Building a Resilient Workforce: Managing Change
Recently I attended a thought provoking presentation at The New York Human Resource Planning Society on Developing Resilience at Astra Zeneca. The presenters were Dr.Linda Hoopes, President of Resilience Alliance and Joseph Fletcher, Learning and Organizational Effectiveness Partner at Astra Zeneca.
I’m stating the obvious when I say we live in turbulent times where change is the norm. As we’ve all experienced, change can be disruptive especially in the workplace.
AstraZeneca one of the leading pharmaceutical companies has taken significant steps to help their employees adapt to an ongoing stream of change. In collaboration with Dr. Hoopes, they have developed and delivered programs to their employees on personal resilience to help alleviate the related debilitating stress that accompanies it. By taking a web-based questionnaire their employees gained insight into their resilience strengths and weaknesses, and received scores on the dimensions related to effective adaptation to disruptive change.
What I liked about what I heard is that these programs go beyond the usual change management programs that teach people how to merely cope with disruption in the workplace and focuses more on learning the skills required to successfully
People who are able to successfully cope with disruptive change have these five characteristics:
- They are Positive (about the world and self) and are able to frame the unknown into possibilities.
- They remain Focused during times of ambiguity and confusion.
- By being Flexible both internally in their thoughts and externally with others, they can create possibilities rather than see things in black or white.
- They put order and structure to chaos by being Organized. They use their “energy by putting systems and discipline to good use.
- In the face of adversity they take a risk by being Pro-active. They don’t wait – they make things happen.
How resilient are your employees? It may be time to find out.
