The Organization You Want Can Be the One You Have

Five Capabilities Required for Resilient and Adaptable Organizations

"You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time." –Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, December 2004

Today, nearly 20 years after this comment was made, many organizations are finding themselves in the same situation – wishing they had prepared themselves – as they respond and react to the disasters and crises affecting their communities, their operations, and their stakeholders.

However, an uncertain future does not need to prevent organizations from being successful, but it does require that they have taken the time and put in the effort to become resilient and adaptive.

There are two steps to proactive preparedness.

The first is to build, grow, and maintain a company or organization that can succeed based on what you believe to be true today and assume will be true in the future.

Whether you work in a growth-oriented company, in a non-profit, or in government administration, there is no shortage of books to help you set your strategy for success.

Naturally, you should use those resources, discover what makes your organization unique to your customers and build a team capable of executing your strategy.

But resilient organizations don't stop there.

The second step is to proactively develop the organizational capabilities you will need if your beliefs and assumptions about the future prove to be wrong.

The following five questions can help identify where to invest the time and effort required to ensure the organization is prepared to quickly, efficiently, and effectively adapt to any situation.

1. Does your organization have a well-functioning leadership team that can identify and process information about changes in the market or your environment, then set the strategic direction for the organization?

2. Does your organization have learning and professional development systems in place to quickly develop and distribute new processes, skills, and guidance to everyone who needs it?

3. Can your organization make the most out of internal and external communication channels to present a unified message and clear goals, garner support and buy-in for any changes being made, and collect the feedback needed to move the organization forward?

4. Can your organization rapidly scale up to meet the demands of a changing situation? Do you have the processes to recruit, screen, hire, and onboard new full-time employees, contractors, and partners to meet the demands of the situation?

5. Does your organization have the processes needed to quickly identify, procure, and deploy the resources needed to put your new strategic direction into action?

The benefits of building capabilities extend beyond the few times they are needed.

The value of building and growing the capabilities required to adapt to changing situations is that they improve your ability to succeed and grow regardless of whether you are facing stormy weather or clear skies. But you can’t create these capabilities overnight.

Developing each of them requires continual focus, attention, and consideration about how to leverage them during a disaster or crisis.  Yet this is how you can ensure that the organization you have is also the organization that you want.