A resilience committee event
One of the best ways to foster individual and team resilience in the workplace is to form a resilience committee.
Resilience committees can be invaluable because they reflect employees’ needs and organizational culture. They can provide leaders with a more accurate picture of how the staff is doing. And, they often come up with very creative and effective ways to foster resilience across the organization.
For several years I ran a committee that fostered resilience among staff and students at the State Department's training institute. We organized weekly meditation, therapy dogs, Lunch & Learn events, and other activities that promoted resilience and wellbeing.
Here are lessons I learned on how to have a successful resilience committee in your workplace:
Identify a Strong Committee Chair
You need a committee chair who will keep the team functioning by running productive meetings and maintaining focus. It is also crucial that the chair be able to communicate effectively with senior leaders to obtain the necessary resources and support for committee activities. The chair may also need to provide valuable feedback to senior leaders about actions that enhance and hinder resilience.
Recruit a Diverse Membership
Recruit members from various work units, with a range of work experiences, ages, and other demographics. The more diverse your membership, the more inclusive and impactful the committee will be.
Hold Regularly Scheduled Meetings
If you have a recurring calendar entry, resilience committee meetings are more likely to take place. Otherwise, we all get overwhelmed by our day-to-day work, and it is easy to let the resilience committee meetings fall by the way-side. If there is too much time between meetings, you'll waste time regrouping and getting back your focus.
Develop a Mission Statement and Project Charter
It helps to have a mission statement and project charter that identifies the committee's purpose, goals, and stakeholders. This way, when committee members are tempted to broaden their scope, you can use the mission statement and charter to stay focused. It will also help introduce new members to the committee's mission and goals.
Have a Budget
Leadership needs to provide a budget to the committee so that members know how much they can spend on events. A budget frees the committee from having to request funds for every activity, a constraint which can discourage members from proposing ideas that come with a cost.
Brand Yourself
Consider developing a logo and brand that helps promote committee activities. Think about how you can brand the committee to be more visible and influential.
Be Practical
The committee will need to work within resource constraints (both funding and peoples' time). It's better to do a few projects well than lots of activities that overwhelm the volunteers.
Here are things to watch out for that may reduce the effectiveness of your resilience committee:
Inactive Members
You want members who will volunteer to help organize events. Don't let your committee be one with 20 members, only two of whom do all the work.
Move Beyond the Idea Phase
There are hundreds of great ideas for enhancing resilience in the workplace. Committee meetings can quickly become all about brainstorming new ideas. Some members may generate lots of ideas without wanting to commit to the work it takes to implement their suggestions. While having brainstorming is essential, it is critical that the committee transition from ideas to operations so that a few of those great ideas get implemented.
It’s Not a Social Committee
While socializing can improve team resilience, make sure your committee doesn't merely become the social committee for your organization. Only having social events will reduce the group's impact and risk losing its focus on resilience.
Don't Wait
If you think you need a resilience committee, start one. Don't wait for someone else to take the lead. While it takes time and energy to develop a well-functioning committee, the payoffs in productivity and effectiveness are well worth it.
Have you been on a resilience committee? What worked or didn’t work for you?
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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.