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HOW TO SAIL THROUGH

STORMY SEAS

EXPLORING THE CONCEPT OF PROFESSIONAL RESILIENCE

presented. This is extremely useful when
interrogating information for authenticity
or determining future outcomes based on
factors relating to social, technological,
economic, environmental, legal, or ethical
matters (STEEPLE).
Once a conclusion has been reached,
the acceptance of a new future can be a
challenging intellectual and emotional
task, as shown by the Kübler-Ross model.
A person’s ability to maintain their
self-awareness, manage emotions,
sense the emotions of others, maintain
good levels of motivation, and
demonstrate effective social skills
during times of change is key.
Managing risk tends to be
approached in a universal way,
as shown in Figure 2, but to do so
effectively depends on the ability of an
individual to determine credible trends
and have the emotional intelligence to
navigate change.
Having now developed the ability
to anticipate change, the level of
acceptable risk will dictate the form
of mitigation. In some cases, the form
Ben Kuchta, Engineering Resilience Lead at National Grid, of mitigation may be unattainable due
explains how developing new capabilities can enable your to one or more of the STEEPLE factors
impacting the individual at a micro
business’ future readiness level. In such instances, the ability to
formulate creative workarounds needs
n 1970, the futurist Alvin Toffler utilise many different skills in order to be explored, and this requires grit
authored the book Future Shock, to anticipate, react and recover from along with a growth mindset.
alongside Adelaide Farrell. In the disruptive events. This enables an individual to
thought-provoking international In this article, we will explore move through the five stages of
I bestseller, Toffler describes a future some essential concepts and how grief remarkably quickly, determine
where society is unable to keep up with they contribute towards achieving a a reasonable course of action and
the pace of change. fundamental level of resilience. ultimately move to a changed, but
Change, by its very nature, stable, state faster.
is complicated and disruptive. Trend spotting, critical thinking and
Furthermore, it means different things to emotional intelligence Experience and foresight
different people. For some, the fear of the Trend spotting can provide an The wisdom of an accomplished
unknown can be paralysing – for others, individual or business with useful engineer is extremely valuable. They
it’s viewed as an exciting challenge. information that allows them to form have the foresight and experience to
In the modern world, change early judgement. This requires strong be able to navigate sudden change and
is constant and will require an critical thinking skills as there are many complex scenarios with astonishing
individual to be resilient by broadening sources of information available to us. speed, accuracy, and resilience.
their experience, knowledge and An individual must use objective Whilst experience is obtained over
understanding across many subjects, analysis in order to form reasonable time, foresight can be developed
including the ability to successfully judgement rather than accepting it as rapidly through the development of the

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