2

Commanders’ Guide to Resilience is produced by HQ FORCOMD. Opinions expressed

in this publication do not necessarily express the views of the Australian Army or the

ADF. While every care is taken to examine all material published, no responsibility is

accepted by the ADF, the Australian Army or the author for the accuracy of any

statement, opinion or advice contained in the text. The contents do not necessarily

reflect Service Policy and, unless stated otherwise, should not be construed as

orders, instructions or directives.

Author: Major Michaele Bond

Correspondence, or enquires regarding distribution, may be addressed to:

Health Branch, HQ FORCOMD

Victoria Barracks, Paddington

Sydney, NSW 2021

3

Commander Forces Command

Foreword

As part of the evolution of the Army leadership

approach, we need to provide a more transparent and

supportive work environment. Developing resilience at all

levels is integral to this evolution. I have directed that our

training and support systems build resilience to improve

individual, unit and organisational capacity to prepare for

chaos, to withstand shocks and to recover quickly.

Psychological resilience in Army members is critical for

minimising the adverse effects of exposure to stressful

situations and maximising the effectiveness of Australia's

military capability. The aim of building resilience is to

optimise health and well-being through developing and

sustaining positive mindsets; to enhance self-motivation, self-

regulation and assist to lever strengths and build

psychological resources.

Part 3 of the Guide focuses on enhancing your own resilience

and performance. I commend this Guide to you, to assist you

in building and maintaining resilience within yourself.

FA McLachlan

MAJGEN

COMD FORCOMD

4

GLOSSARY BattleSMART (Self Management & Resilience Training).

BattleSMART is the primary vehicle for delivering resilience

training in the Build phase. Trainees are provided with an

introduction to a range of techniques and skills that will assist

them in regulating physiological and emotional arousal,

particularly during stressful situations. These techniques and

skills are divided into two broad groupings; self-awareness

and skill building.

High Performance Environment (HPE). A HPE involves the

development and maintenance of high performance across a

variety of tasks under conditions of extreme stress. A unit can

facilitate a capacity for adaptability and potential growth

through proactive development of positive psychological

resources such as individual and team resilience, and good

mental health in service members and their families.

Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation. The Kirkpatrick model of

evaluation is a well- known training evaluation tool. It

consists of four evaluation levels: Reaction, Learning,

Behaviour and Results.

Leadership Self-Complexity (LSC). LSC is a superior level of

cognitive and emotional capacity. LSC facilitates adaptive

decision making. Adaptive decision making includes solving

problems creatively, dealing with changing or unpredictable

work situations, and handling emergencies or crisis

situations.

Mental Toughness (MT). MT is the psychological capacity of

an individual to deliver high performance on a regular basis

5

despite varying degrees of situational demands. MT is

considered to be an important individual protective factor

within the resilience process, however they are separate

concepts. MT is a personal attribute whilst resilience is a

process that occurs between an individual and their

environment over time.

Organisational Culture. Organisational culture is based on a

way of thinking that permeates the organisation’s day-to-day

routine decisions and activities. The “right” culture for an

organisation is related to values and context rather than a

“one size fits all” approach.

Psychological Capital (PsyCap). PsyCap is an individual’s

positive psychological state of development that is

characterised by: confidence (self-efficacy), optimism, hope,

and resilience.

Psychological (or mental) Fitness. Psychological fitness is the

integration and optimisation of cognitive, emotional and

behavioural abilities and capacities to optimise performance

and strengthen resilience.

Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC). PSC in a unit is the climate

for mental health and psychological safety. A healthy PSC has

an appropriate balance between leadership concern for their

members’ mental health and their performance.

PULSE (The Profile of Unit Leadership, Satisfaction and

Effectiveness). The PULSE is a survey instrument designed to

inform unit commanders on the factors that impact the

behaviour and motivation of personnel in their unit. The

survey addresses a range of issues related to the human

6

dimension of military capability including the core elements

of leadership, teamwork, job satisfaction, communication

and motivation.

Resilience. Resilience is the capacity of individuals, teams and

organisations to adapt, recover and thrive in situations of

risk, challenge, danger, complexity and adversity. Resilience is

not a static state – it is a process that is flexible and

responsive to training, and involves interaction between an

individual, their life experiences and current life context.

Resilience Program. A resilience program targets any of the

factors that research has shown to improve resilience and

healthy responses to stress, and provides a means for helping

individuals to incorporate resilience factors into their daily

lives.

Self-Efficacy. Self-efficacy represents a person’s belief that

they can successfully organise and carry out a behaviour or

course of action. This includes regulating motivation, thought

processes, emotions and behaviours, or it may involve

changing environmental conditions.

Self-Awareness. Self-awareness involves how you relate to

and function within your own environment. Emotional and

cognitive awareness are two underlying mechanisms that

comprise self-awareness. Emotional awareness includes

awareness of your own emotions and the emotions of others.

Cognitive awareness, or metacognition, is awareness and

regulation of your cognitive functioning and the factors that

affect it.

7

Situational Awareness. Situational Awareness requires you

to be able to maintain a sufficient level of awareness of your

own environment.

Social Resilience. Social resilience is the capacity to foster,

engage in, and sustain positive relationships and to endure

and recover from life stressors and social isolation. It

emphasises an individual’s capacity to work with others to

turn adversity into advantage.

Stress Inoculation. Stress inoculation is a process used in

training aimed at protecting an individual from reacting

negatively to real time stress exposure. A critical component

of stress inoculation is the requirement for increasingly

realistic pre-exposure through training simulation.

Team Resilience. Team resilience is based on the dynamic

processes of social resilience, and enables a team to develop

the capacity to cope, recover and adjust positively to

adversity.

Thriving. Thriving is the psychological state in which

individuals experience both a sense of vitality and a sense of

learning. Thriving is associated with positive health, and

viewed as an everyday experience where individuals do not

merely survive, but adapt and grow through their daily, lived

experiences.

