6 steps to Organizational Resilience
We collaborated with The Economist Intelligence Unit on research which examines business attitudes towards Organizational Resilience. Organizational Resilience is “the ability of an organization to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to incremental change and sudden disruptions in order to survive and prosper.”
Organizational Resilience encourages businesses to look beyond risk management towards a more holistic view of business health and success. A resilient organization should not only survive over the long term but should also flourish – passing the test of time.
The report identifies six key features of resilient organizations. If you're looking to embed or reinforce resilience in your business, review the following:
1. Proactive approach – are you willing and prepared to adapt before being forced to do so?
2. Dynamic leadership – do you have support from the top of the organization to embed process, from the CEO down?
3. Responsiveness to change – are you listening to market and industry needs?
4. Strong corporate culture – do you include and recognize everyone’s responsibility and contribution to the business?
5. Keeping focused – is there a clear vision, purpose and identity?
6. Long-term view – how are you planning to avoid solely responding to short-term financial goals?
The study of business leaders revealed that just one-third (29%) trust that their organizations have fully embedded resilience practices, and less than half (44%) expect it to be the case in three years’ time. This is despite 88% believing that resilience is a priority for their organizations, and indispensable for long-term growth (80%).
Achieving the resilience to survive and prosper in the long term is held back by a lack of skills and knowledge, insufficient leadership commitment and short-term financial considerations. It should be highlighted that cultural resistance and skills silos create weak points and bottlenecks within an organization. Two-fifths (39%) of business leaders struggle to secure business support for essential resilience measures such as information security, supply chain efficiency and corporate governance.
What do you think? Tell us your thoughts below or read more about Organizational Resilience.
