Why Stress is a Powerful Tool for Building Resilience—and How to Use It

Are you too comfortable in your manufacturing role? While stress sounds like something you want to avoid on the manufacturing floor, facing stressful and challenging situations can actually help you grow your mindset, improve your resilience, and change the way you engage with your team.

We recently took a deep dive into stress and resilience on the Mindfulness Manufacturing podcast with guest Paul Taylor! Paul is a PhD candidate in applied psychology, a former crew member for the British Royal Navy, and the author of Death by Comfort: How Modern Life is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It.

Why Stress Plays a Key Role on the Path to Improved Resilience

When you confront a stressful situation on the manufacturing floor, think of it as like a strenuous physical fitness task. When you’re working improving your physical fitness, contentious effort leads to growth. When you encounter and overcome a challenge, it only makes you stronger and more ready to take on your goal. This same concept applies to workplace situations like dealing with a problem with a team member. While it might feel uncomfortable at first, taking on the stressful challenge will make you stronger, build your resilience, and provide valuable lessons that can help you improve your mindset and team dynamics.

3 Tips for Using Stress as a Tool to Build Resilience

1. Embrace Stress to Build Mental Toughness
In manufacturing, leaders need to survive—and thrive—under pressure. Instead of viewing stress as something to avoid, shift your mindset to find ways to harness stress. Just like lifting weights strengthens muscles, facing and managing stress strengthens your leadership capabilities.

To positively harness stress, start by seeking challenges that push your comfort zone. For example, you might take on a difficult project, solve a complex problem with your team, or make decisions with limited information. Over time, these moments of stress build resilience and improve your capacity to perform under pressure. You’ll also learn to become comfortable with discomfort and come to see it as a crucial part of personal and professional growth.

2. Make Conflict a Tool for Team Growth
Conflict is inevitable, so the key is how you manage it. Instead of avoiding uncomfortable conversations, use them as opportunities for team growth. When faced with conflict, aim to keep the focus on the issue, not the person.

Create a framework where you can have tough conversations that are solutions-focused, not blame-oriented. Instead of reacting emotionally, start by calmly identifying the core issue. Then, work with your team to explore solutions, with a focus on actions that can resolve the situation. This approach fosters collaboration and creates an environment where tough issues are handled productively.

3. Redefine Psychological Safety for Your Team
True psychological safety isn’t about avoiding uncomfortable truths or protecting team members from stress. It’s about creating an environment where your team feels empowered to speak up, share ideas, and provide honest feedback—without fear of retaliation.

As a leader, focus on encouraging transparency and holding everyone accountable, while supporting them through challenges. Build trust by creating a culture where open dialogue is the norm, not the exception. By doing this, you create psychologically safe environments where you can tackle issues head-on, all while growing during the process.

Learn More on the Podcast

To hear more about stress, resilience, and safety from Paul Taylor, listen to his episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing here.

Mindfulness Manufacturing

Our show is about providing listeners with real stories that come from a place of experience, transparency, and authenticity. Most importantly it’s about what we learn from these stories and applying Mindfulness in our everyday work and personal lives.
Our intention is to create an environment where people can learn through open honest discussions on how we apply Mindfulness. Although our experiences and stories come from time in a manufacturing environment hence the title “Mindfulness Manufacturing”, we still see our discussions and topics relatable to any organization or profession.

On the manufacturing floor, you have dozens of everyday opportunities for negotiation, from talking with a team member about an upcoming pay raise to trying to get a better deal from a supplier. In your everyday negotiations, what can you do to say less, get more, and make effective changes?

You need to master the art of negotiation—and in this episode, guest Fotini Iconomopoulos is here to share the tools you need to know. Fotini Iconomopoulos is a master communicator and negotiator based in Toronto. She’s also the author of Say Less Get More: Unconventional Negotiation Techniques to Get What You Want. In this episode, she shares more about the power of negotiation and share actionable insights for unlocking your negotiating greatness.

1:00 – Learning how to negotiate and communicate is an important skill for manufacturing leaders

3:20 – Negotiation plays a key role in many manufacturing scenarios, like working with suppliers and retailers

4:25 – Be mindful of negotiation opportunities in your everyday interactions

6:44 – Negotiation isn’t just about getting your own way, but about changing the thinking of another person

7:00 – To improve your negotiation skills, stay curious and ask questions

7:34 – When negotiation, think about your own emotions and the emotions of the other person

9:19 – Practice striking the balance between logic and emotions in your negotiations

15:12 – Use language that aids cooperation and mutual benefit

18:54 – Opening with an extreme can set you up for a success negotiation, but be sure to consider the ethics involved

21:37 – People are often motivated more by what they might lose, rather than what they stand to gain

22:22 – Silence can also be a powerful tool in negotiations

Connect with Fotini Iconomopoulos