Business resilience is all about your company’s ability to bounce back from hardship. While the last few years have certainly shown us how important that is on a global scale, business resilience isn’t just about large-scale changes.
Having a resilient business means being capable of weathering any disruption to your company or sector, be that a global pandemic, economic disruption such as rising inflation and interest rates, or even losing a key staff member.
Resilient businesses are better able to navigate trying times because they are flexible and able to change direction as the need arises. In addition, businesses with high resiliency are more likely to succeed in the long term because changes and setbacks don’t take as long to overcome.
So how can you help your business become more resilient?
The first step to building more resilience into your business is to know what the possible risks to your business are. This relies on really understanding both the mortgage sector and your company. It is important to ask yourself what could happen to disrupt your business. Consider the following questions:
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it should help kickstart your thinking around the possibilities. As you do this, keep in mind that having contingency plans in place for every potential pitfall isn’t possible. Think of it, instead, as an exercise in finding ways to reduce risk more generally. If you struggle to think of things, connect with others in the mortgage industry to gather their views and see if you can apply them to your business.
One way to help prepare your business for any potential turbulence is to make certain that you are properly insured. Having the correct insurance for your business can help to mitigate the effect of potential losses or damages.
If you’re unsure what kind of coverage your business needs, you may want to seek professional advice to help you decide. Some types of insurance you may need to consider are:
Read more: 5 ways to manage the costs of professional indemnity insurance
The way that your management team interacts with your business can make a huge difference in how adaptable and resilient your company is. Managers who are active in the business and take a role that is involved in the day-to-day are often more effective during challenging times.
This is largely because active and involved management teams can act quickly and be innovative when they see trouble coming instead of relying on bureaucratic procedures. It’s important to ensure that your key management team is able to take decisive actions to ensure versatility.
A resilient business needs a resilient team. This means making sure that your team members have the tools and skills that they need to adapt alongside the business. Here are some ways that you can help your employees become more resilient to change:
Mental stresses are often one of the biggest sticking points with adapting to change. You can help your team by encouraging good mental health practices. It may even be worthwhile to host a team mindfulness event or yoga class.
A frequent pitfall that firms make is not communicating changes clearly or early enough. To ensure that your team is prepared to pivot with the business, it’s important to bring them along on the journey. Share your plans and let them know your expectations, especially as things change.
Centring your business on a set of core values that your employees believe in can help them feel like they are part of the decisions and bring the team closer.
As things shift within your business, there will likely be processes and procedures that are part of that change. This means that there may be mistakes made and confusion about how to do things.
By creating a culture of learning, you enable your team to ask questions and ensure that they feel comfortable doing so. This will help minimise mistakes made and make your team more comfortable with asking for help when mistakes do occur. Both of these things will lead to greater resilience.
Learn more: Podcast #49 - Creating a healthy workplace culture
In an increasingly digital age, technology is an important part of business planning. We have seen in the last year alone how video conferencing tools have made all the difference in how businesses have been able to communicate. Understanding your business’ current digital needs and potential needs is key to preparing for future disruption.
Although you may not be able to predict what those changes will be, you can make choices about the tools you use that will position you to be flexible. Technology that you need to be considering:
Staying ahead of the curve with technology can sometimes also mean staying ahead of turbulence. Consider how your business was able to adapt to remote working compared to other businesses you know. What were the technological differences?
Read more: Automating processes - a beginner’s guide
Life’s one great constant is change. While we may not always see it on the global scale of the past year, it is always present. How you position your business to adapt can make a big impact on its resilience.
Want to learn more about how to make sure your business can bounce back from anything?
Check out our Guide to Building Business Resilience
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