Operational resilience is a critical capability for organizations striving to adapt, survive, and thrive in the face of disruptions. In recent years, several models of resilience have emerged, each offering a unique framework for building and understanding resilience within organizations. This blog explores six key operational resilience models: the Principles Model of Resilience, Integrated Functions Model, Attributional Resilience Model, Composite Resilience Model, Herringbone Model, and the Resilience Triangle Model. Each model offers a distinct perspective on resilience, from foundational principles to functional integration, providing valuable insights for organizations looking to strengthen their ability to withstand and adapt to challenges.
1. The Principles Model of Resilience
The Principles Model of Resilience focuses on core principles that guide resilient organizations. This model emphasizes the foundational values and standards that shape resilient behavior across all levels of an organization. It’s not about specific practices but rather the underlying principles that drive decision-making and actions under stress.
Key principles in this model typically include:
- Adaptability: The ability to modify operations, strategies, or approaches in response to changing conditions.
- Redundancy: Establishing backup systems and resources to maintain functionality if primary systems fail.
- Flexibility: Having diverse and alternative processes, tools, or strategies that can be adjusted as needed.
- Resourcefulness: Mobilizing resources efficiently to handle unforeseen events.
- Risk Awareness: Maintaining a culture of risk awareness and understanding potential vulnerabilities.
By embedding these principles into the organization’s culture, the Principles Model helps ensure that resilience is a shared value across departments and teams. When resilience principles are well-communicated and practiced, organizations are better positioned to face disruptions, whether from operational, strategic, or external challenges.
2. Integrated Functions Model
The Integrated Functions Model of resilience centers on the seamless collaboration and coordination of various functional areas within an organization. This model posits that resilience is maximized when departments such as IT, human resources, operations, risk management, and compliance work together in an integrated manner.
Key aspects of this model include:
- Functional Alignment: Ensuring each department understands its role in resilience and how it contributes to organizational goals.
- Interdepartmental Communication: Promoting regular and open communication among departments to align on resilience strategies and share real-time information.
- Centralized Governance: Establishing a central governance framework to guide and monitor resilience activities across functions.
- Cross-functional Training: Implementing training programs that build resilience skills across various departments, ensuring all teams are prepared for potential disruptions.
This model is particularly useful for organizations where complex interdependencies exist. By aligning functions under a unified resilience strategy, the Integrated Functions Model reduces silos and ensures a cohesive response to disruptions. For example, during a cyberattack, the IT and risk management teams might lead the technical response, while HR and communications teams manage employee and stakeholder communication, resulting in a coordinated, effective response.
3. Attributional Resilience Model
The Attributional Resilience Model views resilience as an outcome of specific, measurable attributes or capabilities that an organization develops over time. This model defines resilience as a set of attributes that can be cultivated and assessed, focusing on strengthening these attributes to improve overall resilience.
Typical attributes include:
- Agility: The ability to pivot and respond quickly to new information or changes.
- Endurance: The capacity to maintain operations over an extended period, even under stress.
- Innovation: Encouraging creative problem-solving and continuous improvement in processes.
- Learning Orientation: Emphasizing a feedback loop where lessons from past events inform future preparedness.
This model is beneficial for organizations that prefer a measurable approach to resilience, as each attribute can be assessed and enhanced over time. By focusing on these attributes, organizations can benchmark their resilience, identify gaps, and work toward improving specific capabilities. For instance, an organization might measure its agility by assessing response times to different types of disruptions, continuously improving its capacity to react quickly.
4. Composite Resilience Model
The Composite Resilience Model integrates various resilience dimensions to create a holistic, multi-layered approach to resilience. Rather than focusing on a single aspect, this model combines multiple elements such as principles, attributes, and functions to form a comprehensive resilience framework.
Key components of the Composite Resilience Model include:
- Strategic Resilience: Focusing on long-term adaptability and strategic foresight.
- Operational Resilience: Ensuring critical operations can continue in the face of disruptions.
- Technical Resilience: Emphasizing systems and infrastructure that are robust, secure, and adaptable.
- Cultural Resilience: Cultivating a resilient mindset and behaviors among employees at all levels.