Performance Enhancement. Performance enhancement is

the deliberate cultivation of an effective perspective on

achievement and the systematic use of effective

psychological skills.

8

Contents

PART 3 - ENHANCING COMMANDER RESILIENCE

AND PERFORMANCE

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………… 9

Leadership Self-Complexity and Leader Adaptability ............ 10

Psychological Fitness ............................................................. 12

HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL FITNESS & LSC ... 12

CO’S PERSONAL RESILIENCE TOOLBOX .................................. 18

ACTIVITIES .............................................................................. 30

RESILIENT BRAIN .................................................................... 30

EMOTIONAL BALANCE ........................................................... 31

Cognitive Reappraisal .................................................... 31

Emotional Suppression .................................................. 33

ADAPTIVE COPING QUESTIONNAIRES…………………………………34

Success (Mastery) Imagery ............................................ 38

Rebounding (coping) Imagery ........................................ 39

BROADEN AND BUILD ............................................................ 40

Meaning and Purpose .................................................... 40

CRISIS PREPARATION ............................................................. 40

On-line Resources .................................................................. 42

RECOMMENDED READING .................................................... 45

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………… 46

9

“If you want to inspire devotion, be devoted. If you want to inspire

belief, believe. If you want to motivate, be motivated. You can’t fake

any of it. If you want to lead, get yourself right first.” i

INTRODUCTION No matter how good a person is at what they do, all healthy human

beings have an inner flow of thoughts and feelings that include

criticism, doubt and fear. This is the brain doing its job by trying to

make sense of the world, anticipate and solve problems and avoid

potential pitfallsii. Being a CO draws on, and integrates your beliefs,

self-concept, sense of competition and cooperation, and all the life

experiences you’ve had until now. Even when the focus is on more

tangible activities like tactics and budgets, the unit is where all the

emotional issues are played out.

In addition, the defining requirement of military leadership is to

effectively exercise leadership skills and maintain a high level of

performance under constant challenging and potentially life-

threatening circumstances. It is acknowledged that different

command roles will pose different types of challenges, i.e. not all

involve operational service or high-risk activities. However, the

constant present in your role as a CO is ambiguity and change, so it

is critical that you have the resilience to deal with this. You also

need the interpersonal skills to be able to draw on the power of the

unit to come up with innovative ideas and different perspectives,

and to get things done. Sometimes, the same state of flux that

requires you to be flexible, can also keep you rigid. This type of

scenario manifests itself in tunnel vision and a lack of situational

awareness. The result is a distracted CO who makes premature

decisions and implements simplistic solutions – also known as

“smart people acting dumb.” iii There is usually an accompanying

increase in stress and emotional strain which further compounds

poor leadership behaviour and directly affects the unit.

10

The aim of this part of the guide is to help you to stay “smart",

manage stress more effectively and maintain your emotional

balance. This will ensure that you thrive as a commander and

enable your unit to do the same.

Successful execution of all command positions rest on the ability of

the commander to adapt – leaders who are flexible and pragmatic

will more effectively build resilience in their people than those who

maintain a rigid and institutional approach.iv

Leadership Self-Complexity and Leader Adaptability To accomplish your role as a CO, you need a superior level of

cognitive and emotional capacity known as Leader Self-Complexity

(LSC). LSC is important because it enables adaptive decision making.

Adaptive decision making includes solving problems creatively,

dealing with changing or unpredictable work situations, and

handling emergencies or crisis situations. LSC facilitates adaptive

decision-making by enabling you access to a greater mix of relevant

knowledge, skills and self-regulatory structures, which in turn

facilitates a deeper understanding of problems and increased

adaptability.v A greater level of LSC will also assist you to integrate

knowledge about yourself with knowledge about your social

environment so you can more effectively regulate your own

emotions and influence the emotions of others.

Cognition and emotion are not opposing concepts, they are

connected and interdependent.vi In the contemporary military

experience, the impact of emotions has direct relevance to an

individual’s ability to effectively accomplish combat tasks.

Cognitive Functioning. A higher level of cognitive functioning

enables you to monitor both your internal and external

environments, manage intense mental and physiological reactions,

11

and respond effectively in complex environments. The individual

experience on operations is personal and variable. Some individuals

are innately more resilient whilst others struggle to cope with the

challenges they face. However, the basic brain functions and

biological processes that occur in the human body in response to

stress are essentially common to all. So, while it’s not possible to

train for the specifics of every potential decision you might have to

make, it is possible to train for the overall process and get used to

performing it under stress.

Emotion Regulation. Recent neuroscience research has discovered

the following aspects of brain function that relate to the combat

experience:

1. Stress can compromise the brain’s cognitive abilities

because the brain shifts metabolic resources to the emotion-

response areas

2. Stress degrades the executive functions of working

memory, compromising learning, memory, attentiveness, and

problem solving

3. Individuals can intentionally moderate their emotional

responses, possibly through spill-over from motor-control efforts.

These findings suggest that you can improve your performance by

incorporating emotion regulation into your leadership approach.

You need to recognise and accept that that you have influence over

your own emotional states. The key is to practice and experiment

with different emotion regulation methods, test and refine during

training, and then determine the combination that produces

optimal arousal levels. Steadmanvii refers to this as a leader’s

“cognitive battle drill” that can be used in multiple situations.

Strategies for achieving this are outlined later in this guide.

12

Psychological Fitness An accompanying concept to LSC is psychological fitness. It’s

defined as “the integration and optimisation of cognitive, emotional

and behavioural abilities and capacities to optimise performance

and strengthen resilience.”viii

There are two key groups of interventions that can be implemented

in order to promote psychological fitness:

1. Self-awareness - this is related to your own understanding

of how you respond to stress, the differing emotions you

experience, and the accompanying thought processes.

