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Daily life often tests our resilience without us even blinking and we can be left vowing to react to situations differently “the next time around”. In the workplace this is common. Emotional resilience can be as important as knowing how to turn your computer on when you arrive at the office.

Our working lives are fuelled with situations that have the potential to become emotional. Criticism, deadlines, challenges, changes, boredom and lack of confidence are just some of the situations we can find ourselves dealing with at work.

Negativity can cloud our thinking and our ability to make good decisions leading us to be unproductive. If not handled well our reactions and emotions can hinder us from contributing effective concepts, strategies and ideas. Colleagues, customers and clients will feel the ‘flow on’ effect from your negative vibes and the result can be uncomfortable, disastrous even, for your career.

Many business people, especially young people, haven’t experienced the workplace in such a tough financial climate before.  For the past 15 years or so the business climate has been, for the most part, buoyant. 

With so much emphasis on our working lives such as income, skills, training and study, promotions, etc, it’s ever more important to learn how to develop emotional resilience and process our emotions. In turn we will be healthier, happier and more productive.

The first step to becoming more emotionally resilient is to acknowledge there's room for improvement and take the time to learn more about yourself.  The following behaviours and attitudes are some ways in which emotional resilience can be demonstrated:

Have attainable expectations and goals: Assess your goals and whether they are still attainable. Circumstances change and a goal that might have been realistic two years ago may not be as easy to achieve anymore. Goals exist to keep us on the right track and to give us a clear path forward. When your goals start to conjure feelings of stress rather than optimism, then it may be time to reassess your goals.

Use your judgment and problem solving skills: In any tough situation, it's easy for us to give up rather than confront the problem head on. You'll find that if you take the time to take a step back to think about your problem logically then you'll often be able to think of ways which will help you cope. It may also be useful to talk your problems out loud with a colleague or mentor. Having an outsider's perspective will allow you touch on areas you may have missed.

Be responsible and thoughtful rather than impulsive: When we act on whim, usually we haven’t thought about the consequence and as a result are left to clean up the mess of our quick thinking decision. When we take responsibility for our actions, we learn to act with care rather than haste. If you make this a part of your thought process, you will find that you won’t be making an already difficult situation worse.

Be an effective communicator with good people skills: When we communicate with others, we allow ourselves to put things in order. Communicating can allow us to feel validated in our thought process, give a sense of accomplishment and other positive feelings that will help us deal with situations where our emotions come into play.

Be empathetic toward other people: Care about how others around you are feeling. Whether it be for your clients, customers, colleagues or managers, having a social conscience and caring about the welfare of others allows you to understand that they too have emotions and you’re not the only one. This in itself will make you feel strong, just by knowing that you’re not alone.

Be optimistic rather than pessimistic: When times are tough, this tip is obviously easier said than done. When confronted with a negative situation, consciously stop yourself from thinking about the negatives whatsoever. Concentrate on the positives such as what you can learn from the situation and how you can grow.

Learn from past experience to avoid repeat mistakes: There will be many times when your emotional resilience will be put to the test, and more often than not, it will be a scenario that you have been through before. When confronted with this situation again, think back to how you handled it. In hindsight, could you have handled it better? Mistakes in life can sometimes be necessary, as long as we learn from them.

When it comes to the workforce, not only do we need skill, but we need to skillfully manage our wellbeing, our emotions and the emotions of others. Developing emotional resilience and awareness in a variety of situations is vital for your ongoing survival and ability to thrive. This will ultimately help you achieve goals, communicate with and manage other people, and spring back emotionally after suffering through a difficult and stressful time.

Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more. Visit www.barrett.com.au