As I explore the resilience equations, I want to view them today through the lens of Life Satisfaction.
During my ongoing studies, I have made two interesting discoveries so far about the relationship between resilience and life satisfaction.
- Resilience and Life Satisfaction are interconnected. Research suggests that enhanced satisfaction with life is associated with increased resilience, and vice versa.
- “Out of the two indicators of health and well-being, a stronger relationship was found between a paramedic’s satisfaction with life and resilience than with general health.” (Gayton and Lovell, 2012)
What is life satisfaction?
Before we delve deeper into those two discoveries, I would like to reflect on the term’ life satisfaction’ and what I believe it entails. Gayton and Lovell’s paper stated, “because one’s satisfaction with their life does incorporate job satisfaction, efforts to enhance resilience in the workplace may lead to better overall life satisfaction and increased well-being.”
Yes, life satisfaction incorporates job satisfaction. My first thought, after reading this, however, was that in professional settings we often see things through the professional and corporate lens only. Over the years, I witnessed leaders avoid considering anything outside of the work setting, unless we discuss the so-called work-life balance. (I don’t like this term because it reinforces our segregated view of the professional person versus the private person.)
We need to dare to broaden our perspective and consider how people’s personal lives impact their professional resilience and ultimately their performance. If we find it challenging to engage with people’s personal lives, we may discover that our own personal stressors hinder us from extending a compassionate and supportive hand in our professional role, which reinforces my argument that our personal lives impact our professional lives. (If that is you, please work on it.)
Most people I have coached to enhance their EQ (Emotional Intelligence) within professional settings have actually identified most of their stressors outside of work. Broken relationships, challenges with partners and ex-partners, health challenges, past trauma, financial struggles, addictions, menopause, parenting, and navigating co-parenting, to name a few. Using performance coaching techniques does not address any of those issues.
From my coaching practice, I know how much of a difference investing in an employee’s personal development can make in a fairly short time. Just check the recommendations on my LinkedIn profile. And I also know that it doesn’t have to be complicated. During my Emotional Intelligence and Resilience courses, participants consistently relate the content to their personal lives, which suggests to me that the right approach to resilience-building kills two birds with one stone. It improves resilience and life satisfaction.
Now let’s look at the two discoveries I mentioned above.
Resilience and Life Satisfaction – when one improves or declines, the other does too
This discovery supports my approach to seeking a resilience-building and training approach that is fluid and not linear. We need to find a way that picks people up where they are and offers them support from a direction where it has the most impact. Often, organisations hire me to improve a certain behaviour of an employee, but I have learned not to focus on that issue. I always tell my clients that my coaching is 100% dedicated to them as a whole person and that I am open to coaching them through any part of their lives. I have this courage because I know that the personal development that we achieve in our lives will change our behaviour at work.
My training courses are also designed in a way that allows participants to apply the stories I tell to any part of their lives. A session from just a few days ago illustrates this well. People began to see how my story relates to their own lives and asked questions that helped them apply what they were learning to their own situations. The secret lies in the way the session is run. There is no rigid lesson plan, but a fluid approach to delivering the content matter so everyone finds themselves in it. Although the primary goal of the course is to enhance people’s resilience, it naturally improves their ability to manage challenges and relationships, ultimately leading to increased overall life satisfaction.
Relationship between life satisfaction and resilience stronger than with general health
This one was a surprise to me when I first read it.
Many initiatives aimed at improving resilience focus on the connection between mental health and physical health. However, Gayton and Lovell’s study suggests that life satisfaction has a greater impact on people’s resilience than their health. That makes a whole lot of sense. Many mental health challenges, including depression and anxiety, are a reflection of a lack of life satisfaction. Johann Hari puts it nicely in one of his TED talks, ‘If you’re depressed, if you’re anxious, you’re not weak, you’re not crazy. You’re not in the main a machine with broken parts; you’re a human being with unmet needs.’ He paraphrases here the World Health Organisation’s view. If we were to understand that a lot of our emotional and mental struggles stem from broken and dysfunctional relationships and the resulting disconnect from a supportive community, we would change our focus from mental health to social health.
In professional settings, there are numerous opportunities to invest in someone’s personal development. Many of those opportunities are missed during induction or foundational training, where we could utilise everyday teaching and scenarios to provide tools for processing stress and psychological impact. By doing so, we can also address personal struggles before they become a problem later on. As I mentioned earlier in this article, investing in personal development will positively impact their lives as a whole and, consequently, improve their overall life satisfaction in various aspects of their lives. And if their personal lives have healthier support structures, the employees come to work less stressed and more resilient in the first place.
Now let’s think one step further.
Imagine coming to work less stressed because of your improved life satisfaction. Which leadership skills do you think would improve without investing any more time?
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