Self-Compassion and Resilience at Work: A Practice-Oriented Review

Abstract

The Problem A key challenge for human resource development (HRD) scholars and practitioners is to understand the individual competences that can be trained and developed to enhance employee resilience at work. Empirical evidence has been accumulated on the benefits of self-compassion—that is, a set of malleable states that can be developed through HRD interventions—for individual resilience, as well as on the factors that can strengthen self-compassion in organizations. Nonetheless, limited efforts have been devoted to translate this critical scientific knowledge into evidence-based, practical insights that could guide the implementation of effective human resource development practices to develop self-compassion and, thereby, increase resilience in organizations. The Solution This article presents a practice-oriented literature review of the benefits of self-compassion for resilience at work. The relationship between self-compassion and resilience at work, as well as the specific workplace factors that foster growth are outlined for practical implications in the workplace. Facilitators are identified as (1) personal factors (i.e., experience of stress and level of self-awareness), (2) contemplative trainings, and (3) leadership styles and listening styles. This article provides evidence-based practical recommendations for the implementation of these factors and of self-compassion in organizations for increased resilience. The Stakeholders Stakeholders of this practice-oriented review are employees (especially those exposed to highly stressful job conditions) and their leaders, human resource developers in charge of setting the development of training and developmental processes to enhance self-compassion and resilience, and HRD research scholars interested in advancing current literature on self-compassion and resilience at work.

Students’ self-compassion and academic resilience in pandemic era

“…Feeling that everyone experiences the same thing can make individuals not separate or isolate themselves from the environment when faced with specific difficulties (Smith, 2015). When feeling this, individuals will be more accepting of all the feelings they experience, and by doing so, individuals will do good to themselves when they are experiencing difficulties (Lefebvre et al, 2020). This can be explained by the research of Neff et al (2005), who found that students who have a self-compassionate attitude will be kinder to themselves when they experience failure, by being kind, they will become more aware that what they are going through is a typical experience for every student to experience.…”

An individual perspective on psychological safety: The role of basic need satisfaction and self-compassion

“…For example, Shapiro et al (2007) found that training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) resulted in a significant increase in self-compassion. Different workplace components like personal factors, contemplative training and leadership styles have been identified that can foster self-compassion ( Lefebvre et al, 2020 ). Banker and Bhal (2020) identify different organizational pressures and enablers that affect the level of compassion.…”

Why Resilience in Health Care Systems is More than Coping with Disasters: Implications for Health Care Policy

“…As personal resilience impacts health care resilience, human resources management in companies (e.g., Lefebvre et al. 2020 ) and health care institutions (e.g., Hart et al. 2014 ; Jackson et al.…”