Have you ever seen the trees during the storm, when they twist and bend? As soon as the storm subsides, they return gradually to their previous position.
Organizations and trees have similarities. Have you ever wondered why some organizations have a certain flexibility in dealing with surprises and challenges, but others have difficulty coping with such problems? What is the secret of their success and their difference?
Organizations are in changing environmental conditions. Although this environment can provide significant opportunities for the success and growth of organizations, it can also create significant threats and challenges. A variety of problems, such as natural hazards, political unrest, economic instability, human error and health-threatening problems like COVID-19 pandemic, can seriously threaten organizational performance.
Organizations, wherever they are, face complex operational environments with dynamic risks. They are constantly bombarded with situations and surprises that bring stress and uncertainty and can divert organizations from their path of growth and achievement of their goals and condemn them to failure.
In order to achieve sustainable survival and success, a concept called organizational resilience has entered the science of management.
Resilience refers to a company's ability to survive, adapt and grow in the face of change and challenges.
Organizational resilience is the ability of an organization to anticipate, avoid, and positively adjust to environmental disturbances and changes. This ability is a combination of organizational capacity to restore post-disruption performance and build pre-crisis capabilities.
Organizational resilience seeks to identify characteristics that allow organizations to survive and even thrive despite experiencing disruption or stress. It is the capacity of an organization to face crises and challenges, and the ability to return to normal business conditions. However, crises are not limited to catastrophes; There are also small deviations and uncertainties that challenge organizations.
Simon Sinek states in his book called "The Infinite Game" that many organizations and individuals are immersed in the idea of victory. But how do you win a game that has no end? It's impossible. Do we have something called "winning" in business?! Games like football and chess are limited games with clear rules and a clear end point. But the business game is unlimited and there is no such thing as "winning", because there are always new challenges, the rules of the game are not clear and stable, the players are not fixed and there is no end to it. The goal for any player is to stay in the game for as long as possible. That means as long as you have the will and resources you can stay the moment one of both is missing players need to drop out of the game. In the infinite business game, only those who are flexible enough to deal with changes of the rules and that the set of players is not fixed, survive for a long time. They have an infinite mindset that enables them to be more innovative, flexible and sustainable than their competitors. Infinite players stay in the game for a long time and build very strong organizations, strong enough to withstand any storm. They exhaust their opponents and force them to leave the battle. Leaders who choose the infinite mindset build stronger, more innovative, and more motivated organizations. Ultimately, these leaders are the ones who lead us to the future.
Now let's give it a thought, how resilient is your organization?