Why do some people find it easier than others to successfully deal with difficult situations? The world is becoming increasingly complex and the (perceived) risks are becoming more and more diverse. Are there methods for overcoming countless crises and disasters? What helps in times of need and what makes things worse? The following section outlines the concepts that exist for increasing the resilience of people and systems. "Resilience" describes the ability to assert oneself despite adverse circumstances.
Stress and crises
Times have always been difficult. What is increasing is the speed of change. Everything is constantly changing. It is almost impossible to plan ahead. You have to constantly adapt—to different requirements and responsibilities, to your environment. In addition, the perceived uncertainty is growing. When several crises occur at the same time—possibly in different areas of life—people can feel overwhelmed or helpless. When it becomes too much, they break down and give up.
A SECO study from 2010 showed that around a third of the Swiss working population often feels stressed at work. It was found that high fragmentation and the speed of change at work are chronic stress factors. In addition, employees often lack orientation due to ongoing restructuring, organizational changes, unclear instructions and expectations, and emotional dissonance with colleagues and superiors. Individual crises add to these permanent stressors. At some point, the stress limit can be exceeded and people become resigned, feeling like victims.
In psychology, there is the vulnerability-stress model: a person's vulnerability depends in part on their resilience. When a vulnerable person finds themselves in a stressful situation, their ability to cope successfully is limited. The same stress is more likely to be coped with by someone with lower vulnerability. Vulnerability varies from person to person and can only be influenced to a limited extent. It therefore makes little sense to demand that sensitive people simply pull themselves together. If the stress becomes too great, psychological and physical disorders can occur, leading in extreme cases to chronic illnesses.
Detect overload
Various reactions and behaviors can indicate at an early stage that someone is overwhelmed (others or oneself). These include the following changes, which occur frequently:
- Fainting or feeling of loss of control
- refusal to make decisions
- Inability to recognize alternatives or new possibilities
- Refusing to acknowledge Repression
- Sticking to what you know (not trying anything new)
- Highly critical perception of reality
- Cynical and sarcastic remarks
- Energy loss and performance decline
- Low self-esteem
- Psychosomatic disorders
Anyone who notices such symptoms in themselves or others should seek or offer help.
resilience
The term "resilience" (Latin resilire = to bounce back) originally comes from materials science and describes elasticity or dimensional stability. Resilience is the measure of how well a material can return to its original shape. A sponge is very easily deformable up to a certain limit, whereas glass is not in its solid state.
Resilience is also used in other contexts: there are resilient systems (e.g., companies, economies) and individuals. This characteristic becomes apparent in extreme situations (such as crises or disasters). In this sense, resilience describes how long it takes to cope and recover.
From Jean de La Fontaine's (1621–1695) fable "The Oak and the Reed": I bend, but I do not break!
In psychology, resilience describes a person's ability to cope with adversity. When it is strong, people can overcome difficult phases in their lives with confidence and inner security without lasting impairment—and, ideally, even emerge from them stronger than before.
The term resilience encompasses all the strengths that people activate to cope with life in good times and especially in bad times. You can do this on your own or in cooperation with others. In difficult situations, the scope for action often becomes smaller. This leads to a stronger focus on the remaining options. Individuals do not generally have a high or low level of resilience. It depends on the specific circumstances in which someone finds themselves. Even if a person has coped well with a crisis at work, this does not mean that they will be equally resilient when faced with a personal tragedy (or vice versa). However, if someone is resilient, it is reasonable to hope that they will be able to deal successfully with a variety of difficulties, provided that the events do not accumulate or repeat themselves too often (e.g., several deaths in a family).
crisis management skills
It is easier to prepare for normative crises (starting school, puberty, marriage, menopause, retirement, death, etc.) than for individual crises (divorce, dismissal, illness/accident, etc.), which often occur unexpectedly. It is necessary to deal with crises actively (turning adversity into opportunity). You are forced to change your previous strategy and let go. This opens up new space and new opportunities. There is also great creative power in a crisis. However, it usually requires a lot of patience and a positive inner attitude. It is also often helpful to change your perspective or the way you interpret events.
The Chinese characters for "crisis" are composed of parts of the characters for "danger" and "opportunity." A crisis offers the opportunity to tackle new things and seize opportunities. It forces us to question the familiar and venture into the unknown.
