Resilience Assessment Questionnaire (RAQ)
Notes: When completing the questionnaire, please think about your domestic and work experiences as they are today, and do not dwell too long on each question.
1 = No never and 5 = Yes always. 2 3 and 4 are shades in between.
Interpretation of scores
Vision
‘If you don’t know where you’re going you will probably end up somewhere else’
Normally, resilient people will have a clear idea of what they are trying to achieve in their lives, and will have written this down somewhere. They are likely to review the vision from time to time, particularly when
events seek to divert effort away from achieving the vision. The vision itself might be blurred; it should not be time constrained, but it should be feasible to achieve.
Scores
5-10: you are not very strong in working out what you want from life, and may find that the idea of having a goal is something to be avoided. You may prefer to ‘go with the breeze’ and let life take its course, and feel content with this. On the other hand, the harsh realities of life may challenge you at some stage, and you need to be able to cope with this and move on to clear blue water ahead.
Advice: Find someone who can help you work out what you really would like to do with your life. Discuss this in depth. You may find that you are doing what you really like but haven’t realised it’s your dream. During the discussion, try to establish the steps to be taken to achieve what you really want to do, and start working out how you take the first step, and then the next…and the next. Having a vision reminds you of the brilliant future that can be yours; it is, also, your future memory, that you keep remembering as move towards your dream.
11-15: you have some vague idea of what you want to do, or you may have had an idea in the past that you’ve achieved or abandoned. The upshot is that you are not convinced of the need for a vision, and may be put off by the potential disappointment of not achieving what the vision contains.
Advice: Take on board that having a goal in life, such as a vision, will help you overcome diversions along the way, and provide you with energy and determination to keep going in the face of various life hurdles.
Undertake an exercise in identifying what you really want to do, and then work out, with some help, the steps you need to take now and in the immediate future to launch your bid for vision success.
16- 20: you have got a pretty clear understanding of your vision, but may have doubts about its value, or you may have found a major life event has knocked this vision off the table and you struggle to find another.
Advice: re-visit your vision by undertaking an exercise that helps draw a distinction between things you want to do and those you would never touch. This involves some critical thinking. With some help, you should think about the steps to be taken to continue or re-‐start your journey. Remember, you will get a real buzz from small successes along the way towards your vision.
21-25: you are resilient on this element of resilience. You should be enjoying your journey towards your vision, and receiving reinforcement that the vision is the one for you, maybe within reach even. Once you have realised your dream, you will need another vision to aim for. All the research shows that if you write down your vision you are most likely to achieve it, and you are, clearly, on your way.
Advice: re-visit your vision to ensure it remains what you really want to do; if it is, then consider what you will be doing after achieving this vision. Undertake an exercise to reinforce your current ideas, and the things you would never wish to do.
Determination
‘As long as you’re going to think anyway, you may as well think big’
Resilient people with high levels of determination have the capacity to achieve things that those with low determination tend not to be able to do. Determination is essentially self driven, although can be triggered by a reaction to an event, and requires considerable focus on a goal, task or vision. People with high levels of
determination also have high self awareness – knowing yourself very well; high self – advocacy – being able to articulate your wishes effectively; and high self – efficacy – a belief in being able to achieve almost anything.
Scores
5-10: you have low score in determination. You may feel that life events are all caused by yourself, and your ability to cope with adverse events is limited as a result. You could feel as though you have been hit by bad luck, which is beyond your control. Although this may not afect you in any serious way, you feel as though you have to bounce along with whatever life gives you.
Advice: you need to undertake some exercises that explore where your personal esteem comes from, and what you personally regard is an achievement. You need to explore the rewards you would like for achieving things that are a stretch. You may require coaching to build up your motivation to succeed at things that would improve your quality of life. You need to explore what is in your personal self-interest to achieve and develop the motivation for pursuing them.
11-15: you have determination that sometimes falters. You may believe that your lack of determination to see something through is your fault, or that you suffer bad luck, or that you lack the energy and strength to keep going because your plate is too full of things to achieve. What is important is that you are already a success, and have had the determination to reach this point in your life.
