The journey to founding Natural Resilience has been unorthodox to say the least, I served in PSNI for 12 years in specialist units which certainly provided me with an opportunity to develop resilience one way or another. What the corporate world describes as “soft skills” we called “life skills” as at times, they genuinely could mean the difference between life and death. Skills such as making decisions and communicating under pressure, emotional intelligence, wellbeing and self-awareness are what allowed you to navigate unique and sometimes dangerous situations.
My outlet for what at times could be a stressful job was weightlifting and in 2019 I managed to get selected to represent Northern Ireland. These two parallel worlds provided me with an obsession into human behaviour and performance and in early 2021 I went full time with Natural Resilience with no business experience but a clear mission to help people and organisations thrive.
When I launched, we were just coming out of lockdown and I believed that more so than ever people desired authentic human connection. It was clear that people wanted to be treated like human beings as opposed to human resources, to feel seen, heard and valued in the workplace and to contribute to something bigger than themselves. While companies focused on performance, people wanted purpose. Natural Resilience provides both. The days of one size fits all approaches to teams is over, but that is good thing as when you know your people, you can grow your people.
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Natural Resilience has and continues to work with some phenomenal organisations such as Liberty IT, Expleo, Irish Football Association, Invest NI and B-Secur to name but a few. One organisation I have enjoyed working with recently has been Ulster Badminton as it was a multi-faceted approach where the chief executive received 121 coaching and support, we used some online tools to understand the personality and behavioural traits of the people within the organisation which allowed us to deliver bespoke team building days to bring everyone in align with the company vision. My favourite part of the project was re-designing the organisations values with the team, values that they actually felt an emotional attachment to as opposed to just words on a wall, we designed it in the form of a shuttlecock incorporating the organisations history and vision with everyone contributing and feeling as if they belong on the journey.
It's been a fast paced but extremely rewarding few years, this year in particular it feels as if the seeds that have planted are starting to shoot. Earlier this year an Advisory Board was established to help Natural Resilience scale. It’s a remarkable collection of people that have really bought into the philosophy and mission. Chaired by Aislinn Rice it includes Nigel Cunningham -regional lead at Microsoft, Steven Allaway – Investor, Richie Finlay – Head of comms at Oxford Instruments and Laura O Neill, CEO of Devday. That in itself has been a game changer, getting direct access to smart people that have walked the walk and want to see the business do well. It has forced me to stretch but it has also forced me to think bigger which is always a good thing.
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As a result of my work with the board we are hosting a re-launch event in Microsoft on 30th Sept. It is an opportunity to share the vision for Natural Resilience with senior leaders on how we can help them improve their culture and performance by aligning their people to the purpose, values and vision of their organisation. We will also be announcing an exciting new venture for Corporate Social Responsibility where we have teamed up with three charities in Foodstock, Cancer Fund for Children and Marie Curie to deliver impactful team building events where the charities benefit from the intellectual property within an organisation whether through developing software that the charity can use, joining the charity in its day to day running and identifying areas where the organisation can help or by fundraising in unique in-house events.
They say that resilience is the ability to advance despite adversity, bend without breaking, and stretch without snapping. What I know through experience is that when we enter that area of discomfort we need the support and guidance of other people. Natural Resilience provides people with an opportunity to grow but also the people to help support them on that journey.
Natural Resilience is redefining how organisations think about people, performance, and purpose. Founded by Ciaran May, the company blends hard-earned life skills with cutting-edge behavioural insights to help individuals and teams thrive. With a mission rooted in authenticity, human connection and meaningful impact, Natural Resilience has rapidly become a trusted partner to forward-thinking organisations across Northern Ireland and beyond. As it prepares for an exciting new chapter with a dynamic advisory board and a major re-launch event at Microsoft, the vision is clear: create workplaces where people feel seen, heard and inspired to grow — both professionally and personally.
Sync NI's Summer 2025 magazine celebrates women in tech across Ireland as we continue to encourage more women to enter the thriving sector and address the current gender imbalance. Read the Summer 2025 Sync NI Magazine online for free here.