2. Skill-building – this is associated with the promotion of

positive emotions, happiness, confidence, self-esteem, and well-

being.

HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL FITNESS

AND LSC There are five main internal resources that underpin the

development of the Commander’s Toolbox. These are processes

that you can identify and improve.

1. Awareness (situation and self). Most factors that

contribute to resilience in relation to performance rely on your

ability to focus your mind appropriately. You need to be able to

maintain a sufficient level of awareness of your own environment

(situational awareness), and how you relate to and function within

it (self-awareness), before you can respond effectively. Both self-

awareness and situational awareness are composed of various

psychological and cognitively oriented factors that influence

13

information processing abilities, and play a critical role in resilience

and performance.

2. Beliefs and Appraisals. Beliefs are defined as

psychological states in which you hold an idea to be true. In

contrast, cognitive appraisals represent a process through which

you evaluate a situation or experience. Pre-existing beliefs play an

important role in influencing your appraisal process. For example,

your belief about your ability to control the environment can

impact how much confidence you have in your ability to complete a

task, and how you might debrief or evaluate it.

a. Self-Efficacy. Self-efficacy is your belief that you can

successfully organise and carry out a behaviour or course

of action. This includes regulating motivation, thought

processes, emotions and behaviours, or it may involve

changing environmental conditions.

b. Hardiness. Studies have also shown that a profile of beliefs

or attitudes known as psychological hardiness can

influence your coping appraisals, health, and performance

in response to stress. This attitude profile incorporates a

strong belief of control (that you can influence events),

commitment (that life is interesting and meaningful), and

challenge (you value change as a normal part of

experience).

3. Coping. A core component of resilience that relates to

performance is your ability to cope with stress. Coping can be

broadly defined as thoughts and behaviours that you use to

manage the demands of stress, and to maintain optimal levels of

energy and capacity to work.

14

4. Decision Making. Decision making is defined as the

thoughts and behaviours you use for evaluating and choosing

courses of action to solve a problem or reach a goal. Decision-

making factors include problem solving, goal setting, adaptive

thinking, and intuitive thinking. These factors are inter-related with

those in the awareness, belief and appraisal subdomain.

5. Engagement. Engagement refers to your enduring

identification with the organisation, unit, and your mission.

Engagement is illustrated by high levels of energy, discretionary

effort and full involvement in mission tasks. There is evidence that

engagement is associated with resilient responses to stress,

whereas lack of engagement is associated with burnout.ix

Note; Effectiveness of performance enhancement techniques vary

across different individuals and environments. The following points

need to be taken into consideration.

Self-Guiding Principles

1. Practice Makes Permanent. Performance strategies are

most reliable and effective when you adopt and practice them

under multiple training conditions. Your cognitive performance can

be improved through education and training scenarios that include

mental challenges. Deliberate and creative integration of cognitive

components into complex environments during collective training

enables you to habituate to cognitive thinking under stress, and

have the opportunity to develop your own personal methods

(cognitive battle drill) for achieving your mission. Remember:

Practice makes permanent.x

2. Maintain an appropriate perspective. Achieving the

perfect balance of emotion regulation and cognitive functioning is

unrealistic. As identified previously, cognition and emotion are not

15

in opposition to each other, rather; thoughts are guided and

informed by emotional responses. Particular kinds of judgments

you are required to make are necessarily emotional. Therefore,

your goal is not to be emotionless and unfeeling; your goal is to

manage your emotions so they don’t overwhelm and deplete your

cognitive resources.

3. Acknowledge Stress. Denying stress, bottling it up or

worrying about it is counterproductive. Avoiding stress is

impossible but you can adjust your relationship with stress. You

need to firstly accept that it exists and is not going away in a hurry,

and then understand that “stressed” is not who you are. Part of

being resilient is understanding that you can recover if and when

post event symptoms occur. If you are well prepared, you will

anticipate such symptoms and have an action plan for restoring

balance.

Approach your individual development with metacognition

(awareness and understanding of your own thought processes.)

16

The following model, table and activities are adapted from Schiraldi

(2011)xi to fit the ADF environment and FORCOMD’s approach to

resilience and performance. The model depicts five different areas

that you can target to improve your LSC and psychological fitness.

The accompanying table outlines practical strategies that you can

take in each of these areas. Each activity identified in the table is

detailed at the end for ease of use.

1. The Resilient Brain - Optimising your overall health

practices enables the brain to function more quickly and

proficiently. The Resilient Brain operates at optimal efficiency; it

adapts quickly to challenges and regulates moods even under

duress.

2. Emotional Balance - Improving your ability to regulate

your emotions enables you to stay composed and more focussed

under pressure.

SELF

Resilient Brain

Emotion Balance

Adaptive Coping

Broaden and Build

Crisis Preparation

17

3. Adaptive Coping - Adaptive coping means you adjust to

changing circumstances and use whatever is available to your best

advantage to solve problems, meet challenges and work towards

your goals.

4. Broaden and Build - By broadening your perspectives and

actions, you are better able to build important and lasting physical,

intellectual, psychological and social resources. Consciously

generating positive emotions both fuels psychological resilience

and underpins optimal functioning.

5. Crisis Preparation – An acutely stressful situation or crisis

can potentially overwhelm your usual coping skills and emotional

stability. While no amount of training and experience can “bullet

proof” you, intelligent preparation can ready you as much as

possible. The two key areas to focus on here are job performance

and emotional coping skills.

18

CO’S PERSONAL RESILIENCE TOOLBOX

Resilient Brain

Sleep

Nutrition

Exercise

Adequate sleep contributes to optimal cognitive

performance.

Sleep deprivation degrades accurate perception of

the environment, causes lapses in moral judgment,

and impairs the ability to accurately judge risk.

The ideal amount of sleep varies for each individual

– know how much you need and make it a priority.

