[OR] [P3-S1] Introduce Cultural Change Management in Operational Resilience?

What is Cultural Change Management?

Operational Resilience is not a new topic. However, taking a business service-led approach to resilience will be new for many organisations.  This necessitates changing how they think about their business architecture and the outcomes they deliver to their consumers.  Why is cultural change necessary? The main reason is that it's not uncommon for the current culture to:

• be resistant to change
  
• be a risk to operational resilience and its implementation
  
• not be aligned with the goals of operational resilience

It starts with the proper education and communication programmes to drive awareness and embedding of Operational Resilience into the organisation's culture.

Building Resilient into the Organisational Culture

Organisational Culture is not created by memo or a decision from senior management but developed over time and played a crucial role in achieving organisational objectives, especially in this new area of operational resilience.

Culture has several essential dimensions, namely, 

• the tone from the top, such as consistent, regular and concise messages from the leadership
• accountability, with proper assignment of responsibility for managing their risks and the various segments of operational resilience
• effective communication and challenge for both up and down the organization 
• Incentives are aligned to set operational resilience objectives and drive the right behaviours. 

Operational resilience can be embedded into the organisation's culture through regular training, awareness, and testing.  From a people and culture aspect, the governing boy, board and executive management must continuously encourage an operating model for resilience.

Achieving the “Resilience by Design” outcome requires a mindset change: an organisation must always plan for the worst case, as zero risk does not exist.

This means putting in place the right capabilities in the vital operational domains of resilience (incident and crisis management, cyber defence, IT recovery, business and IT continuity, third-party resilience, operational risk management), but also ensuring that the concept is integrated at an individual level and that people in your organisation behave in a resilient way.

To have resilient individuals, you must promote a “resilience culture”: a set of values, beliefs and behaviours that nurture resilient individuals.

Fostering Cultural Change for Stakeholders

Amid rising expectations from key stakeholders, the executive management must foster an organisational culture of resilience to set appropriate expectations for critical stakeholders, including regulators, the board, customers and employees. To foster cultural change, the executive management should:

• Accept the financial impact of improving operational resilience.
• Include the entire organisation in the effort.
• Keep a keen eye on potential blind spots that may cause the most actual harm.
• Consider how critical business decisions, such as selecting and implementing new projects, will impact organisational resiliency.

Culture Comes First

Lastly, it is time for an organisation that has yet to understand its current cultural strengths and areas to make the culture more straightforward and aligned. That effort will pay off in operating performance, adaptability, and resilience during change.

Culture is reflected in the behaviour of leaders. Working to align leadership behaviour with new objectives intentionally is an essential first step.

How to Introduce Cultural Change Management?

Introducing cultural change management is critical in sustaining an operational resilience program as it aligns the organisation's values, behaviours, and practices with resilience objectives.

The following activities are crucial for successful cultural change management:

Communicate the Importance of Operational Resilience

• Communicate to all levels of the organization the significance of operational resilience in mitigating risks and ensuring business continuity.
• Emphasise how resilience aligns with the organisation's goals and supports long-term success.

Leadership Commitment and Role Modeling

Leaders should:

• Demonstrate their commitment to operational resilience by actively participating in the program.
• Communicate its importance and role-modelling resilient behaviours.

Their actions set the tone for the entire organisation.

Foster Collaboration and Accountability

• Encourage cross-functional collaboration and break down silos within the organisation.
• Establish clear accountability for roles and tasks related to operational resilience will promote a sense of collective responsibility for resilience.

Provide Resources and Support

• Allocate necessary resources, such as budget, technology, and skilled personnel, to support the implementation and ongoing management of the operational resilience program.
• Ensure teams have the tools to fulfil their resilience responsibilities effectively.

Recognise and Reward Resilient Behaviors

• Acknowledge and reward individuals and teams that demonstrate resilient behaviours and contribute to the success of the operational resilience program.
• This recognition reinforces the desired cultural change and encourages continued engagement.

Additional Explanatory Note 

"Sustain" Phase of the OR Planning Methodology

More Information About Blended Learning OR-5000 [BL-OR-5] or OR-300 [BL-OR-3]

To learn more about the course and schedule, click the buttons below for the OR-3 Blended Learning OR-300 Operational Resilience Implementer course and the OR-5 Blended Learning OR-5000 Operational Resilience Expert Implementer course.