Advice: determination is about having a clear idea of what you want to do, focusing and concentrating on achieving the idea, and being committed to achieving the idea, no matter what happens along the way. This requires fairly constant reinforcement that you are doing the right things. You need to work with someone to explore you levels of commitment to achieving things, and the rewards you receive for success. You can then work up a new plan that you can see through to the end.
16-20: you do have considerable determination, but one or two actions along the way haven’t worked. They could be ideas such as losing weight, which is a challenge to most people, or it may be a falling short of achieving the goals you have set for yourself, or you may have felt that relationships don’t last despite your determination to ensure everything with work ‘this time’.
Advice: you know that having goals is important, but you will need some support in re-visiting the goals that haven’t worked, to establish the reasons, and to re-think how things may have been handled to improve your chances of success. You may lack some confidence, in which case you need to undertake exercises to improve your confident – these being about taking you outside your comfort zone, and exposing you to experiences you would rather not have. This will take some working out, and you will need feedback and reinforcement to build your confidence, and with this comes increased determination.
21-25: you are a determined person. You have achieved the things you have set out to do, probably with diversions along the way, but with your determination these were mere blips. Your determination has helped build your general resilience, and provided you with reinforced confidence to tackle most things.
Advice: you may wish to do an exercise that helps you to find out whether your human capital can be increased to enhance your already successful life. This means examining yourself and your achievements in four ways – how successful you feel with your economic life; how successful you feel in your relationships; how successful you feel in your general attractiveness; and how successful you feel in being able to achieve ideas through engaging with other people.
Interaction
‘Achieving what you want in an interaction is a massive boost’
Interaction is about how we behave towards other people. The only person we control is ourself, and yet, to survive and achieve what we need to achieve, we need to control the reactions of others to our behaviours towards them so that they help us. This is known as reciprocity. T o interact effectively with others we need to understand everything that is going on in an interaction, almost reading the other person’s mind so that we can adjust our behaviour to respond to how we think the other person is responding to us. We need to explore and respond to the other person’s self interest, as self–interest is our prime motivator, and feed that self-interest for the other person to reciprocate and feed us with our self-nterest. If we manage all this we are in control, and by being in control we build our resilience.
Scores
5-10: you are not very effective in your interactions with others, and this may have an impact on your self confidence and personal esteem. We need to interact with others to maintain support during times of diffculty and threat, and without such support we are at risk of depression.
Advice: you need to be coached in the attributes and behaviours that build and sustain positive interactions with others. This can be done with individual cognitive coaching that helps you to become curious about others, and provides you with techniques for engaging with other people. You may, also, attend a training programme in the development of approaches to interaction.
11-15: You find that some interactions don’t go the way you wish, and that this leaves you with some degree of insecurity about handling certain situations.
Advice: you should consider a training programme in handling difficult situations, or handling difficult people. You may, also, consider some cognitive coaching on how to interact in situations that are unfamiliar and with people who you may not know. People are only people, after all, and once you have come to terms with the worst that could happen you will feel more comfortable about handling any situation.
16-20: you can handle most interactions, but there may be one or two that you struggle with. These may divert your attention disproportionately in your working day, and you need to find ways of addressing this challenge.
Advice: You will need some cognitive coaching to address the specific issues that contributed to your score. You may re-‐visit the exercises in building and sustaining effective interaction, and apply these to your specific situation. You may need to rehearse the assertive message which will enable you to express what you feel with clarity and achieve the outcome you want.
21-25: you are confident in your interactions with others.
Advice: T o ensure that your interactions do not create psychological distress in others, and that your confidence is not a disguise for aggressive behaviour, you should attend a training programme that features the assertive message, and the features of persuasion that are essential in interaction.
Relationships
‘If you always approach everyone with cheerful optimism, you will find that they simply have no choice but to respond in kind’
In order for us to survive and prosper we need to forge relationships. These are many and varied that include acquaintances, friends, lovers, all of whom have a different quality to them in relation to their strength, importance and power, and each appeal to a different aspect of our own need.
As we all act, it is important to include amongst our relationships those people with whom we have no need to act. Such relationships exist to enable us to recharge and go forward to act in the world.
