Experts explore six traits of resilient organisations and how to build the adaptability needed to navigate today’s changing world.
With change coming at organisations from every direction, resilience and adaptability have become essential for leaders and their teams. But what does true resilience look like in practice, and what needs to be in place for people and businesses to navigate this uncertainty?
Below, experts share their perspectives on what makes an organisation resilient, from leadership, behaviours, and culture to energy management and technology.
Looking beneath the surface
Resilient organisations have leaders who are willing and able to spot and address knotty organisation effectiveness (OE) issues that are driving hidden costs, argue Vanessa Loughlin and Andrea Robottom, organisation effectiveness experts and co-authors of The Effectiveness Edge.
“Getting under the surface of these issues means facing the messy reality of organisations,” Loughlin explains. “From there, leaders need to create alignment from vision and strategy through to how the business is organised, including every role. This alignment provides stability, allows movement, and acts as a shock absorber.”
Robottom adds that this is crucial to avoid simplistic solutions. “To get the best outcome, organisations need to go slow to go fast, taking the time to thoroughly examine their system before making any decisions. This helps avoid quick fixes that only perpetuate hidden costs and treat the symptoms rather than the underlying issue.”
They conclude that building resilience requires organisations to continually address OE issues; this work is never done. OE is a discipline that needs to be at the forefront of leaders’ minds and the top of their agendas, giving their businesses a competitive advantage.
Building beyond the founder
For leaders navigating constant change, resilience is not simply about adapting to what happens next. According to Dennis Kuipers, founder of Lancestone and author of Breaking Out Of Founders’ Prison, it comes down to building an organisation that can thrive beyond the founder.
“The entrepreneurs who make this transition are not just growing businesses; they are also creating stability, opportunity, and impact in a world that needs it,” says Kuipers.
He calls this the “legacy design”: a deliberate approach where leadership development is central, identity is clearly defined, and succession is considered early rather than as an afterthought.
“The business becomes a vehicle for values, contribution, and long-term stability. Impact, culture, and continuity matter more than maximum short-term growth.”
When this design is chosen consciously, the business becomes resilient. It can survive leadership changes, market shifts, and generational transitions. “Longevity is not created by intention alone. It is created by systems that preserve identity beyond the founder,” Kuipers notes.
Prioritising clarity
To foster truly resilient organisations, leaders need to prioritise clarity, says Helen Sanderson MBE, author of Psychological Safety in Practice, founder of Helen Sanderson Association, and creator of Wellbeing Teams.
“There are Five Foundations for psychological safety, and clarity is one of them. It’s about making sure people understand what is expected of them and how they contribute to decisions. During periods of change, the answer can alter week by week, just as a resilient organisation needs people to raise concerns and try new approaches.”
Teams commonly use six approaches to decision-making: role-based decisions, one-person decisions, the advice process, delegating to another group, majority vote, and consensus. “People need to know which approach applies before the discussion begins, how they can contribute, and how their input will be used. Closing the loop tells them what the team decided and how their views influenced the outcome,” Sanderson explains.
“People are more likely to accept difficult decisions when they trust the process. Creating that clarity helps them stay engaged, contribute their ideas and concerns, and ultimately strengthens the organisation’s resilience,” she concludes.
Protecting energy
Lesley Cooper, founder of consultancy WorkingWell, emphasises that resilience isn’t simply about how well people respond to pressure. It depends on how they manage the finite personal resources available to them before they get there. That’s why she believes effective energy management is key to staying resilient.
“Leaders have an important role to play in creating the conditions that enable people to manage their energy effectively,” she says. “This means looking at how pressure is experienced, encouraging recovery, and ensuring that taking time to recharge is seen as an investment in high performance, rather than something that gets in the way of it.”
For Cooper, an essential part of this is leaders modelling healthy behaviours themselves. “How they maintain their own energy, respond to stress-inducing situations, and make space for recovery can influence the wider team.”
By making energy management part of everyday culture, organisations can help people sustain capacity and resilience when it matters most.
Harnessing digital technologies
Dr Catherine Mulligan, internationally recognised digital-economy researcher and co-author of Digital Sustainability, highlights the role of digital technologies in building resilience. She notes: “Resilient organisations recognise that digital technologies can do more than drive growth and efficiency. They can enable rapid learning from disruption, foster adaptability, and support the emergence of more robust, interconnected networks.”
Dr Mulligan suggests using systems thinking to redesign business models around data flows and feedback loops, rather than focusing solely on operational efficiency. “By designing digital systems with built-in feedback loops, this turns every output (data, engagement, performance insight) into an input which improves algorithms, decisions, and operations over time instead of settling for one-off efficiency gains,” she adds.
Ultimately, Dr Mulligan argues that businesses need to rethink how they use digital technologies to support resilience, embedding adaptability into their operations. “Organisations that seek to build resilience not as a defensive posture, but as an adaptive, dynamic capability embedded in their digital DNA, are the ones that will see the most benefit from digital technologies.”
Rewiring the brain
To lead their teams and organisations through change, leaders need to develop their own mental resilience. Alex Moffat, an award-winning keynote speaker, NeuroLeadership Institute Facilitator, and magician, explains that mental resilience can be strengthened over time.
“The best way to change the brain is to start by becoming more aware of our thoughts and how we respond to things. From there, it’s about repetition,” he says. “Practising a useful thought or behaviour in a consistent manner and context can make that response progressively more automated, until it’s an unconscious reaction one day.”
Moffat also recommends leaders practise resilience before they need it. “For example, when a small setback occurs, and you notice yourself reacting emotionally, try pausing, separating the facts from the story you’re telling yourself, and choosing your next useful action. Repeating this response when the stakes are lower makes it easier to apply when the pressure gets high.”
“By repeatedly exposing ourselves to stressful or difficult situations, we can gradually build resilience for the future,” he sums up.
