3 Ways Resilience and Agility Unlock Business Growth

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The Skills HR Has Neglected to Address for Too LongIn the past, human resources has focused on safeguarding the cost of health and productivity. However, in this new era characterized by rapid business transformation, decreased control over how and when we work, and a tight labor market, HR must focus on reskilling, upskilling, and creating exceptional employee experiences that retain talent.

According to Mercer’s Global Talent Trends study, “2 in 5 executives have transformation metrics on their performance scorecard, and they realize that putting people at the heart of change is the only way to drive sustainable growth.”

Today, rapid and disruptive change is increasing turbulence so much that it threatens to overwhelm human adaptive capacities. “The challenge is to build organizations that are fast and flexible, but at the same time able to weather setbacks and surprises,” say Joseph McCann and John Selsky in their book, “Mastering Turbulence”. Mastering this increasing turbulence requires building the right kind of adaptive capacity, which is where agility and resilience come in.

How do we define resilience and agility? Resilience is the capacity for absorbing and responding, even reinventing if required, to fast or disruptive change that cannot be avoided. Agility is the capacity for moving quickly, flexibly, and decisively in anticipating, initiating, and taking advantage of opportunities, and avoiding any negative consequences of change.

Resilience helps people rebound and manage through adversity and extreme change. Agility helps people pivot, solve problems, and innovate under challenging conditions.

These adaptive capabilities that enable people to manage both rapid and disruptive change are nothing less than the critical set of skills for the workforce of today — and tomorrow. In the research paper “Toward a Reskilling Revolution” from the World Economic Forum and Boston Consulting Group, the authors note that “individuals’ mindset and effort will be key”:

“To even begin thinking about large-scale job transition planning and economy-wide reskilling, the role of individuals will be absolutely critical. ... What will be required will be nothing short of a societal mindshift for people to become creative, curious, agile lifelong learners, comfortable with continuous change.”

For this reason, resilience and agility are increasingly a C-suite mandate — and leaders are looking to human resources to solve for it.

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Developing resilience and agility has large, measurable effects on a wide range of worker health and performance outcomes.[4] There are seven foundational skills that comprise resilience and agility. Most important, these skills are learnable, and building these skills empowers people to move from merely coping to thriving and optimizing in the face of adversity and change.

These are the seven factors that have proved critical for agility and resilience and form the base of the meQuilibrium approach:

How to Develop Resilience and Agility

All of these, including mindfulness, are part of the meQuilibrium model, as are skills that build self-motivation, initiative, and a growth mindset. [1]

7 Foundational Skills1. Emotion Control: The ability to control feelings in the midst of

adversity.

2. Impulse Control: The ability to shut out distraction and urges and to restrain reaction.

3. Problem-solving: The ability to identify the causes of a problem and what can or can’t be controlled.

4. Realistic Optimism: The belief that things can change for the better; that you can control your life’s direction while being aware of the challenges.

5. Self-confidence: A sense of mastery and belief in one’s abilities.

6. Empathy: The ability to read and react to others’ social and emotional cues.

7. Reaching Out: The ability to seek out new challenges and relationships and remain goal-oriented, even amid set backs or challenges.

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There are several main mechanisms through which resilience and agility support business outcomes:

The Impact of Resilience and Agility on Your Business

ALL THREE MECHANISMS IMPROVE OUTCOMES THAT INCREASE REVENUE OR REDUCE COST, AS THE FOLLOWING DATA DEMONSTRATES.

Impacting employee engagement, which is correlated with higher business margins, growth rates, and overall performance

Immunizing workers to high–strain environments, which impacts absence and presenteeism rates

Reducing the distraction and work-ineffectiveness produced when workers experience stressful situations or challenges

1

2

3

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Resilience and Agility Improve Morale, Engagement and Retention

Businesses that invest in engagement vs. those that don’t: (1)

• 2.1x average revenue

• 4.2x average profit

• 2.8x profit per employee

• Outperform the S&P 500 & NASDAQ

• Engaged employees are 4x more likely to stay

• 16x more likely to refer a friend to the company

• 3.3x more likely to feel empowered to solve a customer problem

Engagement impacts customer satisfaction, affects productivity, and controls workforce costs: (2)

Best practice organizations are 2x as likely to report financial performance substantially above their peers: [3]

• Resilience is associated with positive perceptions about work, such as satisfaction, commitment, and good citizenship.[1, 3, 21]

• Resilience is associated with fewer negative perceptions about work, such as disengagement and cynicism, as well as disruptive behaviors.[4, 22]

• In addition, employees with high levels of resilience report a lower intent to quit and looking for other jobs less often.[2]

• Companies that have used meQuilibrium to build employee resilience have experienced reduced turnover. [25]

Resilient employees show higher signs of engagement and positive perceptions of work. Agility then builds upon that foundation by enabling employees to take on new and exciting challenges that keep them continually engaged and satisfied.

