Expert Viewpoint: Build Resilience and Adaptability to Bounce Forward

Welcome to KnowledgeBrief's Expert Viewpoint; an innovative look at latest ideas and advice for leaders at all levels.

The COVID-19 crisis has affected every element of businesses around the world, across all industries. Companies are in different phases of dealing with the new challenges that this crisis brought them, but all leaders share the same concern: what is the “new normal?” KnowledgeBrief’s own Ana Cueva and Zoe Taylor joined us to discuss the importance of adaptability and resilience.

What is the key business challenge that organisations need to address, that your research tackles?

All organisations have had to adapt to a new way of operating ever since the pandemic hit our countries and industries. We have all struggled and we have all had to adapt to operate as efficiently as possible. We call this moment in time a Critical Moment. Not only because this time has been critical for saving our businesses, but because we believe that it has been a fateful moment where we have had to reassess the way we want our businesses and personal lives to operate in the future.

For us to be able to move on or - like we like to call it - bounce forwards we need to equip our organisations and workforce with the right mindset and tools to succeed. First, by acknowledging our future can be bright and that the pandemic has brought opportunities for excitement, innovation, and alignment of organisational purpose. Second, by really understanding our industries, and working on potential risks and opportunities that we need to consider in the future. Third, by encouraging and enabling leaders to shape our future with honesty, inspiration, competence, and vision. And finally, by fostering individual and organisational resilience at all levels within an organisation with a framework that focuses on short, medium- and long-term actions.

What advice would you give to executives, based on your findings?

Our advice for executives is to focus their efforts in addressing action plans that answer the following questions.

Respond	How can you ensure both physical and emotional safety within my organisation? Have I created a response team that can help us assess current and future risks? What areas in the organisation that are providing revenue? Are we providing them with enough resources?
Return	What can I learn to help my organisation thrive? What skill gaps do we currently have? How can I support my workforce in obtaining them? How is my industry now? What are the trends? How is my organisation doing vs last year? What will be the impact of this in the future? What paths can our organisation take?
Reimagine	Where do we want to be in the future? Is our purpose and vision still the same? Are our objectives achievable and realistic? What initiatives have individuals had in the past that could be useful for our future? What new opportunities can come from this?
Retool	What areas should I invest in? How can we become more innovative? Do we have everything we need to succeed?

Any final thoughts?

We were incredibly impressed with all the fantastic initiatives that organisations have already been implementing through this time. We enjoyed sharing best practices, learning about how people have coped and about how much organisations have changed throughout this time. More than anything, we see optimism and hope for out future, and the executives in the KnowledgeBrief Innovation Programme show passion, leadership, and resilience to learn from Critical Moments and successfully bounce forwards.

With thanks to Ana Cueva and Zoe Taylor, Professional Learning Advisors at KnowledgeBrief.

Part of a series of brief interviews with expert guests from our Innovation Programmes, we cover insights from the latest research and key advice for executives to stay ahead in management and innovation.