As we emerge, blinking from a tough couple of years, I’m sure we all have enduring memories of the challenges we faced, individually and together, as well as a few classic comedy lockdown moments. Who could forget the Zoom-cat-filter moment in a Texan court?

There are two of key learnings that came out of the pandemic for us. Firstly, having lived through the shared trauma that was this global pandemic, we have emerged stronger and more resilient than before. This applies to individuals, communities, and businesses.

Secondly, Covid-19 was an incredible accelerant. It didn’t drastically change the direction of much, it propelled us down the road at a faster pace. Consider, for example, how ‘working from home’ went from a sometimes frowned upon ask, to an urgent, pleading request from almost every employer in the world.

These two thoughts have informed a whole framework that can be used to increase an organisation’s resilience.

The power of resilience

Resilience is a misunderstood word. A lot of people confuse It with survival. Lessons in resilience lie at the heart of some of the oldest stories we tell. Take a character, place a huge disruptive event in front of them, give them ordeals to overcome and other characters in their path that teach them new things or challenge them, then at the end have them emerge wiser, stronger, and more ready for the adventures that still lie ahead. These characters seek adventure. They’re not afraid of change, they’re desperate for it. Whether it’s Luke Skywalker or Moana, they embrace disruption even though they know they’re not prepared for it. They want to learn to be more resilient.

To be resilient is not just to survive as things change around you, it is to accept the changes, to learn and, ultimately, to use that knowledge you’ve gained to emerge stronger on the other side.

As businesses, creating true and lasting resilience means that every part of your organisation needs to be accepting of change and ready to respond and transform.

With this in mind at Iris we’ve identified 6 pillars that work together to create a resilient organisation:  

1. Values: Walk your talk

Documentaries and true stories have exploded in popularity over the past few years thanks to the rise of streaming services and podcasts and our thirst for true life drama. Businesses aren’t immune to this trend with Meta and WeWork being the focus of two notable viral documentaries that hit our screens during the pandemic. These stories, among countless others, detail the failure of businesses to live up to the values they’re attempting to build their businesses on. Resilience stems from aligning our actions to our narrative, so that the story we tell is the same as the story that's being told about us.

2. Leadership: Exercise wisdom

There are two kinds of intelligence; a fast, fluid intelligence which wains as we pass into the second halves of our lives and a more thoughtful, crystallised intelligence which comprises vast deep, knowledge and cultural intelligence. Crystallised intelligence is the secret to creating, mentoring, and teaching high performing teams that guide an organisation through disruptive events.

3. Sustainability: Design regenerative businesses

There is of course no doubt that we’re facing an existential crisis when it comes to the long-term view of our planet, and according to the World Economic Forum, the top 5 biggest risks we face over the next 10 years are all people and planet-based. Research by Edelman has shown that people want businesses to do more on social issues and trust them to take on this role. Research by B-Corp has shown that a sustainable organisation is a resilient organisation, for example during the pandemic B-Corps were half as likely to require the furlough scheme, compared to the national average. Therefore, maintaining progress on our sustainability objectives, even when the going gets tough, is vital to avoid a build-up of sustainable debt.

4. Innovation: Adopt with agility

Covid-19 proved to businesses and consumers that we can adopt and apply new technologies much faster than we thought. Now, as we all look to the next big digital ‘thing’, businesses need to maintain that courageous agility that was demonstrated when the pandemic hit.

5. People: Gather intentionally

Pre-Covid, the world was beginning to recognise a different pandemic; one fuelled by  loneliness. Research pointed to this emerging trend revealing that loneliness was being felt by all ages and demographics, even those travelling into busy, lively offices 5 days a week. Lockdowns and working from home gave us all a taste of life without uplifting social interactions at work and it became clear that these relationships are crucial in providing a business and its employees protection and support through times of adversity. As we establish new patterns of working, we need to create intentional moments of gathering, designed to foster strong connections.

6. Diversity: Welcome new perspectives

When crises develop, diverse organisations whose employees have different backgrounds, experiences and thought processes, are better able to proactively adapt. They are better prepared, they come up with more creative solutions and they create lasting change in the long run. But it’s not enough to just tick the boxes that meet diversity criteria, for diversity of thought to be effective, employees have to feel their perspective is welcome and included. We need to encourage the positive friction that comes from an organisation whose employees feel able to share their thoughts and diplomatically resolve challenges.

It’s too late to save the business that weren’t prepared for change two years ago, but it’s not too late to start preparing for what comes next. Businesses need to overcome fear and build resilience.