This edition of Professional Military Education (PME) explores resilience, how we can build it, and measure improvement in resilience within our workforce. Read this article, 'Measuring Resilience in the Australian Army', to gain a greater understanding on the subject of resilience prior to sitting down to discuss the subject in a group.

Want More?

If you would like to take a further look at the FORCOMD Commanders’ Guide to Resilience, this link contains all three parts. The Guide covers understanding resilience, promoting unit resilience and enhancing commander resilience and performance. It contains a wealth of resources on resilience.

Discussion Questions

  1. What are some of the things that come to mind when you think of the word resilience?
  2. What are some of the ways you have overcome adverse situations in your life and your career? How do you move on, grow and improve as a result?
  3. How can we measure the resilience of our people and our organisation overall?
  4. How much resilience is enough? Are there certain things that military members need to be able to endure?
  5. How do we build resilience while avoiding exposing people to too much adversity which may cause trauma?
  6. What part do you think ‘tough training’ has in building resilience in the face of adversity? For example, do you think that food and sleep deprivation activities or difficult physical activities can play a part in building resilience?
  7. Explore the possibility that kids are raised in a more comfortable physical, societal and economic environment than previous generations. Does this mean that recruits are entering Army with a lower base level of resilience? Doe Army need to adapt to that differing level or does it need to work harder to bring the level of resilience up to where it is in previous generations of Army?
  8. What do you consider to be the key to success in the face of adversity?
  9. What have you done in your career that you consider to have built your own resilience? Explain what it was, how you felt while you were doing it, and how you felt after.
  10. What are some ideas for building resilience in your training establishment or unit?

Other Activities

If you enjoyed this activity, why not try the other PMEs available on The Cove?

Want more material? For JNCOs to conduct with their soldiers, here is a link to our Quick Military Education resources. For Junior Officers here is a link to our Junior Officer PME sessions.

Concluding Comments

If you have suggestions for improvements – additional readings or reference material, alternative discussion points, new delivery methods – or just wish to provide feedback, please contact The Cove Team via the.cove@defence.gov.au.

Here are the Facilitator Notes for this PME.