Building Business Resilience

Is your team prepared for challenges and changes? Once you’ve completed reading the post, we’d appreciate it if you would take a minute to comment and let us know the value of this post and your experience with how your HR team has built business resilience.

Building resilience is essential in times of uncertainty and even when the economy looks strong. Why is resilience important? No matter how strong your business and the economy may be, challenging times are bound to come. We can look to recent history to understand how HR professionals have been challenged by both a positive and less-positive economic outlook. 

In a recent post, Retaining Your People, I mentioned ‘The Great Resignation’ and how many workers quickly changed jobs. The job market was hot, many roles were open, and the economy looked strong. However, it was a significant challenge for HR professionals, particularly recruiters, who had to juggle a large number of open positions and process all of the associated applications while completing other duties and responsibilities. 

Also, I mentioned the large number of layoffs that have been happening over the last year. Recruiting roles were in high demand during the pandemic, but have tapered off quite a bit. Recruiting teams have been hit hard by layoffs. While the examples I have mentioned are considered extremes, they show that challenging times may always be present in some way, and team members need to be ready. Let’s discuss how your team can build business resilience this year. 

Manage Change & Have Clear Objectives

As you read through the two examples above, what did you think about them? Do you feel that change is constant and ever-present with us? Four years ago, I heard a business executive state that the rate of change in the business world is increasing exponentially, and you have to be able to adapt and adjust to stay in the competition. She stated that every organization, team, and individual is like a ship traveling upstream with everyone else. The water is moving faster and faster, and some ships are going to crash, sink, go off course, and are simply not going to make it if not built and positioned to succeed. I will never forget her perspective and advice.

Her advice was accurate then and is still accurate today. Change is increasing faster than four years ago, partly because the pandemic and other events have forced change in unprecedented ways. How do you learn to manage change and teach this to your team? Ultimately, it will come through experience, and your team will define its own strategy. 

What is one way you can help your team in this area? First, define clear objectives for your team if you haven’t already. It’s essential to have clear objectives defined so your team can stay focused daily, especially in times of challenge and change. Employees who need support and guidance often look to HR for support. When this happens, HR professionals can end up with more work than they can handle and get overwhelmed. This can lead to burnout, especially if your employees are quick to say yes to asks and don’t look out for the pitfalls of over-committing. 

It’s up to HR leaders to help set clear objectives and determine team boundaries and responsibilities. Sure, team members may be willing to take on ad hoc tasks if they have the capacity and time, but it’s not ideal during times of overload. Set clear objectives so your team doesn’t become ineffective and distracted. 

Recap & What’s Next

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Take a minute and add a comment about your experience with how your HR team has built business resilience.

I look forward to reading what you share about how your team is building resilience in the comments. Let’s help each other navigate the challenges and changes that come our way daily. An idea or something you have tried may be what someone else needs or is looking for. 

If you are looking for tips on managing change in the workplace, check out this article. Take a few minutes this week and write down what your team can start doing to manage change effectively. 

Next week, we will discuss marketing trends to look out for this year. Stay tuned!