Acquire a copy of “Fatigue Management During

Operations: A Commander’s Guide.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Food is important and should not be an

afterthought.

Inadequate nutritional intake can have negative

effects on cognitive functions like decision-making

and risk taking.

Do not prioritise work tasks over meals.

Hydrate – drink water often and steadily.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Regular aerobic exercise enhances cognitive

function. Include strength and flexibility exercises.

19

Cognitive

Practice to

maximise

brain

readiness

Recreation &

Lifelong

Learning

Add complex motor movements e.g. martial arts,

tennis, rock climbing, kayaking.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mental practice is the cognitive rehearsal of a task

in the absence of overt physical movement.

Visualising proper actions creates more permanent

neural circuitry that the mind will more readily

revert to during performance; i.e. this is a form of

cognitive muscle memory.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Recreation (music, reading, interest group) reduces

stress and improves energy and mood levels.

Learning helps to build neural pathways – make it

non-work related e.g. musical instrument,

meditation.

Activity – Make a Plan

Emotion Balance

Breathing to

calm body

and mind

Under stress, breathing is often rapid and shallow

as your muscles tighten in preparation for fight or

flight. It helps retain fine motor skills as well as

ensures the brain has an adequate influx of oxygen

to perform.

20

Cognitive

Reappraisal

to cultivate

positive

emotions and

attitudes

Affect

(Emotion)

Labelling

It can help you to regain your composure in the

midst of an emotional event “Stop, breathe, look

around, think”.

Can be paired with a calming word e.g. “relax”,

“calm” or “slow down”.

Note; Breathing strategies are taught by the

BattleSMART program. They need to be practised

and further tailored to suit the field and/or combat

environment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Reframe a situation into a different context to alter

the initial emotional reaction that you are

experiencing.

It is often a natural process but is considered most

effective at lower levels of emotional stress.

Activity – Devil’s Advocate Drill

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Putting feelings into conscious thoughts or words

has the effect of exerting more control over your

emotions.

Make room for, and label your thoughts and

emotions and see them for what they are;

information rather than facts or directions.

Labelling allows you to create distance from, and

gain perspective over your mental processes.

21

Use Emotion

Suppression

Appropriately

Limit

Cognitive

Dissonance

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Emotional suppression is generally ineffective in

regulating emotion. It occurs when you actively

avoid a specific emotion or deny its existence.

However, it can be helpful in high stress scenarios

where you experience strong emotions.

achieve time-sensitive, cognitive tasks. Suppressing

emotions (adopting a cold or stoic mentality) may

be a viable option to preserve mental stability until

the conditions allow a healthier emotional

response.

Note; Don’t bottle up or ignore your feelings once a

crisis is over. Buried feelings don’t go away – they

cry out for attention in other ways and may

contribute to higher rates of post-traumatic stress

and decreased psychological fitness. Go toward and

face distressing emotions, not away from them.

Activity – Journal Writing

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The mental stress (discomfort) that occurs when

you simultaneously experience two or more

contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values.

This concept is relevant to decision-making in

combat e.g. when facing an uncertain and risky

tactical scenario, any post-decision cognitive

dissonance reduces mental functioning such as

assimilating new information or formulating

alternative plans.

22

Self-Calming

Strategies

You can protect against this by quickly and

resolutely accepting your decisions (not second

guessing), and move on to the next task.

You can calm your emotional response to a

stressful situation by applying active control over

motor processes e.g. steadying your hands or

performing the automatic routine of checking your

weapon, could be part of your personal strategy to

prepare for, or react to a combat event.

Other examples are positive self-talk or cue words.

Choose specific words or phrases to elicit a

particular emotional state. These words or phrases

can activate your resolve and remind you of

performance principles e.g. “Focus”.

Adaptive Coping

Active Coping

Anticipate and prepare for difficulties. Turn towards

a problem and acknowledge it.

Accept negative thoughts and reframe problems as

challenges.

Make decisions without perfect knowledge (which

we never have). Take reasonable risks and prepare

to make mistakes.

Be realistic about your personal and situational

limitations (what can and can’t be done).

Strengthen realistic optimism – this is the way you

choose to think about life.

Recognise emotional needs and the need for

23

Enhance your

Self-efficacy

emotional survival skills. You may block out

emotions to get through a crisis, but make sure you

address them as soon as you can so they don’t stay

stuck.

Use calming/arousal regulation skills to help you

see your options clearly, and then act.

Activity – Questionnaires: Optimism, Optimistic

Actions, Active Coping.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Build your confidence – ensure you have the skills

and resources you need and know how to apply

them effectively. Note; your confidence needs to be

realistic – know what you’re capable of.

Perfectionism degrades confidence – focus on

doing a good/excellent job not a perfect job.

Combine mental and physical practice

Enhance arousal regulation and distraction

management ability.

Deliberately practice all forms of leadership skills.

Getting appointed as a CO is only the start of the

process.

Have the confidence to “fail”. You are fallible and

will make mistakes. If you reframe failure as

“efforts towards success”, then failure will become

less intimidating.

Activities:

Success (Mastery) Imagery

Rebounding (Coping) Imagery

24

Be Flexible

Be Creative

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the ability to adapt to changing situations -

realistic optimism.

Move on from “what if” to “If or when X happens,

then I will…”

Coping: Know what you can control and what you

can’t, have fluid strategies for both scenarios. The

broader your repertoire of coping strategies the

Emotions: Know when to suppress pain/distress,

when to rely on yourself and when to allow others

to help.

Don’t over-rely on past training and experience – it

won’t completely prepare you. And sometimes new

ideas are developed and the rules change. Pay

attention, continue to learn and don’t get stuck in

the old way of looking at things.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

You can develop your creativity.

Pay attention to what is going on around you e.g.

problems and opportunities, available resources,

barriers to success and what is needed.

