What is Business Resilience and why does it matter?
ISO 22316 defines organisational resilience as: “...the ability of an organization to absorb and adapt in a changing environment to enable it to deliver its objectives and to survive and prosper. More resilient organizations can anticipate and respond to threats and opportunities, arising from sudden or gradual changes in their internal and external context. […] An organization’s resilience is influenced by a unique interaction and combination of strategic and operational factors.” ISO 22316: Security and Resilience – Organizational Resilience Principles and Attributes.
Dimensions of Business Resilience
In my extensive and diverse international experience of working in organisations of various sizes across a variety of sectors I firmly believe that business resilience has the following dimensions:
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Strong Financial Management
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Robust supply chains
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Diversified income sources
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Regular monitoring of the external environment to detect threats and opportunities
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Planning for the impacts that different crises could have on the organisation and how these could be avoided or mitigated
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Developing an agile, innovative organisational culture that enables it to adapt to a crisis and pivot if necessary
- Knowing clients and target customers extremely well
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Building strong support systems among a local and/or virtual business community
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Appropriate and timely Communications – internally and externally