IMPACT 11

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The World Health Organization calls stress “the health epidemic of the 21st century.” According to the recent “Willis Towers Watson Stay@Work” survey, stress is the number one global employee issue. Research shows that workers who are unable to manage high stress and lack critical skills in resilience and agility will generate more cost and risk for their companies. For those experiencing high stress, resilience serves as the “first line of defense” by equipping workers with the psychological and emotional skills to reframe thinking, despite their job and environment.

• Resilience is strongly associated with lower stress symptoms.[2]

• This matters because stress generates cost.[10] The additional cost of stress is 9 percent higher healthcare costs and rates of frequent absence are 20 percent higher. [11]

• Conversely, those with high resilience have lower rates of absence, and resilience is more predictive of absence rates than job satisfaction.[12]

• High–strain work environments (high demand, low influence, and low support) have an unfavorable effect on stress, burnout, and sleep. Resilience has a favorable and protective effect on stress, burnout, and sleep, especially when job strain is high.[23]

Resilience and Agility Mitigate Stress Symptoms—and the Absence, Presenteeism, and Productivity Impairment That Ensue

Resilience enables employees to face stressful circumstances, cope with symptoms, and shift their mindsets. Agility then allows them to move forward, navigate change, and break out of the cycle of stress.

IMPACT 12

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The presence of psychological and emotional skills for resilience and agility also directly impacts the effectiveness and efficiency of work. Resilience training is correlated with productivity improvement at front-line and supervisory levels.

• Resilience has a consistent and strong association with job performance (including self-reported, manager-reported, and objectively measured performance).[4]

• Supervisors who demonstrate resilience improve the performance of the workers they supervise.[14, 15]

• Interventions that improve resilience produce measurable improvements in performance as well, with an average improvement in resilience of 3 to 4 percent.[16]

• Pyschosocial factors like resilience are associated with duration and rates of disability.[17 - 20]

• Resilience and agility can be learned. After the first four hours of training, meQuilibrium boosts resilience scores by 1.3 percent—after five hours, that increase rises to 11 percent.[24]

• One study measures an 11 percent boost in resilience for those with the lowest initial resilience, as well as a 16 percent and 15 percent boost in problem-solving and optimism, respectively.[24]

Resilience and Agility Improve Job Performance by Improving Effectiveness and Efficiency

With improved performance due to resilience, agility continues the positive trend by equipping employees and teams to optimize and innovate no matter how complicated or challenging the work becomes.

IMPACT 13

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IN THIS PERIOD OF DISRUPTIVE, RAPID, AND CONTINUOUS

CHANGE, EQUIPPING YOUR PEOPLE TO EXPAND THEIR ADAPTIVE

CAPABILITIES IS IMPERATIVE.

Resilience and agility empower individuals, teams, and organizations to manage change, embrace it, and most important, be prepared for it.

As demonstrated by this solid platform of research, resilience and agility drive important business outcomes, from cost and absence to productivity, return to work, and turnover. The potential for a significant return on investment is too high to ignore. It’s time to unlock the power of resilience and agility in your organization, and meQuilibrium is here to equip you with everything you need.

Building Resilience and Agility in Your Organization

meQuilibrium is the engagement and performance solution that harnesses behavioral psychology and neuroscience to unleash your organization’s full potential. By unlocking the power of resilient people and teams, your organization can navigate even the most turbulent of times.

Powered by predictive meQ scores and data-driven insights, our solution uses a clinically validated assessment and robust benchmarking to measure resilience and create personalized training programs that build team and employee skills. With meQuilibrium, you can equip each of your employees to discover and master the skills they need to overcome any obstacle, increase agility, gain adaptive capacity, and transform your organization.

Unlock the Power of Resilient People and Agile Teams with meQuilibrium

To learn more about improving engagement and performance through the power of resilience, contact us at 617.274.8830 or visit us at www.meQuilibrium.com.

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NOTES1. Luthans, F., et al., Positive Psychological Capital: Measurement and Relationship with Performance and Satisfaction. Leadership

Institute Faculty Publications, 2007. Paper 11: p. 541-572.

2. Avey, J.B., F. Luthans, and S.M. Jensen, Psychological capital: A positive resource for combating employee stress and turnover. Human Resource Management, 2009. 48(677-693).

