Resilience: working in a 24/7 world
4th May 2016
This is a guest post from Rob Conolly, Director’?at BiteSize Learning.
The speed and intensity of working lives have been accelerating in recent years and we are now at a point where operating in a 24/7 office has become the norm.
The unspoken expectation that we will be??on call’?electronically, that we will reply to emails almost as soon as they flash up on our screens and that we will continue to perform with diminishing resources, seems to be acceptable.
Developing and maintaining a workforce that understands these issues and learns to manage them has never been so important to businesses that need to stay competitive.
Our clients are picking up on this trend to the point where Resilience became one of the top two of BiteSize Learning’??s most requested programmes in the last 12 months.
There are two truisms about the negative effects of the demands imposed on us in today’??s working life: they’??re bad for your health and they’??re unavoidable in today’??s demanding and unpredictable world. Yet several studies have proven that intermittent periods of stress can be good for you and are necessary to perform well. So what’??s the answer??’?
Resilience is the ability to cope with stress, bounce back from difficulties and remain positive. Resilience expert Janice Benning describes resilience as your??bounce-backability’?? and, in conjunction with BiteSize Learning, has developed a practical programme featuring tips and techniques to help develop resilient behaviours.
It became clear after launching the programme that we needed to develop an elearning version. Clients were coming to us explaining that they had staff based in multiple sites who needed to benefit from the programme, clients were asking for refreshers of the content and they also wanted to offer the learning to their staff whenever they wanted.
The 30-minute elearning programme explains the understanding about resilience and the science and biology around the causes of stress. It goes on to provide techniques to develop greater resilience through managing the mind and body; these are all practical techniques that can be used as soon as the programme has been completed. The content also includes two audio sections to teach participants relaxation techniques and how to conduct a body scan.
There is a certain irony in producing an elearning programme about resilience which takes only 25% of the time needed to complete the regular Resilience programme: Even learning how to bounce back is now more time-efficient!
Now, get back to work!
For more information on BiteSize Learning’s Resilience programme head to the Bitesize website.
Marshall E-Learning’??s Stress Management course helps employees make positive action now, and your organisation will be better equipped to manage the pressures and stresses of the current difficult climate, which can help to boost productivity, too. Find out more now.