Resilient people have relationships that provide the appropriate reinforcement and support at the time it is required. Resilient people never judge anyone else; they give of themselves to each relationship and reap the rewards of friendship.
Scores
5-10: your relationship history isn’t good; somewhere along the line you haven’t managed to find the people with whom you can build relationship confidence.
Advice: you need some cognitive coaching as well as training in how to pick your friends, and in developing a relationship strategy.
11-15: your relationships could do with a spring clean. You may be going through a period in your life when you are focusing on yourself and immediate family in lieu of massaging your relationships with others. You may find yourself being isolated, and need to get out more, but find this diffcult. This period will pass, but you need to be ready to join the human race once more.
Advice: you need to join a group of people on a training course for resilience. This will introduce you to some people with a common interest, and get you out and about, building up your own personal alumni. There are plenty of exercises for you to do to re-establish your relationships and build them up into the supporting network that enhances your personal resilience.
16-20: you have some good relationships, but you need to polish some of these to make them even better. You may have good social but poor work relationships or the other way around.
Advice: you need to review your relationship inventory to ensure you are pursuing the relationships that support you and provide you with the necessary backup to increase your resilience. There are exercises to help review the significance and importance of relationships, and some techniques of how to develop the relationships for mutual benefit.
21-25: your relationships are good; you invest considerable energy into keeping them healthy and vibrant. Advice: review your portfolio of relationships to ensure you are not leaving some important relationships behind. Continue to massage the relationships you have, as these will continue to help you to maintain your resilience.
Problem solving
Some people take no mental exercises apart from jumping to conclusions
Resilient people like to solve problems and rise to challenges, so long as they can resolve the problems and meet the challenges successfully. Problem solvers are more likely to embrace challenges than those who do not like problems, and have no talent for sorting out puzzles and challenges. Card games players are likely to be more interested in solving problems than others simply by virtue of their interest in thinking of the opponent and the moves that are being thought about. Problem solvers also like to delve into the causes of a problem as a means to seeking a solution.
Scores
5-10: you’re not very good at solving problems. They may frighten you, bore you or simply appear irrelevant in your life. You may have someone else handy to solve your problems for you. However, left to your own devices you would find it diffcult to be resilient against threats.
Advice: you need to practice problem solving. Instead of asking someone else to solve a challenge for you, start tackling the challenge yourself, and take each step at a time. Bite sized steps to a solution will reward you better than trying to solve the whole problem all at once, and faltering along the way. You need reinforcement that you can solve problems by small steps.
11-15: you have some success in solving problems, but you are not very comfortable with problems and challenges. Nevertheless, they are not something you run away from; simply avoid.
Advice: you need to enjoy problem solving so that it becomes interesting and maintains you engagement in the process. Following a few exercises will help you develop this interest and your skill, thus helping you develop your personal resilience.
16-20: you are quite good at problem solving, but some you win and some you lose. You are suffciently able to solve problems that your resilience will be strong.
Advice: keep practising some problem solving. Follow the exercises that engage your interest, and keep on working out the approaches to problem solving that suit you the best.
21-25: you like solving problems, and probably complete the weekly challenges that appear in Sunday Newspapers.
Advice: this skill will be adding significantly to your overall resilience, and you should continue practising as frequently as you can.
Organisation
If everything is under control you’re not going fast enough
People who are well organised are able to cope with the chaos of daily life better than those who do not pay attention to organising themselves, preferring to rely on memory and luck. Being organised allows individuals to know where they are if their day is disrupted by unforeseen events. Organised people plan their week and their day in ways that ensure they start work immediately, and reward completion of nasty tasks by next completing enjoyable ones. Resilient people know where they are, and can control their working environment by careful planning and implementation.
Scores
5-10: you may enjoy chaos, and the ability to wing your way through your working day. This may cause chaos amongst your colleagues, as you may come across as being vague and disorganised, which you are!
Advice: you need to consider changing your working style completely, to try out some exercises that help you organise your day, and establish the activities that take priority over others. You will, also, be able to deal with interruptions and other diverting events, such as emails, by realising that controlling your life reaps dividends in achieving so much more than chaos.
