Leading Self: Mastering Change & Building Resilience

Leading Self through the Waves of Change

• Know your goal

• Watch the “winds”

• Manage with your strengths

• Maintain your balance

• Anchor on your values

• Hope for a better future

Building Resilience
Resilience is the ability to cope with and manage both ordinary and extraordinary life events, as well as
the ability to return to a healthy state of being.

“More than education, more than experience, more than training, a person’s level of resilience will
determine who succeeds and who fails. That’s true in the cancer ward, its true in the Olympics, and it is
true in the boardroom…” Diane L. Coutu

Characteristics of Personal Resiliency:

• A staunch acceptance of reality

• A deep belief that life is meaningful

• An uncanny ability to improvise

The 4A Strategy

For Confidential & Professional assistance, contact HD’s Work Life Coach
Global Hotline (65) 6494 0040
How resilient are you?
Scoring: "0" - "Not true for me at all"; "5" - "Very true for me"

No. Items Score

1 Adapt quickly. Good at bouncing back from difficulties.

Optimistic, see difficulties as temporary, expect to overcome them and have things
2
to turn out well.

3 In a crisis I calm myself and focus on taking useful actions.

4 Good at solving problems logically.

5 Can think up creative solutions to challenges. Trust intuition.

6 Playful, find the humor, laugh at self, chuckle.

7 Curious, ask questions, want to know how things work, experiment.

8 Constantly learn from experience and from the experiences of others.

Very flexible. Feel comfortable with inner complexity (trusting and cautious,
9
unselfish and selfish, optimistic and pessimistic, etc.)

10 Anticipate problems to avoid them and expect the unexpected.

11 Able to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty about situations.

Feel self-confident, enjoy healthy self-esteem, and have an attitude of

12
professionalism about work.

Good listener. Good empathy skills. "Read" people well. Can adapt to various
13
personality styles. Non-judgmental (even with difficult people).

Able to recover emotionally from losses and setbacks. Can express feelings to
14
others, let go of anger, overcome discouragement, and ask for help.

15 Very durable, keep on going during tough times. Independent spirit.

16 Have been made stronger and better by difficult experiences.

17 Convert misfortune into good fortune. Discover the unexpected benefit.

Total Score: ---------------------

For Confidential & Professional assistance, contact HD’s Work Life Coach
Global Hotline (65) 6494 0040
How resilient are you?
Interpretation of the score

70 or higher
You are indeed very resilient! You have the capacity to keep problems and pressures in perspective and
consistently show a high degree of optimism about your life. You probably find that others look to you
for affirmation and support and your positive outlook will allow you to be a support to others, without
disturbing your equilibrium.

60 - 70
You are doing better than most. You have a balanced approach to stress factors and have a degree of
confidence that difficult circumstances are temporary. You may feel somewhat "battered" at times, but
this allows you a high degree of empathy with others who experience difficulty. You need to be alert to
the possible emotional impact of supporting others who are struggling to cope with life. Make sure you
keep your own support systems alive and well and be ready to draw a line in the sand when demands on
you become too great.

50-60
You are doing OK, but you probably have about enough "fuel in the tank" for yourself and not much
more! You probably feel that better times are ahead, but not imminently. Take some time to think about
the things in life that bring you real joy and satisfaction. If it is difficult to identify these, think about the
times in life you have been most content and work out what made you happy then. There may be some
clues for the present.

40-50
You are struggling! This is a point at which you may find external help particularly useful. Coming back to
a more optimistic outlook may not be difficult from this point, with help, but you are in danger of
slipping into a negative frame of mind from which recovery will be longer and more difficult.

40 or under
Seek help! No "ifs" or "buts"! It is highly improbable that you can restore a balance to your sense of
mental health and well-being without some professional intervention. It is likely your feelings about life
will continue to decline, with each knock or bump pushing you further down. Problems, stresses and
pressures have assumed a proportion well above the level they warrant. Get help. Life can and will
improve if you are assisted to re-focus on what is important to you.

For Confidential & Professional assistance, contact HD’s Work Life Coach
Global Hotline (65) 6494 0040