Becoming a resilient organisation: integrating people and practice in infrastructure services

Figures & data

Figure 1. Firestone and McElroy. 2003, 2005

Figure 2. Dynamic Feedback of Learning Power for Self-directed change

Figure 3. Voice engagement model

Figure 4. Passion matrix – taken from voice survey report

Figure 5. Progress matrix – taken from voice survey report

Figure 6. Cluster 1 N= 21

Figure 7. Cluster 2 N=16

Figure 8. Cluster 3 N= 13

Table 1. Dimensions of learning power

Mindful Agency: reflexive self-leadership, defining personal and professional purpose, understanding and managing the feelings, thoughts and processes of learning in complex problem solving – as opposed to depending on others or on custom and practice.

Hope and Optimism: having the confidence to engage in problem solving and improvement over time – as opposed to static, fear-based avoidance of challenge.

Sense Making: making connections between ideas, data and experience in order to achieve a purpose of value – as opposed to decision making in silos and fragments.

Creativity: using imagination and intuition in learning and problem solving, playfulness and testing out ideas – as opposed to being rule bound.

Curiosity: a desire to dig beneath the surface and understand why and how beyond norm – as opposed to passive acceptance of the status quo.

Collaboration: learning with and from others, co-design and co-generation of knowledge – as opposed to being either independent or dependent.

Belonging: knowing that there are colleagues and friends in your community or social network with whom you can engage in problem solving – as opposed to being isolated.

Openness to Learning: being open to new ideas and challenges and having the ‘inner strenth’ to move into learning and change – as opposed to either giving up or ‘toughing it out’

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of learning power data

	N	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. Deviation
Mindful Agency	50	33.86	86.52	59.40	13.04
Sense making	50	54.02	100.00	73.47	11.05
Creativity	50	30.02	97.56	58.16	16.89
Curiosity	50	32.58	100.00	67.65	16.16
Hope and optimism	50	32.56	100.00	67.95	15.68
Belonging	50	.00	100.00	60.43	27.30
Collaboration	50	12.28	100.00	71.27	19.57
Orientation to learning	50	12.82	79.40	41.20	12.08
Valid N (listwise)	50

Table 3. Final cluster centres table

	Cluster
	1	2	3
Mindful Agency	52.45	59.48	70.55
Sense making	67.18	74.77	82.07
Creativity	48.40	53.09	80.18
Curiosity	57.73	65.68	86.10
Hope and optimism	56.23	74.21	79.18
Belonging	38.51	83.23	67.79
Collaboration	54.44	83.53	83.37
Orientation to learning	37.86	50.70	34.93

Table 4. Number of cases in each cluster

Cluster	1	21.000
	2	16.000
	3	13.000
Valid		50.000
Missing		.000

Table 5. Descriptive Statistics of Resilient Organisation Survey

	Descriptive Statistics
	N	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. Deviation
ResilientLeadershipL1	124	21.43	85.71	51.20	14.79
Employee Engagement	124	25.00	100.00	65.24	16.37
Situational Awareness	124	25.00	100.00	62.73	16.03
Decision Making	124	25.00	100.00	65.03	15.86
Innovation Creativity	124	25.00	100.00	59.95	16.49
Effective Partnerships	124	22.73	90.91	62.68	15.68
Leveraging Knowledge	124	25.00	100.00	57.89	16.11
Breaking Silos	124	25.00	100.00	54.63	16.31
Internal Resources	124	25.00	100.00	57.12	17.57
Unity of Purpose	124	25.00	100.00	69.62	19.27
Proactive Posture	124	25.00	100.00	61.82	17.00
Planning Strategies	124	25.00	100.00	64.18	17.65
Stress Testing Plans	124	25.00	100.00	57.56	16.87
Valid N (listwise)	124

Figure 9. Integrated model of resilience and critical success factors for process drivers

Figure 10. Integrated model of resilience and critical success factors for process drivers

Table

Organisational Resilience HealthCheck

1. Leadership and culture attribute

1.1 Leadership Strong leadership to provide good management and decision making during times of challenge and adversity, as well as continuous evaluation of strategies and work programmes against organisational goals.

1.2 Employee engagement The engagement and involvement of employees who understand the link between their own work, the organisation’s resilience, and its long term success; employees are empowered and use their skills to solve problems.

1.3 Situational awareness Employees are encouraged to be vigilant about the organisation, its performance and potential problems; employees are rewarded for sharing good and bad news about the organisation including early warning signals and these are quickly reported to organisational leaders.

1.4 Decision making Employees have the appropriate authority to make decisions related to their work and authority is clearly delegated to enable a rapid response. Highly skilled employees are involved, or are able to make, decisions where their specific knowledge adds significant value, or where their involvement will aid implementation.

1.5 Innovation and creativity Employees are encouraged and rewarded for using their knowledge in novel ways to solve new and existing problems, and for utilising innovative and creative approaches to developing solutions.

2. Networks and partnerships attribute

2.1 Effective partnerships An understanding of the relationships and resources the organisation might need to access from other organisations during challenges and times of adversity, and the necessary preparatory planning and ongoing management to ensure this access.

2.2 Leveraging knowledge Knowledge is captured and shared effectively throughout the organisation, with a strong focus on ensuring critical information is always available, with succession planning for key roles, an openness to learning, and drawing on internal and external expertise and lessons learnt.

2.3 Breaking silos Minimisation of divisive social, cultural and behavioural barriers, which are most often manifested as communication barriers creating disjointed, disconnected and detrimental ways of working.

2.4 Internal resources The management and mobilisation of the organisation’s resources to ensure its ability to respond to challenges, operate during business as usual, as well as being able to provide the extra capacity required to respond to and recover during times of adversity

3. Change ready attribute

3.1 Unity of purpose An organisation wide awareness of what the organisation’s priorities would be following a challenging or adverse event, clearly defined at the organisation level, as well as an understanding of the organisation’s minimum operating requirements

3.2 Proactive posture A strategic and behavioural readiness to identify and respond to early warning signals of change in the organisation’s internal and external environment before they escalate into a major challenge or adverse event.

3.3 Planning strategies The development and evaluation of plans, strategies and capabilities to manage vulnerabilities in relation to the business environment and its stakeholders.

3.4 Stress testing plans The participation of the leadership and employees in simulations or scenarios designed to practice response strategies and arrangements to validate plans and capabilities, and demonstrate the advantages of agility and flexibility.