Dear Members and Friends

There's lots of talk about how we all need to build resilience. This week fellow member Vadivu of Joy Works shares some research-backed tips for us to implement. Read Vadivu's message below.

My team and I wish all our Muslim members and friends a very happy Hari Raya Aidilfitri on the 15th! Maaf zahir dan batin.

With warmest regards
Victor Mills
Chief Executive

Cultivating Resilience amidst Tsunamis

After the March 2011 tsunami, Sue Plumb Takamoto found broken pottery pieces strewn on the ground in a park she was clearing. She asked herself, "What if we could make something beautiful from this devastation?" So, the Nozomi Project began by enabling a community of women to make jewelry and craft items from the broken pottery. The project enables women to be resilient, adapt and make something good out of tragedy.

Whether we face tsunami-like waves of change in our organizations or smaller difficulties, our team members can draw from such inspiration.

Here are four research-backed ways to cultivate resilience:

• Enable caring and supportive relationships. Such relationships bolster resilience according to the American Psychological Association. If the relationships in your organisation are transactional and negative, it would be hard for people to turn to each other for support.

• Create a culture where people experience more positive emotions. Positive emotions expert Dr. Barbara Fredrickson has found that positive emotions mitigate stress, fuel post-crisis growth, enable us to see more possibilities and come up with more ideas. We need all these capabilities in challenging times.

• Support staff to understand and use their strengths. In particular, strengths specialist group CAPP UK has found that the strength of adventure is linked with high resilience. Help teammates step out of their comfort zone.

• Inspire your staff to connect in an authentic and meaningful way to your organisation's purpose and mission so they value it. Engagement and resilience grow when this happens.