience.
Show Gratitude
Never underestimate the power of, ‘thank you.’[iii] Francesca Gino and Adam Grant, of Harvard Business School and Wharton, had conducted research on gratitude and generosity in a workplace. They found out that the amount of additional help offered as a result of appreciation had increased to as much as 50 percent. In work terms, that translates into employees being 50 percent more productive only because they feel appreciated and are more motivated to exceed expectations.
By recognizing how valuable your employees are, you can influence positive behavior, a better office atmosphere, as well as achieve higher performance results. Sincerely acknowledging employee contributions with a simple, ‘thank you’ goes a long way toward fostering a company that is resilient.
Closing
Transforming your company to be more resilient starts from within, and with small, but thoughtful, actions by you and others within leadership positions. Adapting corporate culture to be more resilient may take time. It may also require additional resources to implement successfully across an entire organization depending on how large and wide-spread your operations are. That being said, when your employees are resilient, your company is resilient. And that can mean happier staff, higher productivity, sustainable results, and the ability for future innovation.[iv]
References
[i] https://hbr.org/2015/01/what-resilience-means-and-why-it-matters
[ii] https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2016/11/15/how-resilient-company-cultures-ensure-business-continuity/#765224265ff1
[iii] https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kimberly-montgomery2/the-power-of-thank-you_b_8557810.html
[iv] https://www.mequilibrium.com/content-hub/new-study-reveals-the-connection-between-resilience-and-positive-business-outcomes/