11-15: you have some ideas about organising your life, but not enough to make this a strong point in your resilience portfolio. You may have routines that work for you, but don’t quite match up to the level of organisation needed to build your resilience.
Advice: you need to adopt some of the training in organising yourself, in particular making lists last thing at night not first thing in the morning, and getting on with your work as soon as you arrive rather than take a coffee break at the beginning of the day. The change in your performance and productivity will be immediate, and you will feel the change as this is reinforced by encouragement from others.
16-20: you have some organisation habits already, and these seem to work for you, aiding your general level of resilience.
Advice: you need to sharpen your approaches to organisation to improve the structure of your working day. You can do this by adopting some of the exercises on the training programme and experimenting with different ways of doing things.
21-25: you are, clearly, in control of your day, week, month and, possibly year. You will have the personality that likes everything to be ordered, and this has made a tremendous contribution to your overall resilience. Advice: consider some of the exercises as additional ways of structuring your day.
Self confidence
Ever notice that ‘what the hell’ is the right decision?
Self confidence is clearly apparent in resilient people. They need to ensure that self confidence doesn’t turn to arrogance as this will not be effective in interactions with others. On the other hand, self confidence, demonstrated in a subtle manner, is very attractive, and draws others to the self confident person, reinforcing their success with others and contributing significantly to their resilience.
Scores
5-10: you appear not to have much self confidence. This may be because adverse life events haven’t made you stronger, but made you feel unsure of yourself. You may be experiencing continuous humiliation at the hands of a close friend or relative that is undermining your own belief in yourself.
Advice: you need cognitive coaching to help you identify where your personal esteem comes from, and how to build this up. In addition, you will benefit from a resilience training programme that introduces a number of exercises to build personal confidence, some of which may be challenging as they take you outside your personal comfort zone. Once you feel confident on a step by step basis you will find life liberating, and you will find your resilience enhanced beyond dreams.
11-15: you are wavering about your level of self confidence, not quite sure how confident you are. This suggests uncertainty about facing certain life events, and it’s possible that some situations cause significant psychological distress.
Advice: you will need to attend a resilience training programme that introduces techniques to increase your self confidence, and, also, provides techniques to help you cope with adverse events and diminish your psychological distress.
16-20: you have considerable self confidence, but some situations make you feel apprehensive and uncertain.
Advice: you will benefit from undertaking exercises that take you out of your comfort zone and expose you to challenges that make you think on your feet. Once you have acquired a taste for such adventures, your resilience will increase significantly and your self confidence will encourage you to explore new experiences, which will further build confidence and resilience.
21-25: you are self confident. You need to be sure that such self confidence doesn’t appear to be arrogance in the sight of others, as this won’t help with your interaction with others.
Advice: check with your colleagues that your self confidence isn’t getting in the way of your relationships with others. You should continue to build your confidence as this adds to your overall resilience. This can be done on a training programme where exercises are introduced that can turn into routine habits, reinforcing your strong sense of self.
Overall scores
35-05: Your total score indicates there is plenty of opportunity for you to develop and sustain all your elements of resilience. You need to undertake training on a Resilience Training Programme, and combined this with some cognitive coaching. You should keep a diary of all the events you regard as adverse, and note what your response to the vents has been. This will show you how well you already cope with events, and will, also, highlight to type of events that you are most fearful about. You should complete the Resilience Assessment Questionnaire on a regular basis.
106-140: You have built a substantial amount of resilience in your life so far. Some of the elements of resilience require specific attention, however. These can be addressed by undertaking a resilience training programme, and some cognitive coaching. On the whole, however, you are able to cope with most events that happen to you, but you remain unsure about some aspects of your life.
141-175: You are pretty resilient. Those scoring in this range know about themselves, their limitations and what they can handle. Many scoring at this level enjoy sorting out challenges, and addressing events head on. Some will need to be careful about their relationships as self confidence can be thought of as arrogance if the confident behaviour doesn’t allow time for others. You need to maintain your levels of resilience by bite sized refresher training and, where necessary, some coaching.
