Organizational resilience is defined by a business, program, or service provider’s ability to be adaptable, flexible, and proactive. It is necessary for leadership in organizations to create a culture that embraces the inevitable change of shifting priorities and market forces. Mind resilience helps establish this mindset by engaging employees in ways they feel valued, and putting their best talents to work. By maximizing and enhancing the skills of staff, who are an organization’s biggest resource, a business becomes invested in the well being of its workforce which in turn results in greater retention, productivity, and a positive environment to conduct business. Organizations, like individuals, are successful when they are resilient, resourceful, and interdependent.
What is Organizational Resilience?
Organizational Wellness Videos
BHA/MedChi Behavioral Health Webinar Series
Presented by Chalarra A. Sessoms, LCSW-C and Catherine Gray, LCSW-C, Moderated by Anny Hoyt, LCSW-C
05.26.22: Water the Roots: Strengthen Your Resilience
02.10.22: Nurture Your Well-Being: A Roadmap for Resilience
Factors Associated with Resilient Organizations
Goal: Elevating Staff Successes
Strategy 1
Start supervision sessions by discussing successes that occurred during the week. This shows staff that success is important enough to be first on the agenda.
Strategy 2
Circulate a monthly newsletter highlighting staff and program successes.
Strategy 3
Collaborate with Human Resources to include success stories in regular “brag newsletter.”
Goal: Shift the focus from incentivizing productivity to performance.
Strategy
Offer financial incentives for positive outcomes.
Goal: Promote broad involvement in leadership, build awareness of resilience and advocate for resilient language throughout your organization
Strategy 1
Staff participate in state, local, and organizational committees.
Strategy 2
Include local jurisdiction partners, such as CSA and Local Management Board staff, in resilience-focused meetings.
Goal: Empower staff by creating a forum for their voices to be heard Strategy: Conduct regular (i.e., annual) staff surveys on topics such as organizational strengths and needs, organizational climate, and organizational resilience.
Goal: Ensure that the voices of important stakeholders are heard.
Strategy 1
Conduct regular client satisfaction surveys including items focused on resilience.
Strategy 2
Questions are added to the standard consumer survey asking whether strengths were identified and/or addressed in treatment.
Strategy 3
Staff seek out and recognize client strengths. Parents/guardians are receptive to learning about or being reminded of client strengths.
Goal: Assess and evaluate organizational and client outcomes while engaging in continuous quality improvement.
Strategy
Utilize a formal system for tracking program outcomes including items focused on resilience. Disseminate results to directors, other staff, and interested stakeholders. Identify successes and improvement opportunities.
Interpersonal Support at Work
Goal: Knowing that the work we do is difficult, organizations increase their understanding of staff resilience
Strategy 1
Add questions about resilience to prospective employee interviews. The organization will better understand new staffs’ views on resilience and, in the long run, will have a more resilience-focused workforce.
Strategy 2
Staff resilience is measured at various time points during their employment.
Goal: Staff will be aware of their personal strengths and will utilize their personal strengths in their work.
Strategy: Assess strengths of staff. Identify signature strengths. Discuss how to use signature strengths at work. Discuss how to support staff in building additional strengths.
Goal: Elevate the accomplishments of successful staff and train a new generation of leaders to ensure continuity of successful practices
Strategy: Offer a Leadership Academy, where senior staff members mentor emerging staff leaders
Teach Everyone How to Manage Daily Stress
Goal: Formally promote staff self-care and contribute to a resilient organizational culture.
Strategy: Offer work-based programs that promote physical and emotional wellness, such as yoga, running/walking groups, nutritional seminars, and fitness challenges.
Goal: Job descriptions reflect staff competencies related to resilience. competencies.
Strategy: Staff collaborate with Human Resources to update job descriptions to include a resilience objective under employee competencies.
Goal: Staff is able to identify their signature strengths and the ways in which team members’ strengths complement one another and can be used in practice.
Strategy: Staff are introduced to the Values in Action (VIA) Character Strengths model and identify their signature strengths by completing a VIA survey
Goal: Staff improve their commitment to stress reduction activities and experience a decrease in stress levels.
Strategy 1
Team meetings start with a 5-minute self-care activity.