3. Avey, J.B., J.L. Nimnicht, and P. Nancy Graber, two field studies examining the association between positive psychological capital and employee performance. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 2010. 31(5): p. 384-401.

4. Avey, J.B., et al., Meta-analysis of the Impact of Positive Psychological Capital on Employee Attitudes, Behaviors, and Performance. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 2011. 22(2): p. 127-152.

5. Ganster, D.C., M.L. Fox, and D.J. Dwyer, explaining employees’ health care costs: a prospective examination of stressful job demands, personal control, and physiological reactivity. J Appl Psychol, 2001. 86(5): p. 954-64.

6. van Eck, M.M.S., et al., The Effects of Perceived Stress, Traits, Mood States, and Stressful Daily Events on Salivary Cortisol. Psychosomatic Medicine September/October 1996. 58(5): p. 447-458.

7. Takkouche, B., C. Regueira, and J.J. Gestal-Otero, A cohort study of stress and the common cold. Epidemiology, 2001. 12(3): p. 345-9.

8. Heikkila, K., et al., Job strain and health-related lifestyle: findings from an individual-participant meta-analysis of 118,000 working adults. Am J Public Health, 2013. 103(11): p. 2090-7.

9. Doi, Y., M. Minowa, and T. Tango, Impact and correlates of poor sleep quality in japanese white-collar employees. Sleep, 2003. 26(4): p. 467-71.

10. Goetzel, R.Z., et al., Ten modifiable health risk factors are linked to more than one-fifth of employer-employee health care spending. Health Aff (Millwood), 2012. 31(11): p. 2474-84.

11. Serxner, S.A., D.B. Gold, and K.K. Bultman, The impact of behavioral health risks on worker absenteeism. J Occup Environ Med, 2001. 43(4): p. 347-54.

12. Avey, J.B., J.L. Patera, and B.J. West, The Implications of Positive Psychological Capital on Employee Absenteeism. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 2006. 13(2): p. 42-60.

13. Sweetman, D., et al., Relationship between Positive Psychological Capital and Creative Performance. Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l’Administration/Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 2011. 28(1): p. 4-13.

14. Walumbwa, F.O., et al., AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG LEADER AND FOLLOWER PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL, SERVICE CLIMATE, AND JOB PERFORMANCE. Personnel Psychology, 2010. 63(4): p. 937-963.

15. Gooty, J., et al., In the eyes of the beholder: Transformational leadership, positive psychological capital and performance. Journal of Leadership and Organization Studies, 2009. 15(4): p. 353-367.

16. Luthans, F., et al., The development and resulting performance impact of positive psychological capital. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 2010. 21(1): p. 41-67.

17. Krause, N., et al., Psychosocial job factors and return-to-work after compensated low back injury: a disability phase-specific analysis. Am J Ind Med, 2001. 40(4): p. 374-92.

18. Krause, N., et al., Psychosocial job factors, physical workload, and incidence of work-related spinal injury: a 5-year prospective study of urban transit operators. Spine (Phila Pa 1976), 1998. 23(23): p. 2507-16.

19. Canivet, C., et al., Can high psychological job demands, low decision latitude, and high job strain predict disability pensions? A 12-year follow-up of middle-aged Swedish workers. Int Arch Occup Environ Health, 2013. 86(3): p. 307-19.

20. Kadzielski, J.J., A.G. Bot, and D. Ring, The influence of job satisfaction, burnout, pain, and worker’s compensation status on disability after finger injuries. J Hand Surg Am, 2012. 37(9): p. 1812-9.

21. Luthans, F., et al., The mediating role of psychological capital in the supportive organizational climate—employee performance relationship. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2008. 29: p. 219–238.

22. Christian, M.S., A.S. Garza, and J.E. Slaughter, WORK ENGAGEMENT: A QUANTITATIVE REVIEW AND TEST OF ITS RELATIONS WITH TASK AND CONTEXTUAL PERFORMANCE. Personnel Psychology, 2011. 64(1): p. 89-136.

23. Andrew Shatte, Ph.D., Adam Perlman, MD, MPH, Brad Smith, Ph.D., Wendy Lynch, Ph.D., The Positive Effect of Resilience on Stress and Business Outcomes in Difficult Work Environments. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

24. Andrew Shatte, Ph.D.; Adam Perlman, MD, MPH; Brad Smith, Ph.D.; Wendy Lynch, Ph.D., Improvements in Resilience, Stress, and Somatic Symptoms Following Online Resilience Training, a Dose-response Effect. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

25. Why Resilience Matters: Business Implications of the meQuilibrium Resilience Score. meQuilibrium. 2017.