Hardiness: How to deal with the stress of change

Organizations the world over are still finding ways to pull up strings and deal with Covid-19. Unfortunately, this has meant that organizations have had to let go of their best talent in a bid to survive. Every day, I notice someone or the other trying to make a request on LinkedIn to help them get a suitable job and I can imagine how stressful this situation can be for them. Some industries like hospitality, travel and tourism, retail and even training and development have been more affected than others by this pandemic. To sum up, all of us are affected in varying degrees of magnitude.

This article is about a topic that can help anyone in a situation who has to deal with the stress of organizational change. It is about a behavioural attitude called “Hardiness”, which is a personality trait associated with a person’s ability to manage and respond to stressful life events .This in turn helps individuals turn unfortunate circumstances into learning opportunities. And it is an attitude I feel we all must imbibe in order to be resilient and work our way towards a positive future.

Dr. Salvatore Maddi is a psychologist and founder of the Hardiness Institute. In his 30 plus years of research on Hardiness was a landmark study at Bell Telephone. This organization was going through a tough patch and employees were left either being laid off or facing an uncertain future. Dr Maddi conducted in-depth interviews and discussions with employees to understand and observe how they dealt with this work stress.  The results of his study showed that employees who possessed “Hardiness” as an Attitude were the ones who could most successfully deal with the workplace stress in an effective way without hampering their mental health.

So, what does Hardiness comprise? The three traits that determine Hardiness are: Challenge, Control and Commitment. Challenge means seeing problems as opportunities. Individuals with this trait accept change as part of their life. Control refers to having confidence to create an action plan for yourself and making all efforts to achieve your final goal. It means looking at the positive aspect of every challenge and learning from past mistakes. Finally, Commitment,  involves being focussed to your dream/ goal .One must have the “never give up” attitude to win and excel in life.

Research has been conducted on individuals belonging to various occupations like athletes, soldiers, doctors, teachers, students, etc. and results show that the ones with the “hardiness” attitude thrive and survive. These are individuals who are problem solvers; who have a coping approach and quickly adapt to their surroundings to find innovative/ creative solutions to challenges that they come across. While this is easier said than done, I hope all of us learn and further develop this attitude as it will stand us in good stead.