Pay attention to what is going on inside of you e.g.

inner resources, intuition and ideas.

Don’t narrow your focus under pressure – this

limits your ability to see new possibilities.

Reframe a problem as a challenge and an

opportunity for growth.

Access the synergy of others.

Maximise time and energy.

25

Make a creative environment where people are

supportive, respectful and united in their goals;

seek mentors in and outside of the military.

Broaden and Build

Gratitude

Humour

Moral

Strength

Gratitude helps you to recognise the good things

that happen despite adversity and the

opportunities there are to live life well.

Keep a gratitude journal – start with writing down 5

things you are grateful for in the week including:

what went well, what you have, things you learned

etc.

Express gratitude to others frequently.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Humour is a learnable skill. It is a way of looking at

life with clarity, acceptance, playfulness and

optimism.

Actively create it during adversity to reduce stress

and lift your mood.

Be more mindful of things that make you smile.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Live and command in line with your values.

Decide in advance to act morally before adversity

occurs.

26

Meaning and

Purpose

Balance

Have a system in place for correcting and accepting

the “mistakes/wrongs” that you may make.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Much of meaning and purpose is about developing

our strengths and investing them in something

larger than self.

Be clear on your purpose as a commander and

what the role means to you and set your goals in

line with this.

Look for other ways to add meaning to your role

other than that mandated by the Army.

Activity – Job Description.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ensure you have a life outside of work - actively

engage in a wide range of interesting and enjoyable

activities.

Balance technology with quietness.

Develop value driven goals.

Create a sound time management plan and stick to

it.

Explore meditation, mindfulness training, yoga – be

open to what these practices can teach you and

how you can implement them into your life. These

practices are evidence based and regularly used by

27

athletes, business executives and other militaries.

Crisis Preparation

Job

Performance

Skills

Anticipate and train for the unexpected.

Stress impairs performance on complex tasks. High

levels of physical fitness, good anxiety regulation

skills and hardiness protect against this.

Train for, and in conditions that imitate real life

crises. Gradually introduce more and more

challenges that inoculate not overwhelm.

Take an honest, non-judgemental look at your skill

levels. Ask a trusted peer/mentor to provide

feedback to improve your awareness of where you

need to improve to achieve task mastery.

Stay mindful and maintain a flexible mindset.

Stop to process events – reinforce successes, make

needed adjustments to reduce job strain, and

anticipate contingencies.

Practice needed skills thoroughly and repetitively.

Include mental rehearsal as well as physical

rehearsal.

Make general mental skills training part of your

normal working routine.

28

Emotional

Coping Skills

Improve your pulse rate conditioning. High

performers strive for a low resting pulse rate that

can rise quickly (but not too high – above 145 beats

per minute causes deterioration in performance)

and can also recover quickly.

Incorporate non-work balance e.g. exercise,

recreation, time with family and community,

meditation.

Activity – Mental Rehearsal for flexible pulse rate.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope for the best, prepare emotionally for the

worst.

Symptoms can be managed before (prevention and

training), during (coping skills), and after the crisis

(coping skills and intervention).

Be realistically confident in your coping ability.

Expect to cope well with stress but remember that

no one is invincible. Ensure you have an action plan

for possible post-crisis stress reactions.

Stress symptoms are normal (they are not a sign of

weakness) as the body prepares for difficult

challenges. Pay attention to stress symptoms calmly

and without judgement. When they become

excessive, view them as a warning sign and enact

your action plan.

Incorporate emotional processing into training.

Work through the moral aspects of the combat

zone in advance in order to prevent long term

29

psychological and spiritual damage.

Be clear on the meaning of your mission and

reconcile the necessity of potential conflict and

violence.

Determine in advance what you consider ethical

behaviour and adhere to this.

To prepare for post-crisis stress symptoms, follow

this formula: anticipate symptoms, recognise them

and be prepared for them.

Activities:

Emotional Inoculation Exercise

Know Thyself

30

ACTIVITIES RESILIENT BRAIN

Make a plan. With a written plan you’ll more likely stick to a

regime that optimises brain health and performance. Try to make a

plan that is realistic and you can sustain for a long time (see

example below).

Exercise Aim for at least ___ minutes of aerobic

exercise 5-6/week. You can also add strength

and flexibility exercises.

Sleep I will commit to getting ___ hours of sleep per

night (aim for more than you need). I will go

to sleep at ___ and wake at ___ (keep timings

as consistent as possible, even on weekends).

Eating Ensure that you have 3-5 meals/day to

maintain energy levels. Make a meal plan to

sustain you through busy periods.

Make a written list of any factors that might impair your

ability to function at your best. Consider: unhealthy dietary habits

and/or alcohol usage, niggling medical concerns, recreation and

learning, self and family organisation. Now, outline the steps you

will take to address these factors.

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EMOTIONAL BALANCE

Cognitive Reappraisal

The Devil’s Advocate Drill. This activity is an effective way to test

your cognitive reflexes under pressure. Read the distorted thought

on the left. See how many rational responses (replacement

thoughts) you can come up with. There can be more than one

answer. Add more distortions if you know you have experienced

them in the past and identify their replacements.

Distortion Comment Replacement Thoughts

My worth equals

my rank/position

This all-or-none

fallacy can lead to

excessive focus on

work at the cost of

family.

My worth as a person is

innate and independent

of my rank/position.

My worth equals

my PAR

This leads to

unhealthy shame

when your report is

not “perfect”.

Human worth does

equate to perfect

performance. I’ll try my

best but recognise that I

have limitations.

I am invincible What happens when

you realise that you

are not?

I am a vulnerable, fallible

human – and still capable

of performing well.

I’m inadequate. This thought can lead

to fear-driven

perfectionism and

anxiety.

I am imperfect and

human, and that is ok. My

peace of mind comes

from knowing that I am

making the effort to do

my personal best.

