28 September 2026

Why “Bouncing Back” Isn’t Enough: Building True Resilience at Work ft. Russell Harvey (The Resili...

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Key topicsResilience Is Not Your Employee’s Problem: Why “Just Be More Resilient” Doesn’t WorkTelling staff to be more resilient is the easy fix, but the cause sits in the work itself. What in the work is wearing your people down the most? Gallup found 28% of millennials reported frequent or constant burnout at work. Russell argues that resilience turns toxic when it is used to hand workplace problems to individuals. Fix the workload first, and only then ask people to build their own resilience. Leaders set the conditions, and people feel the results long before a survey does. Fix the conditions, and resilience will grow without anyone being told to try harder.Why Leaders Misread VUCA as a Threat Instead of an AdvantageExecutives see volatility and ambiguity as threats, when those conditions are where good leaders gain ground. What would your next decision look like if you treated uncertainty as an opening? In a Gartner survey of 740 senior executives, 61% held a negative view of the climate in April. Russell has seen leaders calm down the moment they can name the next step. Name the few things you still control this month, and plan around them. The old plan breaks first, so each small decision starts to matter more. Treat uncertainty as an advantage this year, and your team will adapt instead of fracturing.Limbo: Why Teams Give Up on a Change Before It Ever ArrivesChange stalls in the months after the announcement, when people wait to learn what it means. Is anyone still holding the plan once the news lands? Projects with excellent change management meet or exceed objectives 88% of the time, against 13% with poor change management. Russell has known teams wait out a change until the plan quietly dies. Tell your team what the change means for their job this week, even if the answer is still unclear. Updates feel helpful, but the team needs proof that someone still owns the plan. Name one owner for every change, and the change will actually arrive.View all topics →

About Russell Harvey

Russell Harvey, podcast guest

The Resilience Coach | Resilient Leadership Expert

100,000+ People positively affected6,000+ Executive coaching hours£12M+ ROI delivered by RWE npower leadership programme20+ years Learning, leadership and organisational development

Russell Harvey is The Resilience Coach - a resilient leadership expert, executive coach, facilitator and keynote speaker who helps leaders and organisations perform at their best when the world refuses to stand still.

With more than 20 years in Learning, Leadership and Organisational Development, 6,000+ hours of executive coaching and over 70 published podcast appearances, Russell is an experienced and engaging voice on resilience, leadership and navigating persistent change. He has worked with leaders across organisations including Novartis, the NHS, AB World Foods, Kerry Group and The Co-operative Group.

Russell’s work goes beyond helping people simply cope with pressure. He believes true resilience isn’t about “bouncing back”, being tougher or pretending everything is fine - it’s about springing forward with learning and becoming better equipped to lead because of the challenges you’ve faced.

His approach connects the human side of leadership directly to what matters to organisations: engaged people, stronger cultures, better decisions and improved performance. His work has delivered measurable results, including a leadership programme that returned £12 million to the business and a Resilient Leader Programme that achieved more than 1,100% ROI.

In August 2025, Russell achieved his long-held purpose of positively affecting 100,000 people.

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