Mastering challenges and working successfully: constant stress, demanding customers and constant change - all of this can quickly become overwhelming. Resilience and self-management are therefore essential skills for facing the daily challenges in the cosmetics industry with confidence.
Key players in the professional services industry work under constant deadline pressure and expect the highest quality,
adherence to deadlines and precision from themselves at all times - for the benefit of their customers. The rapidly changing framework conditions and an ever-increasing flood of information add to the pressure. Under constant pressure, it becomes apparent that some professionals cope better than others with this high workload. But why is that? One key lies in mental and emotional strength and the ability to recover quickly from stress and setbacks. This skill is also known as resilience. For auditors, resilience is far more than a buzzword - it is an essential ability to cope with the increasing demands while remaining healthy and confident.
Mrs F., head of department in an IT company, presents her plan for a strategic approach to a difficult negotiation, but colleague X brushes off her proposal in a harsh tone. Mrs F then flies off the handle and tells him off in front of the whole team. This is not the first time this has happened to her; she is considered unpredictable. As a result, hardly anyone dares to express their own opinion. This weakens the overall team performance. A fatal situation for Mrs F. in her role as a manager.
E-mails, digital meetings, LinkedIn messages - in today's working world, it is difficult or even impossible to escape the constant digital barrage. This is particularly true for managers, as they are subject to different requirements than employees. Being available until late in the evening or even at weekends is not uncommon, and the boundary between work and private life is often permeable. In addition, there is also a certain tendency towards self-exploitation: the great will to shape things in an often highly political environment, the enjoyment of power and responsibility and the pronounced work ethic, even to the point of self-endangerment, are just a few examples of this. For these reasons, resilience - and currently digital resilience in particular - is a critical aspect of leadership. This makes it all the more important that managers also pay attention to their own leadership, namely that of their own mental and emotional inner world. This is the key to being able to act with lasting resilience in the digital world of work.
In 2013 during the press conference to announce the mobile phone branch of NOKIA to be sold to Microsoft, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop ended his speech saying “We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost”. When he said that some claim to have seen tears in his eyes. I personally doubt that since he was also pretty relaxed about laying of half the employees of Nokia during this transaction. Maybe his package of 19M€ has helped him to overcome his pain. Anyway, one year later also he was fired from Microsoft.
Did you know that by far the largest program to enhance resilience has been launched by the US Army in 2009? With a budget of 140 million US dollars the initiative “Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness” aims to increase the mental and emotional strength of soldiers being deployed in war zones.
Resilience: good self-management in the times of Corona
The following chapter is an excerpt from the book “Coaching und seine Wurzeln” (Coaching and its Roots)
Leadership Choices became the first German coaching company to join the global B Corp movement in March 2024 - what's that all about?
Contrary to all attempts to flatten or even abolish hierarchies, they persist as an organizing principle in companies and corporations. Obviously, they fulfill an important function, regardless of whether they are imposed from above or developed informally through self-organization. Hierarchies seem to be indispensable to accomplish goals together with others. They fulfil not only an organizational but also a human need for order and orientation as well as the allocation of responsibility.
