In our last blog, we talked about how successful delivery of Dynamic Op Res requires firms to think ‘end to end’ and that this may not fit with your current organisational landscape, structure, and culture. We also talked about the need for strong collaboration among firms to continue as they progress towards Dynamic Ops Res.
This time we introduce our Business Change team to discuss these challenges in some more detail with some practical help on resolution.
The approach to delivering these messages is fundamental to adoption – an all too often mindset of regulatory requirements being a ‘tick box’ exercise will add to the challenge, so it is important to consider doing things differently. Application of recognised change tools (for example, the ADKAR model) is highly recommended to support the delivery of the education in the form of communications and a programme of certification.
Creating the right culture to drive the behaviours needed for the future is critical but this doesn’t happen overnight, so starting this activity early is vital. The key challenge when building a culture of resilience is the often-limited visibility of tangible attributes. There are many methods and techniques available to assess and help organisations break this down which works well with your executive teams, but it is important to recognise that every individual plays a part in the culture and therefore needs to be involved in the change if it is to be successful. Utilising an approach which enables everyone to play a part in the changes will enhance adoption whilst improving overall employee morale.
Communication and engagement are terms often used interchangeably, especially when talking about business change. The challenge we come across regularly with communication is that it is delivered as part of a programme in a ‘tick box’ fashion which is generally a one-way reverse funnel. It can be very creative and appealing with multiple channels involved in delivery of messaging – a great time investment and can be very engaging but it is still one-way. True engagement requires a feedback loop and a mechanism which enables involvement from the target audience(s) to ensure the messaging has been understood. This will be particularly important when implementing Dynamic Op Res, so as part of your change strategy be sure to include both communications and engagement.
Enablement is a common term we like to talk about in business change, especially in the world of digital transformation.
A barrier to change is often created through a fear of the unknown and this presents its own set of challenges that can delay the path of adoption.
We can overcome some of this simply through the terminology that we use. When we talk about ‘training’ and ‘learning’ this can be daunting for people, so it is important to carefully consider the language used when implementing a business-critical change such as Dynamic Op Res.
We hope that provides some insight and inspiration for now and please do check back next week where we will share more tips on how our Business Change Mob help organisations embed Operational Resilience in a fun and engaging way.
Tanya Dodds – ‘The Imaginative One’
Business Change
Stuart Birnie – ‘The Determined One’
Operational Resilience
Download our point of view paper
Op Res is not a side of desk tick box exercise! It should be dynamic and a strategically important activity. Read our paper to find out more about our views on Dynamic Operational Resilience and what firms should be doing now.
