HOW TO CREATE RESILIENCE THROUGH YOUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET!

BH: You talk about how the rigidity of employees can get in the way of change and the adaptability of a company. The former president of General Motors said: "There is a funny thing here at GM. We pay for their hands, for their physical labor. We get their heads for free. You must put the people first. If you treat people well, you make more money." Can you say something about the role of a people-centric approach in working towards resilience??

CB: Very important points are that you have built a vibrant and flexible culture. On the one hand, it is important to have employees in a permanent learning system. They should learn on the 70-20-10 logic: 70% on the job, by working with different colleagues, working in projects or that a task comes that is out of the comfort zone. 20% falls into relationship learning. It's important to have great role models, mentors. Or even the advocate principle of getting a challenge from someone who is further along, but also using reverse mentoring. The last 10% is cognitive input. You get an outside speaker and you pass on resources. Also, you should look at what the employees' personal strengths are and not "doctor" so much on their weaknesses. The point is to ensure that people stay in the development of their strengths. Investing in people, treating people well. People feel well treated when their strengths are seen and further strengthened. They do not feel good when their weaknesses are focused on and worked on. Empower! Empowerment also has something to do with giving responsibility, trusting and allowing mistakes. Mistakes are normal. Mistakes are human. What can we learn from them? That's one of the levers that makes resilient! It's okay for things to change. Everything doesn't always have to go in an orderly fashion.??

BH: A tendency toward a skill-based approach is evident here: a compilation of employees less according to specific jobs and more according to their skills, individual contributions and human capabilities. While this can be identified as an important tool for achieving greater resilience, for many organisations this goal is still a long way off. Why is that???

CB: The human desire for security and order. Our brain is a lazy organ. It's in energy-saving mode all the time. That comes from our history, our homosapiens evolution. The brain has always had to save energy. But I don't want to go too much into evolution. Humans seek security, structure and order. The outside world is neither structured nor safe nor orderly. Actually, there is chaos and randomness everywhere. We're frantically trying to get a handle on that and have as little of it as possible. So what is standing in the way? It is the self-delusion of companies or the people in them that there is something like long-lasting security: the desire for continuity. That's all understandable and humanly, but it all gets massively in the way. That is not resilient.