Author: Dr Milan Hosta, Consultant, Resilience Institute Global

Preparing a yearly or quarterly business plan is certainly a challenging task. One has to forecast based on previous experiences, current status and forthcoming trends. However, the global economy has never been so interconnected and it seems that the more we think in organic terms, the better the understanding of the business environment is, and the more globally interconnected we are, the more it becomes clear that without social and environmental justice, no common wellbeing can be achieved. Like in the embodied presence. If one part of the body or an organ doesn't feel or work well, it impacts the overall sense and even the performance of the whole. It is of no surprise that we identified in 2020 that an ability to bounce back, the feeling of fulfilment and presence are coming forth as very important resilience factors in corporate culture. Without reflection and assessment of these factors, the game plan might not work out well for employees.

The ability to bounce back is an inherent and learned set of skills to sense deformation, depression, disconnection or vulnerability at any level of our awareness: physical, emotional, mental or spiritual. We are sentient and animated beings by default. Without finely-tuned senses, we cannot orient ourselves well and move consciously and effectively towards a desired goal. Therefore, the core ability to sense and evaluate stress is of crucial importance. Once we are fully present in the moment, we can successfully assess the quality and quantity of stress and understand where it is coming from and what our response should be. Feelings of tiredness and lack of energy are common in the workplace due to the basic cyrcadian (24-hour) and ultradian (shorter period, higher frequency) rhythms of every living organism. Employees are often in a position to deny and disconnect from such feelings due to the working norms or competitive corporate culture, or perhaps due to their learned coping mechanisms from early childhood. However, for some, this may be of minor importance but in the long run it may lead toward chronic fatigue syndrome, moody behaviour, lack of meaning, limited attention, weak communication and perforated team spirit.

These "soft-skills" are usually not on the priority list when designing a business plan. Luckily, awareness regarding the quality of the workplace is growing and coaching services that can support employees on the path to better resilience are also gaining momentum. As our study has shown, there are huge benefits for all stakeholders if resilience in the workplace is well facilitated.

Tensegrity is a term which is trendy in somatic and neuro-kinetic bodywork practices, underlying the fascia as a fine connective tissue that is actually balancing the parts of the body and serves as a very effective and fast communication channel. A kind of inner wi-fi that is available to any organ or tissue to download or upload and share important information.   

Such connective tissue, following the organic analogy, should also be present in every workplace. This may be the person who communicates well and is concerned about the wellbeing of others. When I  worked at the Faculty of Sport, this was a doorkeeper, she knew everything and everyone and she was the person to whom you could always complain or share some idle chat and daily jokes. She was the real informer, transmitter and a compass for lost souls. Today, this is the role of the HR department, closely observing and detecting human relations and not only as work resources. The atmosphere!

The challenge for 2022 is to secure personal and work-related resilience and flow. Since this is a very noble goal to pursue, we will take the opportunity to inform our readers about various trends, research and practices that provide some bio-hacking and mind-hacking tools, ground-breaking ideas, and successful strategies to power-up our lives.

Source of head image: Resilience Institute (https://resiliencei.com/)