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One mistake

means I’m inept.

Many famous leaders

experienced

numerous serious

military defeats

before triumphing.

A mistake makes me

human. You can’t do this

kind of work without

being criticised or

upsetting someone. I’ll do

my best and not get too

attached to the outcome.

I must not feel,

admit to, or show

fear.

Fear happens.

Sometimes it

encourages others to

know that a leader is

feeling fear, but

pressing forward

anyway.

Fear is normal. Survival

isn’t about not feeling

fear – it’s about

acknowledging it and

then turning it into

productive and focussed

behaviour. Some fear

may enhance my

judgement and

performance. Even

freezing is normal; if it

happens I’ll breathe and

focus on what I need to

do.

To function

effectively, I must

suppress all

feelings.

It is not possible or

healthy to always

suppress your

feelings. It wastes a

lot of energy and

doesn’t resolve them.

I can acknowledge

feelings, calm them, carry

out the mission and then

address them later.

This crisis is

overwhelming.

This could lead to

prematurely giving

up.

It might be partly solvable

if I persist and move

ahead in small ways. If

not, I’ll accept it.

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Emotional Suppression

Journal Writing. With practise, you can get used to acknowledging

feelings as part of what makes us human, and become comfortable

expressing them in constructive ways. Often the military

environment requires you to function while keeping your feelings in

check; so you need to process them when the time is right. Writing

privately about feelings is one way to do this without risking the

negative judgements of others. Writing promotes the ability to feel

emotions fully and appropriately and then move on.

Getting ready to write – find a time or place when you won’t be

disturbed, ideally at the end of the day. Promise yourself that you

will write for a minimum of 15 minutes a day for at least 3-4

consecutive days. Write continuously, don’t worry about spelling or

grammar.

What to write about – any past trauma or adversity that still

troubles you, including the loss of a loved one, a break-up, or

anything else that you’d like to forget, avoid or resolve. Something

that you are dreaming about, or a current situation that you are

worrying about. Writing is good for adversities you can’t control,

especially if you can’t accept this.

Let go – explore your deepest emotions and thoughts. The purpose

is to be completely honest with yourself.

Use a wide range of emotions, both negative and positive and

name them e.g. I feel angry because… Try to add insight words e.g.

realise, know, understand.

Note; you may feel sad or depressed for a short while after writing.

If this feeling persists after a few hours or you get too upset writing

then stop writing, change topics, or if the writing really isn’t helping

with a traumatic event then speak with someone.

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ADAPTIVE COPING

Optimism Questionnaire

Think about a difficult time you have experienced. Tick any of the following

optimistic thoughts that went through your mind. When you have finished

go back and circle the number of an item/s if it seems like a thought you

could choose for a difficult situation in the future.

1 I’ll improve upon my past.

2 I find something to enjoy or appreciate each day, no matter what.

3 I expect the future to be better (not perfect but better).

4 What I choose to do will make a difference.

5 I think about what’s the best thing to do.

6 There’s a connection between what I do and what happens to me

7 I’ll bounce back well.

8 I enjoy challenges for the strengths they require. They’re not

stumbling blocks, but stepping stones to growth.

9 When having a tough time, I notice my strengths as well as the

things I’d like to improve.

10 I enjoy difficult challenges – I view them as a test of my skill level,

not my worth as a person.

11 I choose achievable goals and am confident I can reach them.

12 I believe in myself.

13 I am open to new ways of thinking, new ideas and new evidence,

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14 I don’t worry over things that are beyond my control.

15 I’ll keep learning and improving from challenges and failures.

Optimistic Actions

Tick those that generally apply, then circle those that you could use in

difficult situations in the future.

1 I persevere as long as it is reasonable to do so; I generally don’t

give up when things get difficult.

2 I seek help from others when I need it.

3 Challenges get me going – I either do something or let go of the

worry.

4 I set realistic and specific (not vague) goals for myself.

5 I plan things so that a good solution will likely happen.

6 I consciously aim to improve my performance.

7 When a problem occurs I usually come up with at least a couple of

things to do about it.

8 I make a plan of action to solve problems and then follow the plan.

9 I work at having good friendships and other social relationships.

10 I accept situations that I can’t change without undue stress.

11 I try to make small changes and improvements when large ones

aren’t possible.

12 I gain inspiration and motivation from wherever I can.

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Active Coping Style

Optimists tend to be active, rather than passive. Tick those that generally

apply to you, then circle the ones you want to cultivate.

1 I take a breather in order to perform better over the long haul

(e.g. leave, recreation, exercise, sleep, fresh air and sunlight,

reflect and plan).

2 I set realistic, specific goals and then take steps to meet them.

3 I come up with several different solutions to a problem.

4 I prefer to exert effort, rather than wanting to sit back and relax all

the time, knowing that this:

Strengthens me in the long run

Leads to psychological fitness

Keeps me emotionally balanced

Stretches me (when balanced with rest) so that I’ll be

ready when a crisis occurs

5 I have a tried and tested problem-solving method I follow.

6 I don’t focus on what’s wrong, but what I can do.

7 I manage time so that time doesn’t manage me.

8 I seek counsel when needed (from family, friends, mentors).

9 I naturally take rational action (e.g. gather needed information,

make a plan, take action, take small steps forward when I can’t do

it all at once, seek help).

10 When people do things that upset me, I discuss it with them, and

try to negotiate, compromise or accept them as they are.

11 I constructively acknowledge feelings – write them in a journal,

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talk it out, meditate etc.

12 I take responsibility for what I can control or improve (my

thoughts, feelings, actions).

13 I acknowledge external factors that play a role in my performance

(fatigue, overload, task difficulty, situation). There is often a fine

line between making excuses and respecting mitigating

circumstances.

14 I accept myself – self-regard is an active choice.

15 I seek to understand my feelings.

16 I try to empathise with others – to understand their viewpoint and

feelings.