Boris Grundl: "A crisis is nothing more than the compulsion to change."
Environmental factors: family, community, culture
Science has been studying resilience for a long time. A long-term study (Emmy Werner, University of California, Kauai Study, published in 1977) involving nearly 700 people who were followed from childhood to old age and interviewed repeatedly showed that, as expected, children in difficult circumstances develop less well than those without traumatic experiences. However, it also proves that a considerable proportion of the inhabitants of Kauai (Hawaii) have developed successfully despite a variety of stresses.
The Kauai study yielded astonishing results: despite some precarious events in childhood and adolescence, around one-third of the people studied developed into capable, confident, and caring adults. At the age of forty, they had the lowest rates of health problems, divorce, and death. In addition, none of them had come into conflict with the law or received social welfare benefits. The people looked to the future with confidence and showed compassion for those in need. Approximately one-third of the population studied thus proved to be above average in terms of resilience.
The environment was important:
- How does a culture deal with difficulties and failures?
- How strong is the sense of community?
- How do you deal with mistakes or failure?
- How is man separated from the thing?
- What shared values and principles are practiced?
- How is the world perceived and how are events interpreted?
Apparently, the behavior of fellow human beings is very important to those affected. This applies not only to each individual as part of society, but also to organizations in particular. If you are responsible for other people, for example as a parent, teacher, leader , you should offer help and create the conditions for others to overcome their crisis as successfully as possible.
Personal factors: cognitive and emotional
In addition to the environment, individual strengths are crucial in determining how resilient people can be. Resilience depends, among other things, on these cognitive factors:
- Intelligence and education
- Personal values and principles
- The way individuals interpret reality and recognize meaning
Emotional factors are also important, such as:
- Tolerance for uncertainty
- Ability to control emotions and actions
- Ability to self-assess
- self-efficacy
- Ability to build relationships
- Attitude toward problems (problem fixation Result Orientation)
The list shows that there is a lot that can be changed. Resilience can be developed to a certain extent. You can consciously change your own thinking and inner attitude. The famous neurologist and psychiatrist Victor E. Frankl described the importance of meaning in life in his books. He survived years of torture in concentration camps thanks to his inner attitude ("will to meaning"). You can determine for yourself how you think about something and how you interpret it. Because it is not what we experience, but how we feel about what we experience and how we deal with it that determines our fate.
Focus on what can be changed
We can complain about everything, but that doesn't do us much good. If you want to successfully overcome problems, you should focus on what can be changed and what you can influence.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790): "While we cannot control everything that happens to us, we can control what happens within us."
Author Stephen R. Covey (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) distinguishes between three areas of interest with potential for influence, which he represents with concentric circles, from the outside in:
- Circle of Concern, 0 percent (Concern: Area that cannot be influenced – especially the past)
- Circle of Influence, 50 percent (Influence: Area in which you can (partially) make your own decisions – you are still dependent on others)
- Circle of Control, 100 percent (Control: Area for which one should responsibility full responsibility . Own attitude and focus on what one can change – one only has direct control over oneself)
Of course, you should proactively strive to expand your inner circles in order to gain more freedom of action and opportunities for success.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971): "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
Develop resilience
Even if crises cannot always be avoided, even if problems are dealt with in a timely manner, it is at least possible to prepare for difficult times. Resilience can be developed by taking care of yourself and your environment at an early stage. Our inner attitude, how we think and feel, should be optimized.
In our management training courses, we recommend "cleansing the soul." In addition, you can build a strong network that will support you when your own capacity is insufficient. This does not refer to social networks on the internet, but rather family, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, coworkers, and communities that can help when needed.
You should admit to yourself that you cannot solve all problems on your own. In addition, everyone reacts differently to crises. What is too much for one person may be easy for another to cope with. And just because someone has overcome one challenge does not mean that the same person will be able to cope with other difficulties.
Resilience is not an innate personality trait, but rather a set of skills. It can be acquired at any age. Resilience works much like a muscle: it can be trained. Self-confidence is strengthened by successfully dealing with difficult life challenges. Resilience grows—within limits—precisely because it is put to use. However, as with a muscle, excessive strain leads to weakness. And too short breaks cause overtraining – performance declines. People must be given the opportunity to recover sufficiently from setbacks. The statement, "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger," does not apply in general.
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