The evolution of resilience

As times have evolved, so has the notion of resilience. Over a decade ago, it was often data-centric and synonymous with a thick, hard-copy business continuity plan that was feverishly drafted and rarely consulted (more frequently doubling as a doorstop). In more recent years, though, businesses have successfully taken an operational approach to resilience — addressing stressors that impact their products and services, data, technology, cybersecurity, facilities, and supply and demand.

To thrive in today’s highly dynamic environment, it’s important to broaden that approach even further, in a more holistic and proactive way. A new report from Deloitte, “Deloitte’s Global Resilience Report: Toward True Organizational Resilience,” outlines the importance of organisational resilience — elevating resilience to become a core part of who the business is.

As stated in the report, organisational resilience is defined as: “The capability of an organisation to be prepared for disruption and to adapt and thrive in a changing environment. It isn’t purely defensive in orientation. It is also progressive, building the capacity for agility, adaptation, learning, and regeneration to ensure that organisations are able to deal with more complex and severe events and be fit for the future.”

The report shares findings from a Deloitte survey of 700 board members, executives, directors, and senior leaders with accountability or responsibility for resilience or crisis management within their organisations. It highlights that while senior executives recognise the need for more forward-looking, proactive, and strategic approaches to resilience, there’s also a struggle to develop and implement them within their organisations.

The evolution of resilience

As times have evolved, so has the notion of resilience. Over a decade ago, it was often data-centric and synonymous with a thick, hard-copy business continuity plan that was feverishly drafted and rarely consulted (more frequently doubling as a doorstop). In more recent years, though, businesses have successfully taken an operational approach to resilience — addressing stressors that impact their products and services, data, technology, cybersecurity, facilities, and supply and demand.

To thrive in today’s highly dynamic environment, it’s important to broaden that approach even further, in a more holistic and proactive way. A new report from Deloitte, “Deloitte’s Global Resilience Report: Toward True Organizational Resilience,” outlines the importance of organisational resilience — elevating resilience to become a core part of who the business is.

As stated in the report, organisational resilience is defined as: “The capability of an organisation to be prepared for disruption and to adapt and thrive in a changing environment. It isn’t purely defensive in orientation. It is also progressive, building the capacity for agility, adaptation, learning, and regeneration to ensure that organisations are able to deal with more complex and severe events and be fit for the future.”

The report shares findings from a Deloitte survey of 700 board members, executives, directors, and senior leaders with accountability or responsibility for resilience or crisis management within their organisations. It highlights that while senior executives recognise the need for more forward-looking, proactive, and strategic approaches to resilience, there’s also a struggle to develop and implement them within their organisations

The five capitals of resilience

Deloitte’s report also outlines five key capitals of resilience, all of which contribute to and are encompassed in organisational resilience. Because a deficiency in one or more of these capitals can destabilise organisational resilience, it’s important to prioritise and balance investments across each of these domains:

• People resilience — how organisations support their people and foster creativity and growth by cultivating personal resilience, and instituting the right cultural norms, conduct, and behaviors.
• Reputational resilience — about being responsive to external perceptions, building brand capital and reserves, and maintaining a foundation of trust and dependability.
• Operational resilience — how organisations use non-financial resources to withstand, absorb, recover from, adapt to, or regenerate from the impacts of shocks that affect their operations.
• Financial resilience — the ability to withstand events that impact organisations’ liquidity, income, or assets.
• Environmental resilience — how organisations work to achieve homeostasis with the natural world, making strategic choices that are both good for the environment and sustainable for business.

Actionable takeaways

Now more than ever, organisations face the need to elevate their resilience agenda: both structurally — in terms of accountability and ownership — and also culturally, integrating resilience principles throughout the business.

Far from a “one-and-done” and “check-the-box” proposition, achieving organisational resilience is a continuous journey that entails: