Resilience is often described as the ability to bounce back.
But for people and teams working in demanding, fast-changing environments, that can feel like a fairly unforgiving expectation. It suggests that, however difficult the challenge, we should recover quickly and return to exactly where we were before.
What if resilience is not about returning to the person, team or organisation we were before?
What if it is about adapting to what has changed and finding a different way forward?
This is one of the questions that three-time Paralympic champion and twelve-time world champion Emma Wiggs MBE will explore when she opens the Professional Training Conference 2026: Regional Edition in Manchester.
A different view of resilience
Emma’s understanding of resilience has been shaped by profound personal change, elite competition, injury and the challenge of sustaining performance over many years.
Her story is extraordinary, but the ideas behind it are highly relevant to working life.
Every organisation faces moments when plans change, expectations increase or familiar ways of working are no longer enough. In those moments, people can respond very differently. Some may feel energised by the challenge, while others may experience uncertainty, frustration or self-doubt.
None of those reactions is unusual.
The more important question is what happens next.
How do people respond when pressure starts to affect their judgement, relationships or behaviour? How do leaders create the conditions in which teams can adapt without simply expecting people to absorb more? And how do organisations maintain performance when the answer cannot always be to work harder?
The danger of relying on what has worked before
Success can create its own challenges.
When a particular approach has worked in the past, it is natural to repeat it. But changing circumstances may require something different.
For Emma, remaining competitive at the highest level has meant being willing to reconsider familiar approaches to training and performance. It has required curiosity, adaptation and a willingness to ask whether there might be a better way.
The same is true for organisations.
Law firms are operating in an environment shaped by evolving client expectations, new technology, changing career priorities and increasing pressure on people’s time and energy.
The teams that perform most effectively will not necessarily be those that resist disruption or attempt to continue exactly as before. They will be those that remain clear about what they are trying to achieve while being open to changing how they achieve it.
Resilience is not simply an individual responsibility
There is a tendency to talk about resilience as though it is entirely personal.
People are encouraged to manage pressure better, maintain a positive mindset and recover quickly from setbacks. Those things can matter, but individual resilience does not develop in isolation.
Leadership, team culture, communication and the working environment all shape how people respond when circumstances become difficult.
A team may contain highly capable and committed individuals, but if people do not feel able to speak honestly, ask for support or challenge an approach that is no longer working, performance will eventually suffer.
Building resilience is therefore not simply about helping individuals cope with more. It is about creating teams that can respond to pressure collectively, learn from challenges and adapt without losing sight of their purpose.
From enduring change to learning through it
Challenges are rarely welcome.
However, they can reveal where people, teams and organisations need to think differently.
They can expose assumptions, highlight unhelpful habits and create opportunities for conversations that may not otherwise have taken place.
That does not mean every difficult experience automatically leads to growth. It means that, with the right awareness and support, disruption can become a catalyst for change rather than simply something to endure.
Emma’s keynote will invite delegates to reconsider what resilience really looks like and what enables people to sustain high performance over time.
Drawing on her experiences in elite sport, she will explore some of the choices, behaviours and questions that have shaped her own approach to challenge and change — while encouraging delegates to consider what those ideas could mean within their own teams and organisations.
Building high-performing teams through change
Emma Wiggs MBE will open the Professional Training Conference 2026: Regional Edition, taking place in Manchester on Wednesday 30 September 2026.
Her keynote will set the scene for a high-impact half-day focused on resilience, psychological safety, trust and strategic alignment.
Through practical Strategic Insights Workshops and discussion with fellow leaders from across the legal profession, delegates will explore how to create stronger, better-aligned teams that can continue to perform when circumstances change.
Because resilience is not simply about getting through the pressure. It is about developing the people, relationships and working environment that allow teams to respond well to whatever comes next.
Find out more and book your place here. Join us to discover how your firm can build stronger, better-aligned teams that are equipped to perform through change.