Over the past 18 months, we have been bravely navigating the new normal, and one topic keeps raising its head in almost every engagement we have – staying resilient. We thought it might be worth exploring to keep exploring this topic a little more, with a focus on organisational resilience in this article.

Every great global transformation came from a big push – and although this pandemic is rather extreme, it is a push nonetheless to reimagine the world we live in. It just shows us how adaptive and remarkable we truly are as people. It gives us great insight into how adversity pushes us to quickly transition from the very world we have created, know and love – into something quite remarkable.

And at an organisational level, it becomes even more interesting. We’re complex enough as individuals, group dynamics present an interesting challenge for any transition.

A Quick Recap on Resilience

If you’ve been missing out on our resilience articles, then you need to do yourself a huge favour and check them out!

In brief, resilience is “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties, toughness”. It concerns our ability to remain optimistic, forward-moving and courageous in the face of adversity. Simply put, our ability to adapt and thrive in the presence of change can be considered resilience.

Resilience at Organisational Level

Being that we’re all susceptible to bouts of change, whether predictable or not, it’s safe to say that businesses and even entire industries also have to deal with the same thing.

Businesses are then required to identify and develop their own form of cultures and behaviours supporting those cultures, enabling them to deal with the challenges that come with an unforeseeable and unpredictable future. And as we inch closer towards the unknown, it’s good to know what resilience means for the well-being of any given organisation.

Change at an organisational level is a group event, however, we have learnt that it always boils down to the individual experience within the event. This means there is something organisations can do to control the ”event” to minimize negative experiences at the individual level!

So – can we expect groups to move in a unified way of being at the organisational level during uncertain times? Absolutely! It has been done before and the same can be done in developing an organisation that encourages, celebrates and enables resilient individuals to thrive.

According to a report by Professor David Denyer, a Director of Research at Cranfield University, organisational resilience can be defined as, “the ability of an organization to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to incremental change and sudden disruptions in order to survive and prosper”.

How Does Organisational Resilience Work?

Denyer points out that organisational resilience can be split into “two core drivers” that businesses focus on when looking at dealing with change.

These drivers are either defensive or progressive in nature. That is, either:

•  Taking action to prevent negative outcomes (focus on the bad); Or
• Actively seeking to create positive outcomes during events of crisis, disaster or disruption (focus on the good).

A report released by MDPI also reveals that researchers have found two key attributes that make up resilience – namely its static and dynamic nature.

“Static resilience is mostly based on preparedness and preventive measures to minimize threats in terms of probability of occurrence and potential impact, while dynamic resilience is more focused on the effective management of accidents and unforeseen events to shorten unfavourable aftermaths and maximize the organization’s speed of recovery”.

Being resilient at an organisational level means having the ability to prepare for, adapt to and thrive in any circumstance both in processes and in people.

It Also Means Having Solid and Well-Planned Structures in Place

To foster a resilient workforce, you need to have certain structures in place. In our experience, there are key motivators and factors that play a large role in forming a healthy, balanced environment to encourage resilience.

Here are some questions to help you assess if your organisation has structures in place to foster a resilient workforce:

1. Do you regularly communicate your organisation’s high-level vision, with a roadmap of short, medium and long-term goals? In other words, does your workforce know where you are going?
2. Do you value employee mental wellness, do you have measures in place to support employees at all levels?
3. Do you take notice of workplace stressors? Are you actively engaging employees to develop solutions for this, and increase productivity?
4. Do you invest in employee personal development?
5. Do you have your finger on the pulse, are you constantly checking in on your employees, what they are talking about and shifts that are taking place?
6. Do you encourage conversations with employees, and do you provide a safe environment to engage?

Resilient employees are able to manage stress effectively so it is not overwhelming and detrimental (Davis Laak, 2014). Employees that actively engage in self-care and that nurture themselves after a stressful incident, however minor, tend to avoid ‘burnout’ far better.

Organisations that provide environments that enable and encourage these traits and behaviours are more likely to have more resilient employees.

If you’re going through any changes or planning on making any – we can make a positive and lasting difference.