17 I work at being healthy.

18 I work at having good friendships and other social relationships.

19 I can shift gears, or change my thinking and focus so that I don’t

stew over spilled milk.

20 I seek out other people for support or encouragement.

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Success (Mastery) Imagery 1 Lie down or sit comfortably. Start by spending 5 minutes to relax

and compose yourself. Use abdominal breathing, relaxation or

mindfulness.

2 Imagine yourself succeeding – coping and performing well – for

about 15 minutes.

Start by seeing yourself in a stressful or adverse situation. You

notice that your breathing is calm and regular. Though you are

perspiring, your thinking is clear and your body is relaxed and

effortless. You are moving with confidence and composure.

Sense this inside your body.

You see yourself executing your task effectively and smoothly,

with great concentration. You notice what you are focussing on

with clarity. You sense all parts of your body moving calmly and

strongly. You enjoy the feeling of being in the flow – fully

absorbed and meeting each challenge with efficiency and

confidence.

3 Practice this exercise frequently so that the mentally rehearsed

execution comes naturally when it matters the most. It is usually

best to rehearse one movement or aspect of successful

performance frequently before moving on to another aspect.

Then you can put the pieces together.

Imagine yourself from the inside/internal perspective – seeing

hearing, feeling and sensing what you would normally experience in

the actual situation; then imagine yourself as though you are the

subject in the activity and you are also filming yourself with a

sophisticated camera, zooming in and out, using the slow motion

or single frame advance facility, rewinding as necessary, rotating

the camera around yourself as you execute the activity, enhancing

the focus, bathing yourself in a bright, energising colour.

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Rebounding (coping) Imagery

Rebounding (coping) imagery is mental rehearsal that adds the skill

of recovering from common states that interfere with performance,

such as high anxiety, tension, negative thinking or poor decision

making. It begins with five minutes of relaxation as success imagery

does. You vividly imagine your challenging scenario, but then you

notice yourself experiencing one more of the states previously

mentioned. You remain calm and without judgement you simply

see yourself correcting these states, as shown in the table below.

This type of imagery is particularly helpful as faltering then

recovering is more typical of real-life situations.

For this state… You see yourself…

Anxiety Pause and mindfully accept the feeling

without judgement, let awareness of

the anxiety dissolve, then return to

proper task execution.

Muscle Tension Stop; calm your breathing and relax

your muscles

Negative thoughts, such as…

I can’t

What if it doesn’t work?

I should be coping better

There’s too much pressure

Calmly think:

I can do it

I can make it work

I am coping well

I enjoy concentrating and finding

solutions

Fatigue, perspiration, elevated

heart rate

Regulating breathing; thinking, “I feel

relaxed”

Making a mistake Quickly regaining composure and

concentration, and executing the next

task successfully.

Then complete the steps of success imagery as detailed previously.

40

BROADEN AND BUILD

Meaning and Purpose

Job Description. Rewrite your job description so that others would

want to apply. Highlight the benefits and the aspects that bring out

your strengths, skills, values and satisfaction. Reread this when you

feeling negative about it.

CRISIS PREPARATION

Job Performance Skills

Mental Rehearsal for Flexible Pulse Rate. See yourself responding

effectively to a crisis situation. Your pulse increases appropriately,

and decreased quickly after the crisis (mastery image).

Alternatively, practice rebounding imagery. See yourself getting

overly aroused in a crisis situation, but you remember to do your

tactical breathing to quickly lower your pulse rate to the ideal range

(around 140 beats per minute or less), while you tell yourself “It’s

normal to react like this; just calm the breathing and focus on the

task.”

Emotion Coping Skills

Emotional Inoculation Exercise. This exercise integrates emotions,

thoughts and behaviours. You need to consider:

1. what you will likely encounter

2. where you stand in terms of current coping ability

3. the options you have for coping.

41

This activity can be done individually but works best with a partner

(trusted peer.)

Identify an emotionally stressful event – the most stressful you

could possible face as a CO. Now, answer the following questions:

1. Describe the objective facts of the event.

2. What feelings attend this event?

3. Given your current thinking, how would you likely respond

to this event? Fully describe your behaviours and coping

attempts. Explain in detail the thoughts that underlie your

feelings and behaviours – before, during and after.

4. How would most people in your profession respond to this

event? Describe thoughts, feelings and behaviours before,

during and after the event.

5. What would you consider an ideal response to this event?

Discuss thoughts, feelings and behaviours before, during

and after the event.

6. How would you feel if your response was less than ideal?

Finally, process what you have written and exchange your

responses with your partner. Discuss observations about what the

other person has written. Share what you’ve learned from your

partner’s writings.

Know Thyself – Action Plan. Reflect and identify previous post-crisis

stress symptoms you have encountered, and may encounter in the

future. Detail the actions you have used successfully in the past and

plan to use in the future.

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On-line Resources

ADF Health & Wellbeing Portal

http://drnet.defence.gov.au/VCDF/ADFHealthWellbeing/Pages/ADF

%20Health%20and%20Wellbeing%20Portal.aspx

This is the Joint Health Command ADF Health & Wellbeing Portal

‘Fighting Fit'. ‘Fighting Fit’ is a resource for all current and ex-

serving ADF Members and their families. The portal will direct you

to a wide range of Defence websites containing information on ADF

Health and Mental Health services and supports, as well as

referencing a number of reputable external resources.

Commanders Guide to Mental Health Support

http://drnet.defence.gov.au/Army/DPPA/Pages/Comd%20Guide_

Mental%20Hlth%20Sp.aspx

This document is designed to provide you with information that can

assist in managing unit personnel experiencing mental health

difficulties. The guide is a simple, quick reference point to key

information.

