Chapter 15 - Maintaining personal resilience Flashcards
How can a company secretary become a corporate athlete?
- The company secretary can only continue to deliver sustained performance if they are able to look after and pace themselves – they must put their life jacket on first before they are able to help others.
- If a co-sec is able to maintain their own resilience but also understand the components of resilience more generally, they are then also able to support others in building their own resilience.
What is the level of stress problem?
- World is becoming more VUCA
- Perception that the 4th industrial revolution is the most challenging living and working conditions that we have seen
- Chartered Management Institute report: high connectivity has led to higher levels of stress
- Stress is linked to all six leading causes of death
- 75-90% of doctor visits are stress-related
- Gallup study - 23% feeling burnt out always or very often and 44% reporting feeling burnt out sometimes
- Switzerland - two board directors committed suicide within weeks of each other due to stress
According to American Psychological Association, what is resilience?
the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress – such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors. It means bouncing back from difficult experiences
Campbell describes resilience as having three stages. What are they?
- Break-down
- Break-even - bounce back
- Break-through (aspirational) - propels people to become even more resourceful, adaptable and energised - similar to post-traumatic growth
Outline some examples of the ‘Resilience Prescription’ i.e. 10 points that prescribe resilience by Southwick and Charney
- Looking after your physical condition
- Developing and training regularly in multiple areas
- Positive attitude and optimism
- Developing coping strategies and making use of them
- Developing cognitive flexibility and learning to reframe
- Facing your fears
- Having actively found resilient role models
- Recognising and developing your signature strengths
- Strong personal moral compass and sense of purpose
- Establishing and nurturing a supportive social network
What is the ‘i-resilience’ model by Robertson et al? C-SAP
- Confidence: ‘having feelings of competence, effectiveness in coping with stressful situations and strong self-esteem’
- Social support: ‘building good relationships with others and seeking support… rather than trying to cope on their own’
- Adaptability: ‘flexibility in adapting to changing situations which are beyond our control… and the ability to cope well with change and recover from its impact quicker’
- Purposefulness: ‘having a clear sense of purpose, clear values, drive and direction to help individuals to persist and achieve in the face of setbacks
A company secretary may wish to use the resilience prescription and i-resilience model as a way of doing what?
Assessing the levels of resilience on the board and self-awareness too.
Name the four approaches to resilience
- Physical
- Cognitive
- Humanistic
- Social
These 4 approaches can help prevent stress in the first place or act as an antidote to stress when it arises
Give some examples of physical resilience
- Eat - limit stimulants such as caffeiene and sugar, intermittent fasting, healthy eating
- Move - exercise as the ‘magic bullet’, low exercise is associated with higher levels of stress
- Sleep - keep a consistent routine of sleeping hours, limit alcohol, stop caffeiene after 2pm
Give some examples of cognitive resilience
- Reframe your mind
- Practice of mindfulness
- Build beliefs - acknowledge one’s performance accomplishments, positive affirmations, find a role model, etc
- Coping methods - morning routines, time management, assigning uninterrupted ‘deep work’ time
Give some examples of humanistic resilience
- Develope one’s ‘signature strengths’ - Seligman’s ‘Values in Action’
- Develop one’s moral compass: gratitude journalling or MoralDNA assessment
- Develop one’s meaning and purpose - logotherapy
Give some examples of social resilience
- giving or receiving coaching and mentoring support
- attending formal events such as conferences or informal work gatherings
- guarding time with one’s family
- taking up new hobbies to get you into different social groups
- travelling
- volunteering
What did Robertson et al find out the validity of resilience training
- Resilience may provide benefits for stress, anxiety, depression and negative emotional responses
- Showed significant positive effects on self-efficacy and reduction in participant fatigue
Outline some resilience programmes developed by Lloyds
- Sharing personal experiences on an intranet to normalise poor mental health
- implementing employee assistance programme
- launching a colleague social media competition
- increasing private medical cover
Using Robertson et al’s 6 essential conditions for a well-board, how can a board create an environment that fosters resilience?
- Resources and communication – appropriate resources and information
- Control and autonomy – few limitations on how the director job is done as possible to enable freedom to make appropriate decisions – e.g. clarifying roles, expectations and input on agenda items
- Balanced workload
- Job security and change – provide regular updates on governance changes
- Work relationships
- Job conditions – strive to improve work conditions and the boardroom environment
