What is resilience in business? And why do you need capacity and capability to give it teeth? Whatever "give it teeth" means.
Resilience transcends economies, cultures and borders
Since the advent of the first industrial revolution, businesses have evolved. Centres for work were established along with organisational hierarchy, mechanisation, and many other inventions for the age. Along with great progress, there came less positive consequences. Let's just leave that there, for now.
As we find ourselves in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution, we may be forgiven for asking what happened to the second and third? There is plenty of research and countless white papers on the development of modern business. However, we want to discuss resilience and how this is so intrinsically connected to all levels of advancement.
There are many aspects to resilience, so let’s dramatically simplify things. Personal resilience, organisational resilience, community resilience, societal resilience, national and international resilience - they all transcend economies, cultures, borders, ecosystems.
So what? Hoes does this impact me and my world-view?
Excellent question! Resilience is directly connected to the level of capacity one has which in turn is influenced by the level of capability. For now, we’ll focus on resilience at the individual level, although this is relevant for teams, divisions and whole organisations too!
Change is inevitable. In our lives, every day, things change for better or worse. Nothing stays still. Your level of change resilience is influenced by many factors which are predominantly driven by your capacity and capability.
Okay, stop repeating those words! What are you on about?
Capacity is the space between your level of connection to a purpose, and your ability to influence it. Simply put, if you work for a business with a driving purpose that you deeply connect with, yet you are not empowered to order a box of stables without layers of approval, something isn't right.
This is where the connection you feel between your purpose and your level of autonomy are vital. This space allows for the culture to grow, heightened strategic impact, your organisation's response to growth and change, how adaptable and flexible it is – all of which culminate in resilience.
Capability is the application of your expertise in a field of work, the application of your skills to achieve your desired outcomes. Meeting this is the how things are done in the organisation with the perspective it has on things, the behaviours that teams, individuals and leaders exhibit and how the competition are operating. There are obviously other aspects to this, but you get the gist.
Develop authentic and long-lasting resilience
To summarise, in order to develop authentic and long-lasting resilience I think it is essential to have a clear investment in sustained capacity and capability throughout the business. It should be purposeful and connected to clear objectives, rooted in it the credibility, reliability and intimacy required to build trust.
Comments