Strategy 2
Invite staff to participate in “Wellness Wednesday.” Eat lunch together and engage in a wellness activity such as walking, hula-hooping, or playing games.
Strategy 3
Involve staff in a group volunteering activity, for example with Habitat for Humanity.
Strategy 4
Offer coupons for wellness-based activities such as yoga.
Strategy 5
Bring in a massage therapist to provide staff with 10 minute free massages.
Strategy 6
Implement and track staff self-care activities organization-wide.
A Resilience Focus for your Work
Goal: Core concepts of resilience will be integrated into the organization’s policy and language.
Strategy: Evaluate current policies for resilience-approach and language. Incorporate new policies as necessary.
Goal: Identify strengths and resiliency in clients, families, and communities.
Strategy 1
Staff receive training to ensure knowledge of the resilience core concepts and how to measure them in children, youth and families.
Strategy 2
Use resilience measure. Click here to review suggested measures (Link to table Resilience Assessments).
Goal: Create goals and objectives that include use of client strengths and inspire growth of new resilience core components.
Strategy 1
Electronic treatment plan forms are revised to include strengths-based language and client strengths.
Strategy 2
Standardize strengths-based treatment goals based on a list/template for strengths-based goals compiled from review of intakes.
Goal: Identify new strengths and core resilience competencies as treatment progresses.
Strategy 1: Conduct on-going assessments using strength-based items.
Strategy 2: Treatment outcomes should reflect increased resilience.
Strategy 3: Strengths-based progress notes document strengths and how they are used during the session to support treatment.
Goal: Providing psychoeducation about strengths-based approaches
Strategy 1: Focus on self-care
Strategy 2: Build independent living skills
Strategy 3: Boost interactive skills with peers and authority figures
Strategy 4: Encourage social interaction
Strategy 5: Nurture engagement in activities that inspire cultural interests
Strategy 6: Teach conflict resolution and anger management
Strategy 7: Maintain personal safety in a social environment
Strategy 8: Support time management, including constructive use of structured and unstructured time
Goal: Staff improve their commitment to stress reduction activities and experience a decrease in stress levels.
Strategy 1
Team meetings start with a 5-minute self-care activity.
Strategy 2
Invite staff to participate in “Wellness Wednesday.” Eat lunch together and engage in a wellness activity such as walking, hula-hooping, or playing games.
Strategy 3
Involve staff in a group volunteering activity, for example with Habitat for Humanity.
Strategy 4
Offer coupons for wellness-based activities such as yoga.
Strategy 5
Bring in a massage therapist to provide staff with 10 minute free massages.
Strategy 6
Implement and track staff self-care activities organization-wide.
Articles on Organizational Resilience
Self-care and Well-being in Mental Health Professionals: The Mediating Effects of Self-awareness and Mindfulness
Kelly Richards, C. Campenni, and Janet Muse-Burke (2010) Self-care and Well-being in Mental Health Professionals: The Mediating Effects of Self-awareness and Mindfulness. Journal of Mental Health Counseling: July 2010, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 247-264.
Further Examination of the Properties of the Workplace Well-Being Questionnaire
Hyett, M. P., & Parker, G. B. (2015). Further Examination of the Properties of the Workplace Well-Being Questionnaire (WWQ). Social Indicators Research, 124(2), 683–692.
Conceptions of mental illness: attitudes of mental health professionals and the general public
Stuber, J. P., Rocha, A., Christian, A., & Link, B. G. (2014). Conceptions of mental illness: attitudes of mental health professionals and the general public. Psychiatric Services (Washington, D.C.), 65(4), 490–7.
Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Empathy Among Health Care Professionals: A Review of the Literature
Kelley Raab (2014) Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Empathy Among Health Care Professionals: A Review of the Literature, Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 20:3, 95-108
The Impact of Mind–Body Medicine Facilitation on Affirming and Enhancing Professional Identity in Health Care Professions Faculty
Talisman, N., Harazduk, N., Rush, C., Graves, K., & Haramati, A. (2015). The impact of mind-body medicine facilitation on affirming and enhancing professional identity in health care professions faculty. Acad Med, 90(6), 780–784.