Three Steps To Building A More Resilient Organization

It was about this time a year ago when unbelievable images of fires on the island of Maui in Hawaii made me reflect on how precarious living can be.

Who would have imagined such a tragedy in a tropical paradise?

The effects of climate change are everywhere and seem to be multiplying before our eyes. Solutions will be complex, costly, and take time. But climate change is just one of the catastrophic nightmares that keep business leaders up at night.

The risk to businesses from climate change and resulting environmental disasters like floods and fires are certainly real but so are cyber attacks, labor disputes, and legal entanglements. Or as we’ve seen in Ukraine and Israel, military actions can completely upend commercial activity.

What once would be considered a very unlikely risk many companies now have to conduct contingency planning for. Consider the flooding in California, or wildfires in Australia. If your organization still operates a physical office, manufacturing, or warehouse space you likely have considered or conducted some sort of contingency planning for natural disasters.

Contingency Planning For Everything

As we know from the recent pandemic there are simply too many things to consider and develop a plan that addresses them all. Leaders need to weigh the relative risks and put time, money, and resources as insurance against the most likely.

But there are steps all companies can and should take to prepare for the unexpected. Whether it’s the smallest startup or the multinational corporation. These steps can give any organization greater resilience in the face of extraordinary circumstances.

Now for the good news; every company already has this resource. You simply need to know how to activate it.

2023 Santa Cruz Floods

In January 2023, Sam DiNicola, owner of regional bakery company Greatful Bread watched the news on television in shock as his main baking facility was shown under six feet of water, mud, and debris. DiNicola had recently invested millions to modernize the facility to help him meet the growing demand for his products.

The worst part of this situation for DiNicola was that the terrible weather had him trapped hundreds of miles away in Nevada where the same torrential rains that hit California had flooded the site of the Burning Man music festival he was attending. The mud there was so deep no cars could get in or out for days.

DiNicola was in distress, the company he had put his heart and soul into the past eight years was in crisis and he couldn’t do anything to help the situation. What he didn’t realize was that he had already built resiliency into the organization that would pay off at this crucial moment.

Sam wanted to contact his people but to add to his challenges his cell phone had been dropped in the mud and was now not functioning. His phone was also where he stored all his employee phone numbers meaning he was literally stuck in the mud.

Everyday Heroes

Two of Sam DiNicola’s employees lived near that new Greatful Bread baking facility though they had been ordered to evacuate from their homes due to water intrusion.

Steven Garza and Terrence Cole talked by phone and were worried about the new plant and the damage that it might have sustained from the flooding. In fact they were fairly certain it was under water. They agreed they would both head to the facility to check on things.

Coordinating their efforts by carpooling in Steven’s Jeep the two arrived at the facility after traversing closed roadways, and dangerous debris. It took them close to 2 hours to make what is typically a 10 minute drive.

While on the way Terrence began calling other employees to let them know not to come to work at the plant but to monitor the company website for more information.

After a harrowing ride the two managed to get into the facility and assess the situation. Their worst fears were realized and it was indeed going to be a long road to repairing the new facility.

Nevertheless, the two collected what they felt they would need to coordinate with the company’s other smaller bakery and its retail locations.

Then the two set up a temporary office at one of the company’s retail stores in a nearby city. From there they began communicating with employees and customers.

The Recovery

Greatful Bread did not make commercial deliveries to grocery and restaurant customers for two days. But by the third day the employees, led by Steven and Terrence, had come up with a workaround that allowed the bakery to resume operations until the main facility could be restored.

By the fourth day Sam DiNicola was finally able to make it back to Santa Cruz to check on his business. He assumed it had been sitting underwater and shut down this whole time. He was shocked to see that without him even communicating to them his employees had saved the business from catastrophe.

DiNicola reflected, “I didn’t ask them to do that. They just stepped up and took care of it all.” When asked why his employees were so effective during this crisis, he praised them and credited the emphasis the company has on developing their people.

Investing in People

As Sam DiNicola experienced, employee development can be the crucial factor that helps organizations navigate crises. Many leaders learned this lesson during COVID-19.

I know dozens of leaders who found the time spent developing their team leading up to the crisis helped them respond more cohesively to COVID-19.

While spending resources on employee development may seem superfluous to some, it actually can be the key differentiator between organizational resilience and vulnerability.

Fortunately, developing your people doesn’t have to be overly complicated or cost a lot.

Here are three steps every company can take.

Step 1: Treat Everyone As A Leader

Too often, companies focus on developing a select few “high potential” staff. Yet, every person on your team is integral to your company’s success. Everyone can help get a company that’s been knocked down back up and running again. Treating every employee as a leader enhances their ability to contribute to the company’s success.

Here are examples of how this can be done:

Transparency: Being transparent and discussing decisions with your employees helps them gain valuable business understanding and grow as leaders. Some companies share financial information and discuss company decisions with everyone on staff. A healthcare firm in Seattle I know of has a team-wide online portal that provides daily financial reports, and the co-founder personally trains every employee on how to read financial statements.

Learning Opportunities: Taking the time to expose your employees to new ideas builds their confidence and knowledge base. It makes them think more strategically and broadly.

Step 2: Provide Individual Attention

When it comes to personal development, taking the time to understand your employees’ individual needs leads to more successful professional growth.

Here’s how this can be accomplished:

One-on-Ones: President of Northwest Landscape Partners, Simon Rivas, meets with each of his employees to understand their personal goals and then works with them to build a plan to achieve them.

When Rivas discovered one of his team members had a savings goal for the next year, he helped her build a budget, find opportunities to earn extra income and checked in with her monthly to help keep her on track.

Coaching: Through Whidbey Coffee’s staff development program employees can apply to shadow those who are in different positions within the company giving them a chance to see if another role might be right for them. If they decide they would like to try to make the move there is a scholarship fund employees can apply to that helps with training costs.

Step 3: Provide Opportunities to Step Into Leadership

Your employees need to know that their opinions are valued and that they will be supported in trying new things, even if they don’t work. Here’s how this can be done:

Value Employee Input: In Everett Washington, Allied Media Arts holds quarterly staff meetings where everyone is invited to “think like an owner” and offer ideas for cost-cutting or operational improvements.

All ideas are welcome and, if the team agrees, ideas are implemented across the organization. Allowing employees to voice their ideas and see them implemented empowers everyone to feel confident in the value they bring to the organization and that they have a real impact.

What’s the Point

Becoming a truly successful company requires sustaining the organization over the long haul. That means having the ability to weather many storms. Both figuratively and, as we learned, literally.

By committing to employee development and valuing what everyone on your team contributes regardless of position you will inspire your people to think like leaders. And more importantly, act that way when the need arises.

By nature, not everyone in an organization can be a manager or a boss. But everyone can be a leader in the area they are responsible for. And everyone on your team can do remarkable things if they are empowered and rewarded for taking a leadership role when the circumstances demand it