Building Resilience for Success: A Resource for Managers and Organizations

What can help employees to stay effective in the face of tough demands and difficult circumstances, and equip them to bounce back from setbacks?

When it comes to workplace pressure, managers' actions can mean the difference between improving or permanently damaging resilience in the workforce. Drawing on contemporary research and professional case studies, the authors of this definitive guide examine the main sources of work related stress, and explore how personal resilience can be developed both within and outside the work context. They take the value of resilience beyond bouncing back, to include sustainable recovery, buffering against ongoing stress, and measurable benefits for business performance. The result is an expert resource for managers and professionals including human resource specialists, learning and development practitioners and organizational psychologists. It includes suggestions and proven techniques for commissioning, designing and delivering resilience-building solutions for the workplace.

About the Author

CARY COOPER is Distinguished Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at the Lancaster University Management School, UK. He is the author of over 125 books, has written over 400 scholarly articles, and is a frequent contributor to national newspapers, television, and radio. He is a Fellow of the British Academy of Management and also of the US-based Academy of Management. In 2001 he was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. He was Founding President of the British Academy of Management, and formerly the Chair of the Sunningdale Institute in the National School of Government, UK. He was also the lead scientist to the UK Government Office for Science on their Foresight program on Mental Capital and Wellbeing, and was appointed a member of the expert group on establishing guidance for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on stress management in the workplace in 2009. Professor Cooper is Chair of the Academy of Social Sciences, President of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, President of RELATE, President of the Institute of Welfare and Patron of Anxiety UK. HR magazine named him the 5th Most Influential Thinker in HR in 2011. He was awarded the Lord Dearing Lifetime Achievement Award at the Times Higher Education Awards 2010.

JILL FLINT-TAYLOR is a Founding Director with business psychologists, Rusando Ltd, and a Visiting Research Fellow at Ashridge Business School in the UK. A Chartered Occupational Psychologist, she has a PhD in the psychology of leadership selection and talent management from King's College, University of London. In her consultancy practice Jill works with a wide range of organisations, with a focus on assessment, leadership and resilience. In her research and development work, she specialises in tools and processes that strengthen individual and team resilience. She is also an experienced crisis counsellor and executive coach, with a particular interest in helping leaders, managers and management teams to optimise levels of engagement and well-being among those who report to them.

MICHAEL PEARN is Founder and CEO of Pearn Consulting LLC, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA. The company specializes in leadership and team development and also the measurement and development of resilience and well-being in the workplace. He is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist and holds a PhD in Psychology from London University, UK. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development. Having worked initially as a researcher at the Industrial Training Research Unit in the University of London, Michael went into consultancy with SHL before founding Pearn Kandola. He decided 15 years later to leave and achieve a better quality of life, and after working for a time Dublin is now based in California. Michael's consultancy and training work has taken him to many part so the world including China, South Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, North America, and many parts of Europe.