Is the workforce of today mentally tough enough to face the challenges ahead and are we more or less, mentally resilient than the workforces of 50 years ago? These are some of the questions explored in this month’s show.
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Dr Peter Clough, Head of Psychology at the University of Hull has been working with Doug Strycharczyk, Managing Director of Business Consultants AQR, to identify why some people are better able to deal with pressure and stress than others. To help them with this quest, they have developed a 48 item mental toughness questionnaire which measures the 4 key components of mental toughness. They both talk to me about the importance of mental toughness in the workplace.
Doug describes the term ‘mental toughness’ as the ‘quality which determines in large part, how a person deals with stress, pressure and challenge in a workplace or indeed anywhere, irrespective of the circumstances’. He believes the way each of us deals with daily stress and pressure is largely determined by our individual mental toughness.
Mental toughness is an important skill in the workplace and it’s 4 component parts are:
CONTROL, CONFIDENCE , CHALLENGE AND COMMITTMENT
Doug also talks about the benefits of measuring the toughness levels of both individulas and teams, in order to help them perform better in the workplace.
What has become clear from Dr Peter Clough’s research is, that people who are more mentally tough, perform better in high stress environments and not only do they cope better with the pressure, but often relish it.
Peter’s research has also shown that there is a strong genetic component to mental toughness and some people are born tougher than others. However, for those who are naturally less mentally tough, there are techniques available to enable them to deal more effectively with pressure. This is achieved using psychological skills training derived from sports including:
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VISUALISATION
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RELAXATION
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GOAL-SETTING
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BIO FEEDBACK
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GETTING INTO THE FOCUSSED ZONE
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ATTENTIONAL CONTROL
Peter believes that when someone is under pressure, their ability to make realistic decisions tends to disintegrate and remaining calm, means you can deal with pressure a lot better. His view is that times are actually less stressful now that they were 50 years ago, but we are less able to deal with stress. This is because we seem to be scared of stress and it’s seen as a bad thing. In his opinion, stress in not a bad thing, in fact for many successful people, stress is a major motivator and being just outside your comfort zone allows you to develop yourself as an individual. Most people will choose a more stressful career because they see it as developing themselves.
The benefits of having a mentally tough workforce are:
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ABLE TO PERFORM IN HIGH STRESS SITUATIONS
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KEEP MAKING REALISTIC DECISIONS
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OFTEN DRAWN TOWARDS CHANGE
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BE DRIVEN TOWARDS CONTINOUS IMPROVEMENT
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SEE CHALLENGE AS AN OPPORTUNITY NOT A THREAT
The mental toughness of an individual can be assessed and the best way to do this is by using a multi method approach including, experience, interviews in groups, and psychometrics. Although most employers require resilience and general toughness in an employee, Peter believes that the question they need to ask, is do they actually need it.
If you would like to find out more about Peter and Doug’s work you can contact them on 01244 572050 or via the AQR website at www.aqr.co.uk
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