Everywhere you go within organisations today, leaders are discussing opportunities to increase their resilience and that of their team. Leaders want their teams to be able to “bounce back” and manage adversity much more effectively. Many are preaching to us about creating resilient individuals and a resilient workforce. But is resilience alone really enough?

Is it simply enough to recover after adversity strikes? Is it enough to simply “survive”? Or should we be setting the bar much higher? How can we actually THRIVE in a constantly changing environment? The current VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) landscape we live and work in means that we not only have to respond when adversity strikes us, we have to be able to thrive within a landscape where challenges and change are constant. The question is, are leaders and their teams equipped to deal with this “new normal”? Leaders need to be confident to be able to manage constant challenges and “get comfortable with being uncomfortable”. For this we need more than resilience, we need Mental Toughness.

Mental Toughness incorporates the concept of resilience but adds in two very important additions. These additions are our confidence and our ability to not only manage and thrive in challenging circumstances, but to see challenge as an opportunity.

A Mentally Tough individual is focused on making things happen without being distracted by their own or other peoples’ emotions. Research demonstrates high mental toughness explains up to 25% of the variation in attainment with respect to performance. Mentally Tough individuals are generally more engaged, more positive and have a more “can do” attitude. They also report higher levels of well being, better stress management and less bullying and are more positive to change.

Mental Toughness can now be measured using the MTQ48. This is a valid and reliable psychometric tool which only takes 8-10 minutes to complete and provides a profile of overall mental toughness as well as scores on the 4Cs of Control, Commitment, Confidence and Challenge.

Leaders now have the opportunity to enhance their skills to embrace change and challenges and thrive in a VUCA environment and in turn, they can then assist their team to build these characteristics through dedicated training and coaching.

Want to know how to build your Mental Toughness and that of your team? Send me an email at michelle@bakjacconsulting.com to enquire about coaching and training to develop Mental Toughness in your team.