ADAPTABILITY AND RESILIENCE

By /Lisa Bordeaux

“It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” -Charles Darwin

The year 2021 was a case study in the need for adaptability and resilience. The global pandemic impacted so many areas of our lives, at times it felt like we were living on another planet. Yet, here we are, reading another issue of Partners in Progress with a fresh perspective on the importance of resilience.

Do you want a team that stops at every obstacle or one that overcomes? Does stress result in your team becoming overly emotional or freeze their capacity? People are resilient when they have a positive outlook, deal with difficult situations with relative ease, and overcome negative emotions despite difficult situations. Resilient individuals are more engaged and positive. They adapt to stressful situations and help others overcome the inevitable setbacks of life and work. The most resilient among us see challenges as opportunities. They believe adaptability and resilience are life skills worth building.

We all have a role to play in developing resilience in the sheet metal trade. Psychology professor and researcher Carol Dweck asserts that resilience is based on the belief that we can improve. Believing that you can improve is a key factor of a “growth mindset”.

In her TED Talk on the “Power of Believing you can Improve,” she states that a person with a growth mindset believes they can improve and develop. This mindset provides optimism, resilience, and a willingness to take risks. In her studies, she learned you can foster a growth mindset with just two words: “Not Yet”. Tested extensively in Chicago schools, teachers began using those two words to great effect. They changed from giving students who fell behind a “Failing” grade to a “not yet” grade. That small label had a big impact and enabled students to persist. “not yet” changed the paradigm because it meant they weren’t done. They could pass if they kept trying and learning.

This simple switch from “you failed” to “not yet” causes a cascade of resilience-friendly effects. It reduces the negative emotions associated with failure. It’s the difference between someone saying, “I can’t” and “I can”.

Imagine you climb a mountain and someone asks, “Have you gotten to the top?” The answer “not yet” is very different from, “I failed.” It implies you haven’t reached your goal, but you are going to keep trying—a hallmark of resilience.

Why is resilience important?

Without resilience, your team is likely to crumble under the pressure of stressful situations. Members are going to embrace the way things are, and they will be inflexible and resistant to change, preferring to stick to what they know. This impacts the organization, and change becomes overly stressful.

Resilient individuals are better at stress management. Fostering resilience results in positive health outcomes. To fully understand the importance of resilience on health and safety, consider the effect job stress has on our companies and workforce.

The cost of job stress

Job stress is estimated to cost American companies more than $300 billion each year, once you add up health costs, absenteeism, poor performance, and resulting turnover. According to Umass Lowell, an American research university, healthcare expenditures are nearly 50% higher for workers who report high levels of stress, and job stress is the source of more health complaints than financial or family problems.

Contractors estimate replacing an employee costs 120% to 200% of the salary of the position affected, and the average total cost of absenteeism in a large company is more than $3.6 million each year.

For the workforce, it is important to know that depressive illness, a side affect of job stress, is associated with nearly 10 annual sick days, and overall, depression is the largest single predictor of absenteeism and work-related performance

According to The American Institute of Stress, more than one-third of Americans said their jobs were a source of stress— and this was in 2018, before COVID. Among Millennials and Gen Z, this statistic jumps to 44%, further proving that stress is on the rise among young people and has continued to grow over the past three decades.

The same source says that 54% of workers report that job stress affects their home life. In a survey conducted in 2017, the American Psychological Association determined that the most common sources of stress for Americans were “the future of the nation” (63%), money (62%), and work (61%).

Contracting businesses and Locals alike require resilience to ensure peak performance. Most significant, in a world increasingly separated by electronic communication and a pandemic, having resilience is not a passive process. It must be actively cultivated.

How do we foster resilience?

A culture focused on improvement recognizes that there will be challenges—but the result is learning, which is positive when handled properly. As leaders in our industry, this focus on learning, continuous improvement, and resilience can better prepare our people for the future. To foster resilience, we need to re-think our approach to failure and provide people opportunities to try new things, supporting safe ways to learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of others.

Safely making mistakes requires an open, supportive, and connected community. Having a social support system, the “brother/sisterhood”, and the concept of “having each other’s backs” also builds resilience. You can foster this by showing interest in what others are doing, getting to know who they are, and remembering to acknowledge and celebrate both large and small victories. The more members of an organization that trust the people they work and train with will have their backs, the more resilient they will become.

Focusing on strengths—personal, group, business, economic—builds resilience. Human beings instinctually shy away from the negative and gravitate towards betterment, so focusing on positives—even in their darkest hour—helps them find the determination, grit, and resilience to overcome, achieve, and improve.

Finally, it’s important to resist the urge to catastrophize when something goes wrong, and we should encourage others to do the same. Thus, it’s key to be transparent in everyday interactions, sharing when you learn something new and recognizing that learning from mistakes is a normal and healthy way to grow.

Fostering resilience reduces stress and makes it much easier to overcome the challenges of life. The last couple of years were a case study for our need to grow these skills, both at home and at work. ▪

Lisa Bordeaux is a technology thought leader, and will be presenting at the 2022 Partners in Progress Conference. She has developed and implemented technology at all levels of business including the end user, installer/contractor, distributor, manufacturer, cooperative and associations.

Want to learn more about building resilience and becoming an agent of change? Be sure to see Lisa Bordeaux’s talk at the 2022 Partners in Progress Conference March 1-2 in Las Vegas. Visit pinp.org/conferences/2022pinp for details and to register.