What does resiliency mean, and how do we need to think about resiliency in the context of policy and business? These are some of the questions that Fernando Barrio, Senior Lecturer in Business Law at Queen Mary University of London, posed to the fellows of the Queen Mary Global Policy Institute during a recent conversation. This post by the Institute's Senior Policy Fellow Roberto Alvarez contributes to the debate.
The Covid-19 pandemic has made resiliency a fashionable word. The concept was originally developed and applied in materials science and engineering, but is now widely used in several domains, such as ecology, psychology, computer science, arts, urban studies and more.
I was originally trained as a civil engineer and remember that resiliency was a key concept in mechanics of materials. It is related to the capacity of a material to absorb energy and release it back without displaying a permanent deformation. The more energy a material can absorb and still spring back to its original shape when a tension is unloaded, the more resilient it is.
The concept has been widely applied outside the engineering domain to characterise the capacity of a natural and/or social system to face and overcome adversity, crisis, calamity and extreme events. But the context of society, policy and business – and to a great extent that of natural systems too – is different from mechanics. My take is that there are five aspects we should consider when thinking about resiliency in relation to human-built systems:
The original notion that resiliency is associated to the capacity of a system (a material) to get back to its original shape does not apply. When thinking about resiliency, businesses, governments and other organisations should be primarily concerned about the results they deliver to its stakeholders. They should focus on understanding what matters in performance, how to measure it and how to create such results. A resilient system is one that is capable of restoring performance in face of adversity, even if it is organised or configured in a completely different way.
Thus, it cannot be reduced to a single issue or level. There are two practical implications of this assertion. The first is that overall resiliency of a system is not equal to the sum of the individuals' performance, but rather reflects the strength of the weakest link in the system. The second is that there are different issues that 'emerge' at each level – individual, organisation, community, country etc. There are specific concepts, approaches, techniques and actions required at each level.
From a policy and strategy perspective it is important not just to be resilient, but to understand what is needed to build resiliency as a capability, as result of a strategic intention. Leaders should understand ‘how’ to build resiliency by design and take responsibility for that. Building resiliency by design means to put in place in advance – and continually exercise, train, develop – the policies, organisational structures, teams, IT systems, processes, procedures, stocks of materials and other resources that are needed to allow for a company, city, country or other system to respond to adversity and sustain – or restore – its performance under stress and adversity.
There is not a biunivocal relationship between resiliency and adaptation: a resilient system is one capable of adapting, but a system that adapts itself to external events is not necessarily able to sustain or restore performance when an event happens. Resiliency goes beyond adaptation. It involves learning, evolution and, very importantly, intention – a deliberate, ex-ante component (see aspect 3).
The world is plenty of asymmetries, resource shortages and capability gaps. There are countries, cities, government areas and organisations where basic functions like planning, execution and evaluation are not properly implemented. The questions that arise from this acknowledgment abound. Can countries, cities and organisations that not yet properly executed basic level functions be resilient? What are the requirements for resiliency? Can we build resiliency by design in those realities? How? A sad thing is that some populations and businesses that are most likely to face extreme events are among the least prepared to be resilient.
These topics do not provide all the answers we need to build better and more resilient human systems. In fact, they raise more questions than provide answers, but I hope they can provide good food for thought for those interested in advancing concepts and the practice related to the matter. To move the needle, business and policy organisations will need to further clarify concepts, systematise best practices, create and disseminate a body of knowledge that should include management templates and toolkits. There is a lot to be done.
As a final note, it is important to stress how important resiliency has become. Reasons are not in short supply. The frequency and severity of pandemics and epidemics[1] and other disruptions, such as extreme climate events[2], are increasing; technology is accelerating, disrupting business and industries, shrinking the lifespan of companies[3] and the shelf life of skills and stressing local economies; raising inequalities fuels social unrest and may cause the disruption of political systems; the world faces a new wave of extremism and terrorism[4].
Humanity needs to face those challenges head on, but also be prepared. The time is ripe for more resilient systems.
Roberto Alvarez is a Senior Policy Fellow at Queen Mary’s Global Policy Institute. He is the Executive Director of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (GFCC) – www.thegfcc.org.
www.linkedin.com/in/robertodosreisalvarez/
[1] https://ipbes.net/sites/default/files/2020-12/IPBES%20Workshop%20on%20Biodiversity%20and%20Pandemics%20Report_0.pdf
[2] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180321130859.htm
[3] https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/why-you-will-probably-live-longer-than-most-big-companies/
[4] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/right-wing-extremism-global-terrorism/
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