Resilience strategy

Strategies ensure that we are intentional about our actions and that we identified, agreed and created the support needed for how we are going to work. This contributes to the feeling of certainty because we are identifying in advance what we will do if certain situations arise.

It is important that, as part of the first iteration of any change initiative, we define how we want to approach resilience. As we mentioned earlier, there is a lot we can learn from the risk management practices associated with establishing operational or system resilience.

We should look ahead and identify the situations that will have the most obstacles and therefore are most likely to cause us to give up. By proactively identifying these before we start work, we can encourage everyone to decide what structural, emotional and collaborative support they would need in these circumstances.

Creating a resilience strategy means that we don’t leave resilience to chance, hoping that everyone will be able to cope. It enables us to be more deliberate and intentional if we want to help our stakeholders keep going and overcome the pressures of change.

Resilience Strategy Template

Context:

Resilience is essential to successfully implementing change because without it, when people encounter problems with adopting new ways of working, they will give up and insufficient numbers of those needed to work differently will do so.

Objectives:

• Attention – Ensure everyone is aware of the importance of resilience.
• Willingness – Share the benefits of having resilience.
• Ability – Provide techniques to create and/or restore resilience.

Approach:

Ensure there are techniques and activities to develop resilience using three support mechanisms:

1. Structural support – the support generated from plans, responsibilities and regular routines:

• Simple, intuitive plan to create certainty and provide reassurance.

• Small outcomes for regular, frequent achievements.

• Celebration mechanism to reinforce achievements (Reward Strategy).

2. Emotional support – the ability to positively reframe negative situations to find the advantages and improvements instead of the difficulties and problems.

• Emphasising the positives using reframing techniques.
• Removing the blame culture by concentrating on solutions, not the origination of the problem.

3. Collaboration – feeling heard, cared for and supported by others, using their ideas and their perspectives to overcome obstacles.

• Creating a schedule for regular sharing of ideas and perspectives with others.
• Creating structures for cross-functional engagement with colleagues.