Resilience is a Dynamic Rather Than a Fixed Part of Personality
So are you saying that there are not resilient or stress resistant types?
Many business like to look for stress resilient people or try to build resilience. This research out ofNorth Caroline State university, from July this year says we are underestimating the dynamic nature of resilience.
Tell me more…
The researchers followed 314 students over 12 weeks in a marching band (so a voluntary organisation requiring commitment of time and recourses) and collected data each week. They found that stress and commitment fluctuated more than they expected.
But surely, my brain is screaming out, some people are just more resilient than others, we all know some people who can weather the most stressful moments?!
Yes, that is the intuitive feeling. They, and I, am not saying that there aren’t any contributing characteristics just that it is less than most people assume. For example, the researchers, and we have in our research, found that emotional stability predicts stress responses.
Anything else interesting?
Yes, experiences over time influence commitment to an organisation. So in this particular study commitment was higher for the newcomers. But also resilience then fluctuated based on experiences with the organisation over time.
Also chronic stress wears down resilience over time. So people can start off resilient but this can slowly erode. Or resilient people can become non-resilient people.
So what about corporate annual surveys?
Well, as I’ve said for many years, these are only snapshot, and not a very good one, and this backs this up. There are personality traits influencing it, daily experiences, length of tenure, and past experiences also.
Shouldn’t we have dynamic measurement of satisfaction and commitment?
Absolutely — we have actually proposed this and developed a system for this but it is difficult to convince corporations to break their habit of annual reviews which cost a lot of time and money and normally with little actual action.
So the take away?
Manage commitment as a dynamic process rather than an annual survey!
Reference:
Patrick J. Flynn, Paul D. Bliese, M. Audrey Korsgaard, Cormac Cannon.
Tracking the Process of Resilience: How Emotional Stability and Experience Influence Exhaustion and Commitment Trajectories.
Group & Organization Management, 2021; 105960112110276
DOI: 10.1177/10596011211027676
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