Could this be the Resilience Cycle or just another bike?

A variety of planning and quality cycles are used to ensure plans, business processes and objectives remain on track. Probably the most well known are Boyds (observe, orientate, decide and act) OODA Loop [1] and the PDCA cycle (plan, do, check, act) / PDSA (plan, do, study act) [2]

In 2009, ‘Adaptive Campaigning 09 – Army’s Future Land Operating Concept was published introducing the Adaptation Cycle depicted below [3].

Source:  Adaptive Campaigning 09 – Army Future Land Operating Concept

The Adaptation Cycle may well be the practical process that can be applied to help an organisation be resilient (with some modification). Here are some of my thoughts.

The new standard on the block

For those of us working in risk, business continuity, security and emergency management we knew it was coming...

International Standard ISO 22301 "Societal security - Business continuity management systems - Requirements" has now been issued.

It is the first international standard for business continuity management systems. The standard will allow certification of an organisation's Business Continuity Management System (BCMS). No doubt many organisations will be reviewing the requirements, costs and benefits of implementation in the near future.

PECB appears to provide a good overview of the new standard and a white paper - http://www.pecb.org/iso22301

 

What will ISO 22301:2012 mean for you?

The elements of resilience

Let’s have a closer look at the definition raised in my previous post ‘Resilience – what is it really?’

If I break down my definition of resilience it allows us to further explore the component parts

Let’s look at the definition again:

the capability, capacity and will to succeed by anticipating risk and reorientating for survival and advantage in the face of adversity, both seen and unseen, known and unknown

The capability: The skilled people, tools, knowledge and risk intelligence required to achieve resilience and ensure success.

The capacity: The adequate resources and the agility and flexibility to adapt and manoeuvre those resources in pursuit of upside risk while minimising any downside risk.

The will: The effective leadership, adaptive culture and unity of purpose required in situations characterised by rapid change and/or sustained turbulence.

Survival and advantage: In a competitive environment survival is often not adequate. The risk appetite and subsequent activities of the organisation must also allow for advantage.

Adversity – seen and unseen, known and unknown: risks (both upside and downside) are present in the business as usual environment. However, complexity, confusion and the scale and number of variables in the operating environment (at all levels) are magnified during and after turbulence and sudden shocks (thus the need for resilience).

The definition and explanation reflects my own views but is informed by the documents developed and published through the Trusted Information Sharing Network - http://www.tisn.gov.au/Pages/Resilience.aspx

Resilience - what is it really?

This is my first post, so any feedback or thoughts would be most welcome!

Organisational or business resilience in Australia is continuously maturing. If you were after a definition on organisational resilience you could ask ten different people and get ten different answers. Personally, the one I think captures it best is 

the capability, capacity and will to succeed by anticipating risk and reorientating for survival and advantage in the face of adversity, both seen and unseen, known and unknown.

Resilience is an outcome and a fundamental requirement for success. It needs to be part of business as usual but is also described as complimentary to business sustainability.

Success itself is unique to each organisation and is defined by the CEO and Board, shareholders and key stakeholders. Success should at all times be the focal point of organisational resilience if it is to be an achievable outcome.