As a change practitioner, you’ve probably seen the impact of major change on your team’s or department’s productivity. Humans have a limited capacity to absorb the disruption that change creates. When an individual faces more demand for change than he or she can absorb, the result is an increase in dysfunctional behavior.

To adapt successfully, individuals must increase their speed of change. I’m not talking about the velocity at which things around them are changing, but rather how fast they can recover from their own disrupted expectations. When people are able to function at their optimum speed of change, they can absorb significant disruption with minimal dysfunction. The key to increasing a person’s speed of change is resilience.

Resilient people are no less vulnerable than others to the stresses of change. They can’t prevent disruptions, but the results of a change are often more fruitful and less damaging for them. Resilient people bounce back quickly; they do not become victims of change.

Resilient people usually prosper during disorder and disruption. They also face no fewer challenges than others when confronting a crisis, but compared to people in future shock, they:

• Regain their balance faster
• Achieve more of their objectives
• Maintain a higher level of quality and productivity in their work
• Preserve their physical and emotional health

Resilient people show nimbleness and hardiness in the face of adversity. They reflect an elasticity that allows them to remain relatively calm in unstable environments. They can spring back repeatedly after being subjected to the stresses of change. In fact, when resilient people face the ambiguity, anxiety, and loss of control that come with major change, they tend to grow stronger rather than be depleted.

Resilient people, like everyone else, feel fearful during change, but they meet their goals on time while not losing quality. In the face of uncertainty, they tend to achieve their objectives and maintain their physical and emotional health.

In our work at Conner Partners^® we have uncovered five characteristics related to an individual’s ability to thrive during change. Over the next few posts, I’m going to write about these characteristics and the resources that are available to develop and support resilience in yourself and others.

Here are the five characteristics:

• Positive: Resilient people display a sense of security and self-assurance that is based on their view of life as complex, but filled with opportunity.
• Focused: Resilient people have a clear vision of what they want to achieve.
• Flexible: Resilient people demonstrate a special pliability when responding to change.
• Organized: Resilient people develop structured approaches to managing change.
• Proactive: Resilient people engage change rather than defending against it.

What’s your experience? Do you feel like you are a resilient person? Is it difficult to deal with those who aren’t? In my next post, I’ll look more closely at each of the five characteristics.

Next: Five Aspects of Resilience

Go to the beginning of this series.