How can you incentivize R&D professionals to prioritize resilience in their work?

Resilience is the ability to adapt and recover from challenges, uncertainties, and disruptions. It is a vital skill for research and development (R&D) professionals, who often face complex problems, changing requirements, and unforeseen obstacles. However, resilience is not something that can be easily taught or learned. It requires a supportive environment, a growth mindset, and a sense of purpose. In this article, you will discover how you can incentivize R&D professionals to prioritize resilience in their work and achieve better outcomes.

1 Define resilience

Resilience is not just about coping with stress or bouncing back from failure. It is also about embracing change, learning from feedback, and finding opportunities in adversity. Resilience is a dynamic and multidimensional process that involves cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social aspects. For R&D professionals, resilience can help them to overcome technical challenges, deal with ambiguity, collaborate effectively, and innovate creatively.

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Rebecca Bachlott

Accounts Payable Director at CBG Building Company
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As a manager, I believe managers should help to talk through tough challenges and how to work through them. Developing resilience sometimes takes a manager's perspective of how they would work through the challenge.

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2 Foster a resilient culture

One of the best ways to incentivize R&D professionals to prioritize resilience is to create a culture that values and supports it. A resilient culture is one that encourages experimentation, risk-taking, and learning from mistakes. It also provides psychological safety, trust, and autonomy for R&D professionals to express their ideas, opinions, and concerns. A resilient culture also recognizes and rewards resilience behaviors, such as seeking feedback, asking for help, and sharing lessons learned.

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Jonathan Geller

Sr. Product Engineer at NVIDIA
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Put focus on failing fast, but with an emphasis on failing. Resilient engineers will bounce back from results that aren't ideal - of you put exactly that kind of result on a pedestal and drive home the importance of failing quickly (until you don't), the stigma of failure is neutralized and you build resilience into the culture.

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3 Provide resilience training

Another way to incentivize R&D professionals to prioritize resilience is to offer them training and coaching opportunities to develop and enhance their resilience skills. Resilience training can help R&D professionals to identify and manage their stressors, emotions, and thoughts. It can also teach them strategies and techniques to cope with challenges, such as reframing, problem-solving, and self-compassion. Resilience training can also help R&D professionals to build their confidence, optimism, and motivation.

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4 Align resilience with purpose

A third way to incentivize R&D professionals to prioritize resilience is to align their resilience goals with their personal and professional purpose. Purpose is the sense of meaning and direction that drives one's actions and decisions. It can also inspire and motivate one to overcome difficulties and pursue excellence. By connecting resilience with purpose, you can help R&D professionals to see the bigger picture, the impact, and the value of their work. You can also help them to find intrinsic motivation, passion, and fulfillment in their work.

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5 Support resilience with resources

A fourth way to incentivize R&D professionals to prioritize resilience is to provide them with adequate resources and support to facilitate their work. Resources can include time, budget, equipment, information, and feedback. Support can include mentoring, guidance, feedback, and recognition. By providing resources and support, you can reduce the stress and frustration that R&D professionals may experience due to resource constraints, information gaps, or unclear expectations. You can also enable them to focus on their core tasks, improve their performance, and achieve their goals.

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6 Encourage resilience with feedback

A fifth way to incentivize R&D professionals to prioritize resilience is to give them constructive and timely feedback on their work. Feedback is essential for learning, improvement, and innovation. It can also help R&D professionals to assess their progress, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and adjust their strategies and actions. By giving feedback, you can encourage R&D professionals to seek and use feedback as a source of learning and growth. You can also help them to develop a growth mindset, which is the belief that one can improve one's abilities and skills through effort and feedback.

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Jonathan Geller

Sr. Product Engineer at NVIDIA
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This ties into the earlier section on the culture aspect. Managers need to drive the change, and that begins with feedback. Public and 1:1. A win is the result of multiple failures. Reward the lessons learned as much as the win.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How can you incentivize R&D professionals to prioritize resilience in their work?

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1 Define resilience

2 Foster a resilient culture

3 Provide resilience training

4 Align resilience with purpose

5 Support resilience with resources

6 Encourage resilience with feedback

7 Here’s what else to consider

Research and Development (R&D)

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