BUILDING ORGANIZATIONAL RESILEIENCE THROUGH LEADERSHIP

(Part 3 of 4)?

If we agree that organizational resilience refers to the ability of an organization to maintain its functions and quickly recover from adversity by marshalling and acquiring required resources, then we can say that organizational resilience is directly associated to the resources of the organization.?As one of the most important resources of an organization, human resources will inescapably affect organizational resilience.

A resilient workforce can react positively and powerfully in adversity, which is essential for the survival and future prosperity of the organization. Resilient leaders have the ability to improve their organization’s awareness of the risk environment and reduce its vulnerability. They are able to reformulate business strategies in the face of changes, to constantly adapt to changes, and to proactively react before changes are needed,?and even the ability to create new opportunities and develop new functions. Organizations, through their resilient leaders, should not only respond and adapt to environmental turbulence, but also actively initiate, restore, update and redesign organizational structures and relationships so that they can thrive in adversity.

Leaders can promote employee resilience through attitudes, behaviors, policies, and culture,?and guide employees to exert their resilience in the face of pressure. Leaders play an important role as decision-makers and pass specific culture and values among employees,?making an important contribution to enhancing organizational resilience. For organizations to develop resilience, senior management must adopt new capabilites, such as:

1. Leaders must strive to build more agile organizations by testing, learning, and adjusting to complex situations.
2. Leaders must identify and promote leaders who are less reactionary, but those who will take the time to coach, train, and adapt quickly to markets and competitors. They must be able to catalyze new behaviors, and they develop new capabilities that can help set the conditions for short-term response and long-term resiliency.
3. Leaders who understand and value talent development and instill the right culture.

Cultivating organizational resilience is time consuming, but a worthy investment, that is certain to protect it from any economic downturn, and propel it to higher grounds against its competitors.