Why leadership is key to your business resilience is the topic of this blog. Business resilience is what you need when running your business. The businesses that share these characteristics tend to be at a large, multinational corporate level. However, there are lessons that we can take from those and apply them to smaller ones.
What is business resilience?
Dealing with shit when it hits your business fan is one definition of resilience. Another more formal definition would be “adapting well when faced with adversity, trauma, threats or sources of stress” – a more official definition given by the American Psychological Society back in 2014.
It’s really about having the right people, systems, and processes in place so that when things go south, you can bounce back quickly.
Why is business resilience important?
So, we’re not talking about how you can predict the next perfect event – that would be impossible. There are so many variables that happen in our business environment, there are so many “what ifs”. It could be a climate change issue, it could be an IT issue, or it could be a fundamental physical security issue. We can’t accurately predict what the next thing will be. Make sure your businesses are as resilient as they can be so that they will cope with the next set of circumstances.
So, after this little intro, we can talk about leadership and business resilience.
The role of leadership in business resilience
Leadership plays an important role in this process because leaders have the power to influence their teams in terms of how they approach risk-taking and resilience.
So why is leadership key to your business resilience? Above all, leadership is the key to your business being and staying successful.
To make sure it goes in that direction, you as a leader should insist on developing a business resilience plan. You must identify potential risk factors and establish risk management strategies. Here are some examples of what that means.
- Identify potential risk factors: The first step is to understand the risks that could affect your organisation. These can include natural disasters, such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Or man-made disasters like cyberattacks, economic downturns, supply chain disruptions, political instability, terrorism, or war.
- Establish risk management strategies: Once you’ve identified all of the potential risks that could affect your business, it’s time to create strategies for managing them effectively. This is so they don’t cause harm to your company.
Building a Resilient Team
So, to be business resilient, you as a business leader need to be resilient in your own mind. You’ve got to be able to act with some degree of calmness. And also be aware of your and your team’s mental health. And in terms of what you bring to your decision-making, you need to believe in a few things. You need to be able to invest yourself in all the things that are required. It also means being able to review the situation objectively.
Good leadership means developing the right culture and the right environment in your business. Encourage open communication among your employees. This will help them feel comfortable sharing their ideas and concerns with each other, which will make it easier for everyone on your team to work together effectively.
Learn and take lessons, prepare, and equip yourself for the next situation that may occur. Develop problem-solving skills among all members of your organisation as well. As a result, no matter what happens in your business today or tomorrow, you’ll still be able to get through whatever problems arise without getting too stressed out about them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, keep your reliance, strengthen your leadership and drive your business forward. In the same vein, remember, whether it’s a multinational business or an SME business, you are the leader. Make sure you have a plan in place to deal with any crisis. This means having an emergency fund and insurance, as well as having the right people on your team who will know how to handle things if something goes wrong.
You should also have a plan for handling customer complaints or other issues that may arise from time to time. This can include having a customer service policy so that everyone knows what their role is when dealing with customers. And also what customers should expect from you as an organisation.
Having policies in place allows companies like yours more flexibility when dealing with unexpected events such as natural disasters or economic downturns.
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Plan it. Do it. Profit