Fierce Resilience: Combatting Workplace Stress Once Conversation at a Time
Edward Beltran
Berrett-Koehler Publishers (August 2024)

How to establish and then sustain a stress-free workplace culture one conversation at a time

In the introduction, Edward Beltran notes that the material in this book is divided into two parts and he recommends that you read Part 1 to understand the principles and research behind his recommendations, such as the four key steps to achieving Fierce Resilience: awareness, analysis, assessment, and action.  “Part 2 includes specific ways to overcome some of the top stressors individuals and organizations have…’Practical Applications of Fierce Resiliewnce’ will show you how to put it all into action by using several conversational models to address common challenges faced by organizations. The Fierce Resilience Cycle provides practical strategies to put into action.”

All of us face pressure every day from various sources. Positive pressure (e.g. a deadline) helps to produce beneficial results. Negative pressure can become stress and unless managed (i.e. controlled), severe stress can be destructive. One of Beltran’s key points is that, in a workplace culture, fierce stress is best avoided or resolved with  fierce resilience “one conversation at a time.”

These are among the passages of greatest interest and value to me, also listed to indicate the nature and scope of

o Achieving self-awareness (48-52)
o Beyond Traditional Stress Management to Fierce Resistance (88)
o Fierce Conversation Model (94-95)
o Building inclusion (102-103 and 177-186)
o Create Your Own Story (104-106)

o Putting Fierce Resilience into Action (111-115)
o Feedback Conversation Model (118-127 and 135-137)
o The Confrontation Model (129-137)
o When to Use the Feedback Model Versus the Confrontation Model (135-145)
o Delegation Conversation Model (139-145)

o Accountability Conversation Model (150-153)
o Case Study: Balancing the Scales (155-165)
o Change Conversation Model  (166-175 and 179-186)
o Understanding Your Context Filter (178-179 and 182-183)
o Case Study: How to Grow a Culture (191-196)

You will be pleased to know that Edward Beltran provides “Resilience Refresher” material that concludes Chapters 1-15.

It is no coincidence that companies annually ranked among those most highly admired and best to work for are also annually ranked among those that are most profitable and have the greatest cap value in their industry segment. However different these companies may be in most other respects, all of them have effective stress management. It is an ongoing, never-ending process.

The material in Fierce Resilience can help prepare you and your associates to manage severe stress one conversation at a time in a workplace environment within which communication, cooperation, and collaboration are most likely to thrive.

I urge those who share my high regard for this book to check out Susan Scott’s three books: Fierce Conversations (2004), Fierce Leadership (2011), and Fierce Love (2022).

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Here are two suggestions while you are reading Fierce Resilience: First, highlight key passages Also,  perhaps in a notebook kept near-at-hand (e.g. Apica Premium C.D. Notebook A5), record your comments, questions, action steps (preferably with deadlines), page references, and whatever you have learned that will be most helpful. Pay special attention to the aforementioned “Resilience Refresher” material that concludes Chapters 1-15.

These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will facilitate, indeed expedite your frequent reviews of key material later.