Business Resilience

As sure as the sun will rise, businesses will continue to face continuous turbulence. Higher volatility has become the new normal, and an uncertain business context is a part of everyday life.  

Whilst changes present risks, they can also bring significant opportunities. History has shown that in times of crisis, not all companies fare the same, and it wasn’t down to luck. Whereas some companies struggled – even going out of business – other companies facing the same crisis transformed their operations, their products and services, as well as their business models. Taking advantage of these changes propelled their transformation initiatives.  

The question therefore shifts: from  

‘How can companies survive these unpredictable changes?’, to  

‘How can they thrive and ride the waves of change, to come out and stay on top?’. 

How can companies leverage these challenges to pursue new avenues of business or change the status quo? What should companies do now to ensure resilience in the future? 

Not all crises are the same, so adopting a one-size-fits-all approach is setting oneself up for disaster.  Analysing experiences from the past to plan for future challenges, albeit a worthwhile exercise, does not offer a blueprint of action for the next disruption. Whether you’re looking back to last month, last year or the last decade, the world was a different place then to what it is now. With so many variables, the challenge has become even bigger, and bolder approaches are required by organizations if they are to succeed.  

Bottom line: companies therefore need to build resilience from within to be able to withstand the different challenges that the future will definitely bring.   

So where should company leaders start? 

• Consider a company’s operations; more often than not you will find that some areas, processes or systems are more rigid than others. Leaders might want to consider understanding the underlying reasons for the inflexibility in these areas, and subsequently find solutions to add a degree of elasticity to increase the company’s ability to adapt to changes in its environment. 
• Leaders could also pay attention to opportunities that have been identified for the organization but have been put on the backburner as a result of lack of resources or focus. These opportunities could be the ticket to increase the responsiveness required to remain resiliently afloat. 
• Digital and Analytical solutions could also help company leaders obtain the required information relating to key performance indicators that matter most; this allows leaders to better plan for future disruptions as well as achieve meaningful changes within their organization. 

Whatever your approach, always be receptive and positively responsive to the changes that will come your way. It’s up to you to decide whether they will be hurdles that hinder your performance, or springboards that spur you onwards and upwards.