Alcohol and other drugs

From Force Protection Alcohol

http://drnet.defence.gov.au/Army/DWSA/Cultural%20Reform/Pag

es/Force-Protection-Alcohol.aspx

This links to further information on:

• Army Alcohol Policies and Resources

• The Stepped Care Approach

• Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs (ATOD) Program

• ADF Alcohol Management Strategy

43

Resilience

1. HighRes (website and App). The Department of Veterans’

Affairs (DVA) High Res website is an eToolbox to help serving and

ex-serving ADF members and their families manage stress and build

resilience. The website offers a range of interactive tools, self-help

resources and videos that help users cope better with stress and

bounce back from tough situations. The companion High Res app,

featuring easy-to-use and effective tools to manage stress, is free

from the iOS App Store and Android Google Play. High Res is

accessible through DVA’s At Ease mental health portal.

2. The Right Mix https://www.therightmix.gov.au/ This is

another DVA website designed to help you gain a clearer

understanding of the impact of alcohol on the important things in

your life. This site provides tips, tools and strategies that can reduce

the impact of drinking on your lifestyle. You can also download the

companion ON TRACK with The Right Mix app to track your alcohol

consumption and spending habits.

The following are apps developed by Defence and DVA:

PTSD Coach App

Learn about and manage symptoms that commonly occur after

trauma

http://at-ease.dva.gov.au/veterans/resources/mobile-apps/ptsd-

coach/

Op Life App

The Operation Life smart phone app has been developed by the

DVA and Defence to help serving and ex-serving members of the

ADF at risk of suicide.

http://at-ease.dva.gov.au/veterans/resources/mobile-apps/op-life-

app/

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Other Apps. The following apps are examples of web and mobile

apps related to management of stress and mental health issues are

provided below. There are also many good apps on sleep cycles and

meditation, available through your app store.

Smiling Mind App (meditation/mindfulness)

Headspace App (meditation/mindfulness)

Breathe App (Reach Out – relaxation)

Brainy App (Alzheimers Australia – how to keep your brain healthy)

MyCompass (Black Dog Institute - Builds resilience)

Breathe2Relex App (US DOD - Information on stress management

and the effects of stress on the body)

E-couch App (ANU - Interactive self-help app for depression,

anxiety, relationship breakdown, loss & grief.)

Mind Health Connect Apps Library (Resources from leading health-

focused organisations in Australia. Search “Online Programs”)

MoodGym App (ANU - Skills for preventing and coping with

depression.)

Tactical Breather App (US DOD - Gaining control over physiological

and psychological responses to stress.)

Relevant websites

Australian Government Mental Health Portal ‘mindhealthconnect’

https://www.mindhealthconnect.org.au/

An easy way to find mental health and wellbeing information,

support and services from Australia’s leading health providers,

together in one place.

Headsup

https://www.headsup.org.au/ Information on creating a mentally

healthy workplace

45

RECOMMENDED READING

ADF Health & Wellbeing: Commander’s Guide (2014).

David, Susan. (2016). Emotional Agility. Penguin Random House:

Great Britain.

Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit – The Power of Passion and

Perseverance. Penguin, Random House: UK.

Greitens, E. (2015). Resilience – Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a

Better Life. First Mariner Books: New York.

Harvey, S.B., Joyce, S., Tan, L., Johnson, A., Nguyen, H., Modini, M.

& Groth, M. (2014). Developing a mentally healthy

workplace: A review of the literature. A report for the

National Mental Health Commission and the Mentally

Healthy Workplace Alliance. 1-73.

Jones, G. & Moorhouse, A. (2007). Developing Mental Toughness.

Spring Hill: Oxford, Great Britain.

Schiraldi, G.R. (2011). The Complete Guide to Resilience – Why it

Matters, How To Build and Maintain It. Resilience Training

International: Ashburn, VA.

46

REFERENCES

Part 3 Enhancing Commander Resilience and Performance

i Greitens, E. (2015). Resilience – Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life. First Mariner Books: New York. ii David, Susan. (2016). Emotional Agility. Penguin Random House: Great Britain. iii David, Susan. (2016). Emotional Agility. Penguin Random House: Great Britain. iv Castro, C.A., Adler, A.B., McGurk, D. & Thomas, J.L. (2006). Leader Actions to Enhance Soldier Resiliency in Combat. In Human Dimensions in Military Operations – Military Leaders’ Strategies for Addressing Stress and Psychological Support, 3-1 – 3-14. v Steadman, A.S. (2011). Applying Neuroscience to Enhance Tactical Leader Cognitive Performance in Combat. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College: Fort Leavenworth, KS vi Steadman, A.S. (2011). Applying Neuroscience to Enhance Tactical Leader Cognitive Performance in Combat. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College: Fort Leavenworth, KS vii Steadman, A.S. (2011). Applying Neuroscience to Enhance Tactical Leader Cognitive Performance in Combat. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College: Fort Leavenworth, KS viii Bates, M.J., Bowles, S., Hammermeister, J., Stokes, C., Pinder, E., Moore, E., Fritts, M., Vythilingam, M., Yosick, T., Rhodes, J., Myatt, C., Westphal, R., Fautua, D., Hammer, P., Burbelo, G. (2010). Psychological Fitness. Military Medicine, 175(8), 21-38.

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ix Bates, M.J., Bowles, S., Hammermeister, J., Stokes, C., Pinder, E., Moore, E., Fritts, M., Vythilingam, M., Yosick, T., Rhodes, J., Myatt, C., Westphal, R., Fautua, D., Hammer, P., Burbelo, G. (2010). Psychological Fitness. Military Medicine, 175(8), 21-38. x Steadman, A.S. (2011). Applying Neuroscience to Enhance Tactical Leader Cognitive Performance in Combat. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College: Fort Leavenworth, KS xi Schiraldi, G.R. (2011). The Complete Guide to Resilience – Why it Matters, How to Build and Maintain It. Resilience Training International: Ashburn, VA.