7 Key Resilience Themes That Emerged During The Pandemic

How has the pandemic affected people’s resilience, resourcefulness and well-being?

At last we can share the answers with you!

In response to the unprecedented turmoil created by the global pandemic, we have spent the last six months giving clients (and those new to Ascend) complimentary access to our resilience diagnostic questionnaire. The questionnaire is based around our ground breaking model for resilience and gives people an insight into which dimensions their resilience is strong and which areas require more attention.

Now we have collated all the results from the thousands of people who completed the questionnaire and have identified the following seven themes:

The highs

1.Our respondents have been proactive in caring for their own physical and mental well-being during lockdown and beyond.

Taking regular and varied exercise, sensible nutrition and prioritising sleep are all important habits that allow you to manage your energy levels and peak at the right times.

2. Respondents have taken care to maintain close and supportive social networks.

Social cohesion is very important in feeling a sense of belonging (inclusion) and is an antidote to isolation.

3. Respondents reported feeling a strong sense of purpose in what they are doing at work.

Remembering why you do what you do enables people to be more persistent in challenging and uncertain times as does seeing / feeling you are making an impact.

The lows

4. Unsurprisingly, respondents reported experiencing difficulty with focus and shutting out distractions, making them less efficient and effective at work.

It helps when people concentrate on the things that they can control rather than the ones they can’t.

We work with people and teams helping them to develop mindsets and habits to perform under sustained pressure and maintain their well-being in times of transformational change. This includes helping them to balance negative thoughts with positive ones.

5. Respondents noted experiencing negative thought spirals, becoming pessimistic and losing a balanced perspective.

This is a natural reaction, as our brains are predisposed to look for threat and negative thoughts stick with us like Velcro. To come out of a negative thought spiral (or prevent us slipping into one), we need to consciously look for and recognise the positives of any situation to regain a more balanced perspective.

Additionally, it is important for leaders to show vulnerability and to admit in which areas they might be struggling, this pulls people closer together and validates the fact that they might not be feeling ok too.

6. Respondents recorded an erosion of confidence over the duration of the pandemic, questioning what they were good at.

To negate or reverse this, it is always important to recognise strengths in others and keep giving positive feedback to people (in an authentic manner) to bolster confidence and reinforce good behaviours / habits.

7. Perhaps as a result of the additional anxiety that came with having to deal with the predatory nature of the pandemic and the multiple changes forced upon us, respondents reported difficulty in retaining emotional control, being more easily triggered into outbursts and/or emotional detachment.

We work with leaders helping them to understand their emotional states and triggers and to manage their emotions in more constructive (or perhaps less destructive ways) in what has been and will probably continue to be a stressful time at work and at home.

We have also been reinforcing the need for empathy, inclusion and tolerance in helping people deal with the unprecedented challenges many of us are facing.

What is clear is that there will be no ‘new normal’. Instead we will all be required to make a frequent number of transitions and changes as we adapt to new legislation, pressures and circumstances. It is not just a case of being resilient and resourceful for Covid 19 and its ramifications but weaving in good habits into the practice of our daily lives so that we can thrive and peak at the right times and support others to do so also.

Ascend is a global leader in the field of resilience, resourcefulness and wellbeing. If you would like to discuss your challenges and how we might partner with you to address them, please contact us or you can find out more about our approach here.

You might be interested in reading more about how we view Resilience in some of the other many articles we have written on it: