I was scheduled to fly to Amsterdam this past Tuesday — as you can imagine, that didn’t happen. As I wait out the next few days before my new departure and rearrange my schedule on the other end of the Atlantic, my thoughts turn to that one little volcano, waking up after 200 years, and the economic firestorm it has caused around the world. And that has me pondering…
Does your organization’s strategic plan include what do to in case of a volcano? Perhaps those who live and work in such places as the Big Island of Hawaii or Iceland do – but to 99.9% of all other businesses that may have seemed like a ridiculous question a week ago.
What are the potential “volcanoes” for your organization? By “volcanoes” I am referring to those events that may seem highly unlikely, but would inflict great impact on your ability to operate if they occurred. [Author Nassim Nicholas Taleb refers to these events as “black swans”]
Think of the companies in Europe right now that can only muster an “oh shit” approach to the last few days under the debilitating ash cloud. Should government bailouts be the default answer to organizations that #fail during a crisis? I for one, sift through the news to find the stories of flexibility and ingenuity that have come from this latest crisis (example: Cisco Systems’ videoconferencing suites that can offset international travel or the British Navy sending three warships to go pick up their citizens from Europe’s mainland).
At The Idea Hive we teach our clients several techniques for testing organizational resilience. One such process examines an organization’s products and services against a vast range of potential futures. An internal client team is recruited to brainstorm a wide range of potential futures to test against the company’s products and services. This is where one person’s top of the head thought of a volcano in Iceland and another person’s mention from the inside back page of the morning paper hold equal value for testing resilience. In the end, it’s how the product or service interacts with a range of these potential future events that informs the long-term viability and flexibility of what a company offers.
Another process utilizes a 3-D modeling technique called Kinesthetic Modeling (KM). This technique helps a client to embody a complex issue; debrief from multiple perspectives; and then translate those findings into organizational knowledge.
For example: A client may choose to model their supply chain, and during the course of modeling we probe its structural integrity (by adding, subtracting and shifting elements) to uncover patterns associated with its resilience. Imagine while working the model you are asked to describe, “what happens when …? Is there anything missing?”
Strategic plans should not be shoved in the bottom draw of a C-level executives office. On the contrary, finding opportunities and discovering potential vulnerabilities for one’s core offerings should be a living part of the daily organization. After all, isn’t having a learning organization the best defense in an ever-changing world?
If you are interested in learning more about building resilience into your organization’s DNA, feel free to contact Kas Neteler at kas@theideahive.com.
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