The current scenario consists of natural hazards, terrorist attack and cyberattacks that are all more frequent and must be addressed as a top priority by business leaders in order to maintain the organization’s viability in the future.
But it’s not always clear how an organisation can bounce back, bounce back, bounce back from adversity. Find out below why building organizational resilience matters so much to leaders, and how implementing the six steps can support an organization’s overall capacity to deal with future issues.
Why build organizational resilience?
Organisational resilience means being able to plan for, respond to, and manage the unforeseen circumstances, disturbances and crises and keep running. With economic volatility, natural disasters, and cybersecurity attacks on a constant basis, the development of organizational resilience should be the top focus for all businesses, large and small.
For instance, 83% of the companies interviewed for IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2022 reported more than one data breach. Moreover, Verdantix conducted a report in 2021 that found that “more than two-thirds of organisations experienced losses as a result of a climate change event in the past two years”.
Resilience is essential because resilient organisations are better able to respond to shocks and bounce back quickly which offers a variety of advantages such as:
- Enhanced business continuity
Organisational resilience can help companies absorb as little disruption as possible from disruptive events. This minimizes downtime, guards revenue streams, and allows them to continue providing goods or services to customers. - Improved risk management
Resilience plans allow businesses to identify and prevent risks before they escalate into crises and hence reduce the chance of business disruption and related costs. - Increased innovation
Resilient companies are more likely to try new business models, products or services because they are ready for the unknown. That’s more time to build products or improve products you already have, instead of wasting it on risk reduction. - Greater employee engagement
An adaptive company is one that promotes preparedness, trust and transparency that can enhance morale, engagement and retention of employees.
Here are six things that organizations can do to strengthen their resilience and come out the other side more resilient and competitive.
Steps to building organizational resilience
Managers need to take some very concrete steps in order to become resilient, to resist disturbances, and recover from defeat. Resilience is the sum of investments in people, resilient organisational culture, technology adoption, agility, and risk management.
Invest in people
The best resource in any business are its people. Investing in the people who compose the company is the first place to invest in resilience. This means keeping employees healthy, training and mentoring, and mental health. An organisation that’s successful will be one where the people are actively involved, empowered, and problem-solving.
Develop organizational culture
A strong organisational culture – it is the culture that brings people together, that fosters creativity, and that fosters resilience. Building a culture where everyone can share mistakes, is rewarded for successes and teams of all seniority levels can partner with each other is an excellent place to start.
To create a resilient organizational culture also includes forming an alliance around purpose and values. By developing an effective culture, companies can help employees feel connected and part of the group.
Lead with integrity
Resilient leaders act from purpose and values that align with the organisation’s vision and mission. They are the leaders and they need to focus on instilling a spirit of resilience and openness that creates trust and relationships with their employees.
Good leaders know it’s not just a matter of goal setting and rules, but rather creating a company every employee will be proud to work for. They have to invest in their people, establish a strong culture and have clear crisis-management procedures to make sure that they are resilient from the top down. When leaders provide direction, set appropriate goals, and are available to workers, they build the trust and credibility needed to survive any crisis.
Embrace technology
Having the right technology on your side is one of the most important parts of forming a stable organization. This is not easy but more is not always better, and neither is it about one and done in selecting what to solve. Technology that powers resilience must create efficiencies and scale up to meet the demands of an organization now and decades from now.
An improved business continuity, disaster recovery, and risk management tech stack is a good place to start. These tools have to complement one another, if not be built on the same system, and should be easy enough to operate when an emergency happens for anyone. Through the right technology, also businesses can make things faster, more efficient, and cheaper. When businesses invest in solutions that are designed to create a more resilient organization, they can better weather disruptions and change in the market.
Be agile
Creating resilience means nurturing agile mindset, agile work practices. Afleece by definition is “being able to invent and adapt. It’s how you manage, and succeed in, a challenging and volatile world.” That is to say, having decision and problem-solving processes in place, being able to change course when needed, and being willing to move into new situations are all part of being a resilient organization.
Agility can enable companies to respond rapidly to situations, act based on data and predict risks before they become big problems. Through agility, organisations can remain agile and flexible, and be more ready for the challenges in the trenches.
So Plan to be in-the-moment and not just react.
To create a secure business, business continuity, disaster planning, and risk management must be planned early in the business continuity, disaster planning, and risk management process. This is by discovering risks and dangers before they arise and then taking preventative or remedial actions. It also means a robust crisis management system that is tested and audited frequently to make sure it works.
Companies that are reactionary in the face of an apocalypse invest more in crisis management and wait longer to sort things out. Reactive organisations that already have solutions and plans honed by experience get it right the first time around. When risk is continuously assessed and contingency plans are in place, the disruptions are minimized and the interruptions are quickly corrected.
It’s no longer the province of companies to create resilience. Leaders must prioritize resilience building to keep people safe and healthy and their business open in times of emergency.
The 6 steps listed above can be used by companies to determine their resilience and improve. Investing in people, resilient culture, strong leadership, a good technology, being flexible and proactive about risk management can enable organizations to develop resilience that can enable them to adapt, bounce back and flourish when things go wrong.
Organizations that invest in resilience-building can ensure they protect people, ensure their business stays alive, and plan for the worst.