'Tough luck, suck it up'

6 months ago England wing Abby Dow broke her leg playing against Wales in the Women’s Six Nations Rugby Championship, scuppering her chances of playing at the 2022 World Cup.

Her leg was broken in 3 places. Now, when describing the diagnosis by her surgeon that it would take 6-9 months to heal and there was no way she would play in the World Cup, Abby's approach was “Tough luck, suck it up”.

Her focus and determination, with incredible support from her dedicated physio and backed by her teammates, saw her play all the way through to the final.

Many would describe her approach as resilient (to say the least) – but what is resilience? It is not any one attribute, many areas contribute to resilience e.g. being tough minded and optimistic.

There are a number of ways to test for resilience e.g. via a personality or emotional intelligence assessment. By example the GFB Personality Report uses ratings to measure a number of areas that contribute to Resilience that include:

COMPOSURE Able to deal with stressful situations and keep their emotions in check

OPTIMISTIC Takes a positive stand and deals well with failure

ADAPTABLE Enjoys new challenges & variety in their work life, deals well with

change

DETERMINED Enjoys striving to meet hard to reach targets

Alternatively the Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (EIQ) helps assess and develop individuals' levels of emotional intelligence across 7 key domains or scales that include:

SELF-AWARENESS Being aware of your feelings and being able to manage them

EMOTIONAL Being able to maintain your performance, especially when under

RESILIENCE great pressure or when being challenged or criticised

MOTIVATION Having the drive and energy to achieve challenging goals or targets

INTERPERSONAL Showing sensitivity and empathy towards others, particularly SENSITIVITY considering their needs and feelings alongside the ability to listen,

and build on other people’s ideas.

If you would like to know more about either tool please contact Elise Cope on elise.cope@gfbgroup.com or call +44 (0) 333 090 2580