The Composite Model is advantageous because it captures resilience from multiple angles, providing a well-rounded perspective. This model encourages organizations to consider resilience across all aspects of their operations, ensuring a balanced approach. For example, a financial services firm might use this model to evaluate its resilience across regulatory compliance, operational processes, and cybersecurity, ensuring each area is well-prepared for disruption.
5. The Herringbone Model
The Herringbone Model is a structured approach to resilience that uses a “fishbone” or “herringbone” diagram to identify and address potential causes of operational disruptions. This model is especially helpful for organizations looking to analyze specific vulnerabilities and take proactive measures to mitigate them.
The Herringbone Model’s key elements include:
- Identifying Causes: Using the fishbone diagram’s “spines” to categorize and break down potential disruption causes, such as human error, equipment failure, external threats, and process flaws.
- Root Cause Analysis: Examining each cause to understand the underlying factors that contribute to vulnerabilities.
- Preventive Measures: Developing strategies to address the identified causes, aiming to reduce or eliminate the risk of disruption.
- Continuous Monitoring: Regularly updating the fishbone diagram to reflect new threats, vulnerabilities, or changes within the organization.
This model is especially valuable in operational risk assessments, as it allows organizations to take a granular approach to identify specific areas of improvement. For instance, a manufacturing company might use the Herringbone Model to analyze potential causes of production downtime, identifying solutions such as equipment maintenance schedules or additional employee training.
6. The Resilience Triangle Model
The Resilience Triangle Model is a visual model that represents resilience as a triangle with three interconnected phases: Absorb, Adapt, and Recover. This model focuses on the organization’s ability to minimize disruption impact, adapt to changing conditions, and recover quickly.
The phases of the Resilience Triangle include:
- Absorb: The initial response to a disruption, where the goal is to absorb the impact and minimize damage. This may involve redundancies, such as backup systems, that keep essential functions running.
- Adapt: Following the initial shock, organizations shift to an adaptive mode, making real-time adjustments to maintain stability. Adaptation may include reallocating resources, changing workflows, or enacting temporary solutions.
- Recover: The final phase, where the organization returns to normal operations. This involves restoring full functionality, evaluating response effectiveness, and implementing lessons learned for future preparedness.
The Resilience Triangle Model emphasizes resilience as a continuous cycle rather than a one-time response, highlighting the need for organizations to be ready for each phase. For example, during a natural disaster, a retail company might absorb the impact by activating remote operations, adapt by shifting inventory to unaffected areas, and recover by restoring normal supply chains once the disruption subsides.
Choosing the Right Model for Your Organization
Each of these operational resilience models offers unique advantages and can be valuable depending on an organization’s specific needs and context. While some organizations might benefit from a principle-based approach to embed resilience into their culture, others may require a structured, multi-layered model like the Composite Resilience Model or a granular, analytic approach like the Herringbone Model.
When selecting a resilience model, organizations should consider factors such as:
- Industry: Certain industries, such as finance or healthcare, may benefit more from models focused on compliance and multi-layered resilience (e.g., Composite Resilience Model).
- Complexity: Organizations with complex operations may find value in the Integrated Functions Model, which fosters collaboration across departments.
- Risk Tolerance: For organizations with a lower risk tolerance, the Attributional Resilience Model offers a measurable, attribute-focused approach to build resilience incrementally.
In many cases, a hybrid approach that combines elements from multiple models can be most effective, offering a tailored resilience strategy that aligns with the organization’s structure, goals, and challenges.
Conclusion: Building Resilience Through Tailored Models
Operational resilience is more than a response to disruption; it is a proactive, strategic capability that allows organizations to navigate uncertainty and emerge stronger. The Principles Model of Resilience, Integrated Functions Model, Attributional Resilience Model, Composite Resilience Model, Herringbone Model, and Resilience Triangle Model each provide unique insights into resilience, helping organizations craft resilience strategies that align with their specific needs.
By selecting and adapting the right resilience model—or a combination of models—organizations can build a solid foundation for resilience that ensures continuity, adaptability, and sustained success in an unpredictable world.