In a key speech, famed civil rights activist Martin Luther King Junior once said: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” 

 

In today’s fast-paced, competitive business world, there’s absolutely no doubt about the importance of ‘moving forward,’ particularly when we consider many of the alarming statistics about business failure.

 

However, please also remember that pausing and reflecting are equally as important, as these reflections will enable to you to understand better HOW to move forward in the best way to suit you. That is why I define Resilience as ‘Springing Forward with Learning”.

In the UK, according to research by Fundsquire, a global start-up funding network, 20% of small businesses fail in their first year – and around 60% within the first three years.

 

Being a small business owner isn’t for the faint hearted - it takes a lot of passion, determination, motivation, and commitment.

 

Starting a business requires a certain set of skills, talent, knowledge, and business acumen.

 

But beyond this, small business owners also need to develop other traits — and often very quickly.

 

They must be willing to take risks and learn to adapt to changing priorities quickly.

 

Sometimes that means taking three steps forward and two steps back.

 

Making mistakes is inevitable.

 

But the wisdom of some of the greatest entrepreneurs has shown that mistakes are just as important as the things you get right. Moreover, mistakes can actually present some of the best opportunities for growth.

 

This is where one key business trait comes in – resilience.

 

The Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD) defines resilience as: “An individual’s ability to recover from, or stay well, in the face of adversity. In a work setting, this translates into an employee having the capacity to thrive, rather than just survive, in high stress environments.”

 

To give them this ‘capacity to thrive,’ more and more business leaders are realising the importance of introducing a ‘coaching culture’ into the workplace – equipping colleagues with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities they need to fully develop themselves to be effective in their commitment to themselves, the company, and their work.

 

Coaching your employees is a great way to approach improving both the individual performance of your employees and the overall performance of your business. In my previous blog I outlined how to implement a Coaching Culture within your organisation, which you may find useful.

 

It guides them with clear steps they need to take to reach particular goals and can be tailored to each individual employee’s needs; therefore, resulting in progression. It’s a method used to help employees feel less overwhelmed by the requirement for improved performance.

 

Employee coaching aims to improve performance in the workplace by focusing on specific skills and goals to make progress seem more achievable to employees. Quite often, as part of the performance coaching process, employees will experience improvements in other areas of their life, such as their ability to socialise, or in their overall self- confidence. For example, if an employee needs support in managing their stress whilst at work, then performance coaching can support them in reaching this goal. 

 

Coaching performance provides employees with useful strategies, KPIs and bespoke feedback for ways to reach their goals in the workplace, e.g. stress levels. This has significant impact on employees’ performance in the workplace, because they can handle the day-to-day stresses that inevitably occur without the quality of their work being affected. 

 

Look out for the final blog in my series around the subject of coaching – “The benefits of adopting a coaching culture in the workplace.”

 

If you require any further information in the meantime don’t hesitate to contact via Email: russell@theresiliencecoach.co.uk.