The 4D's of Resilience are So Important Right Now?

 

The 4 Dimensions of Resilience is a framework and tool that changes the conversation about resilience and stress management. So often Social Workers mistrust the word resilience viewing it as a term management use to put the onus on staff to improve their stress to rationalise giving them more but we are coming to realise that the management of stress is a collaborative endeavour between staff, the team and leadership.  Time and time again research on stress in Social Work by Plymouth Uni and Bath university have found working conditions and poor relationship with manager as the top reasons to leave.

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One persistent issue in the resilience literature is understanding its meaning.  Specifically, resilience tends to have two somewhat distinct meanings.  On the one hand, resilience can mean the ability to resist being damaged by trauma or destructive forces.  On the other hand, resilience can also mean readily “bouncing back” or recovering from those traumas or destructive forces.  The latter definition perceives resilience as a trait an individual needs to survive. The first definition emphasises resilience as a means of thriving. This distinction is important, as an individual facing adversity can go further than merely coping, they can go onto find a sense of meaning following the trauma and eventually utilising this meaning to enhance their well-being (10).

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Another useful distinction in the topic of resilience is the notion of fragility and anti-fragility. Building resilience is about reducing our fragility and working towards becoming anti-fragile when we need it most.  Theres one certain thing life, there is no such thing as certainty and crisis is commonplace.  However crisis is really good as at capitalising on fragility.  When we constantly work towards being anti-fragile we are essentially strengthening our selves, our teams, our organisations when eventually a crisis comes along, and it undoubtedly will. The Japaness word for crisis means change and opportunity. Crisis comes in many forms, it could be a critical incident like a flood, cyber or terrorist attack or it could be a sudden change expectation at work that requires even more effort from us despite an extremely busy workload on top of staffing pressures. 

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Personal Resilience

Pre-Covid-19 74% of UK employees surveyed were 'overwhelmed or unable to cope' at some point in 2022(1). Stress related mental health conditions were on the rise(2), due to an always on culture(3) as were stress related physical health conditions(5). The pandemic may have reduced stress for some, for many it increased stress further. Since the pandemic stress related health problems have risen and we've become more acutely aware of the impact of lifestyle on our wellbeing(8).

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Pre-covid rising levels of stress, depression and anxiety represented 49% of the reasons why people were absent from work.  NHS funding for mental health was on the rise by £2b per year (8) and was the largest single reason for disability at 23% of all ill-health.  The trend has undoubtedly worsened. Covid has become a catalyst for poor long term health.

 

Additionally, persistent levels of stress can be both a driver for and cause of poor lifestyle management including poor fitness, diet and sleeping.  All of which, increases toxic stress hormones and the probability of stress related dis-ease. Chronic stress is also a contributory factor to the rise of conditions of a myriad of stress related conditions, e.g. auto-immune conditions, dementia (which now affects 1 in 14 over 65), cancer, pain and many other common conditions, including obesity and diabetes, which makes us vulnerable to further illness. 

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More so than ever we have become aware that lifestyle does actually have an impact on our health and since we are at work 36+ hours per week, work is very much a part of our lifestyle.  We now know that our health is affected by our wellbeing and our wellbeing affected by our health(9).   Equally when we take time to consciously build our resilience there is a positive correlation with wellbeing and visa versa.

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Unmanaged personal stress causes problems for the workplace(4), in some sectors more so than others(6). Research shows the costly negative impact of stress on employee health as well as engagement and work performance, absenteeism and turnover(7). So now, more than ever, it is essential for organisations to promote employee resilience and wellbeing, rather than merely getting sucked into a cycle of performance performance performance mindset!  

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Professional Resilience 

How employees show up to work (attitude/mindset), what they bring with them (skills and personal resources) and how they use whats available (tools/learning/resources/people/processes/ systems) does have an impact on their own lives, the lives of service users and business outcomes.

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The demands in social work are undoubtedly high. Social Workers have a great deal of skills, personal resources and tools as their disposal.  When we are in a state of high resilience we are more personally empowered to access these for optimal results. We are more likely to learn and apply what we have learned. We are more likely to bring our strengths to the foreground

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Team Resilience 

Connection and a sense of belonging is a human need. Its not an add on. How we work together is crucial for supporting our wellbeing.  How we support each other to lift our energy and mindset so that we are all in flow for an outstanding performance every single day can make the difference that makes the difference not only for our own wellbeing but also for the wellbeing of our colleagues and our clients. 

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Organisational Resilience

Employers seeking good to outstanding outcomes, need to practice providing a safe, supportive and connected environment for employees, by way of operating in a manner that helps them prevent ​risk of injury, illness and trauma as well as support their recovery from a period of challenge in a way that helps get their needs to flourish met. 

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What we do today, and every day, makes all the difference to our recovery and how we perform over the long run, in our lives and at work. The way we lead our personal lifestyles, our emotional health, our personal and work relationships, our work environment. All of this and more, has an impact on performance, quality and wellbeing today as well as impacts on our potential for healthy longevity and the quality of life in our elder years. 

 

The question is 'to what extent are we, our teams and our leaders willing to put daily consistent effort into being resilient?' As humans we are at risk of slippage back into old ways, particularly if our work environment does not support that effort.  People are leaving Social Work and its harder than ever to replace them them. Social Work as a professional is highly adaptive and we can adapt to new ways that have the potential lead to far better outcomes.

 

By bringing in the 4 Dimensions of Resilience: personal, professional, team and organisational resilience, we are changing the narrative, we are bringing balance and sharing accountability for resilience. The emphasis is not only on performance and stress management, its about employee wellbeing.  When staff have elevated wellbeing, because of work, it increases their motivation to enhance quality and the customer experience too.  Employees feel more engaged, they are more likely to attract and retain staff and in turn empower all 4 Dimensions of resilience further. All of which increased the potential for good to outstanding outcomes. 

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