Weather Any Storm: Developing Business Resiliency

Nikisha Bailey

Nikisha Bailey is a dynamic entrepreneur, entertainment executive, and philanthropist with a deep commitment to community impact. She is the owner of Win Win Coffee, Philadelphia’s first Black woman-led coffee roaster and distributor, recognized by Goldman Sachs at their 10KSB National Summit and featured on Forbes’ Next 1000 list. Nikisha’s journey in the coffee industry focuses on creating a 100% diaspora-focused supply chain, partnering with marginalized coffee producers to build equity and generational wealth. Before her work in coffee, Nikisha spent over a decade in the music industry as VP/Head of A&R Admin at Atlantic Records. She’s been named a Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Power Player and serves as a Trustee for The Recording Academy’s New York Chapter. Nikisha is dedicated to building community and champions the belief that “Community is everything.”

Chad Patterson

Chad Patterson is a business executive and strategic visionary, with 15+ years of experience in finance, sales, and marketing. Chad has successfully founded three ventures and is passionate about helping small business owners and entrepreneurs scale their ventures. Chad is also a coach in AOF’s free Coaching Hub.

What is business resiliency?

How would you respond to an unexpected challenge or disruption? Business resiliency- including anticipating, preparing, responding, pivoting, and recovering from unexpected disruptions- is your ability to respond to unexpected challenges.  The Covid-19 Pandemic was one big example of an unexpected disruption, but disruptions come in many forms, including changes in consumer behavior, technology outages, and supply chain disruptions. You only need look at the latest headlines to see many examples of circumstances that can disrupt a business’ regular operations. Business resiliency starts with the owner’s mindset and willingness to learn, adapt, and pivot.

A Resilient Business is a Successful Business

Resilient businesses can succeed even in challenging circumstances. For businesses able to take a proactive approach to risk management and a commitment to continuous improvement, success will follow. Resilient organizations are able to weather storms and emerge stronger. You can learn valuable lessons from the challenges you encounter. By cultivating an adaptive and innovative workforce, your team will contribute to your overall organizational flexibility. These approaches help to develop resilient businesses that can pivot effectively, seize new opportunities, and achieve long-term success. In today’s ever changing environment, your ability to adapt and recover is not just a competitive advantage; it’s a fundamental skill for survival. A resiliency plan is also essential for attracting investors or buyers into your business because it allows an interested party to jump right in to running your business with confidence.

Business Resiliency Strategy

An intentional business resiliency strategy can help your business thrive. Strategies should include:

• Risk Assessment: Evaluate potential risks to your operations, like supply chain disruptions and market fluctuations. Regularly update your risk assessment to stay ahead of emerging threats.
• Adaptability: Be flexible in your business processes and decision-making. Get help from your team by encouraging a culture of innovation, so team members feel empowered to suggest changes and improvements. Be willing to learn new skills or information to make a change in your business.
• Financial Management: Active and consistent financial management is essential. Organized finances can help you from everything to accessing financing during an emergency to paying for unexpected expenses. Creating and following a budget is the first step. Once you’ve mastered the basics, it’s time to learn more about your financial statements. You also need to wisely and strategically take on and manage debt.
• Metrics: Pay close attention to your metrics throughout your business. This can help you determine what is working and what is not, as well as the response that will minimize impact to your business or maximizes Return on Investment (ROI) during times of disruption.

Aligning Business Goals with Business Resiliency

To ensure long-term sustainability, align your short-term and long-term goals with business resiliency in mind. In addition to being in the business resilience mindset, you can do the following:

• Use Effective Goal-Setting Techniques: Implement SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals to clearly define what you want to achieve and how you plan to work towards that. Now review your business goals from a resiliency and risk management perspective. What could go wrong? What can you do to prepare yourself and your business?
• Regularly Revisit and Adjust Goals: Create a schedule for regular reviews of your goals to reflect changes in the business environment and to evaluate if your current plans or actions are you getting you closer to achieving your goals, or if you need to make a change. Incorporate feedback from your team to ensure that the goals remain relevant and attainable.
• Remain Flexible: Keep in mind that, due to factors beyond your control, you might have to change your long term goals. Keep a flexible mindset- that’s what you are aiming towards, but you may need to adjust. Maintain your primary focus on your shorter term goals and actionable milestones that will get your closer to your long term vision.

Frameworks and Tools for Managing Business Risks

Implementing frameworks and tools is vital for identifying and mitigating risks effectively. Here are some strategies:

• Risk Assessment Frameworks: Use established frameworks like SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to systematically evaluate your business landscape. Develop a risk matrix to prioritize risks based on their potential impact and likelihood. Another risk analysis you can use is PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technical, Environmental, Legal), which helps you analyze how your business might be impacted by external factors beyond your control.
• Risk Tolerance Assessment: Know your risk tolerance and use it to inform your comfort with different levels of risk. You can then use a decision tree to streamline the decision making process.
• Analytical Tools: There are many softwares and tools available to help you analyze business risks, such as financial forecasting models and market analysis tools. Check your existing website, financial management, and marketing tools to see what forecasting features they might already have available.

Developing Comprehensive Contingency Plans

A comprehensive contingency plan is essential for business resiliency. Outline the steps to develop a thorough plan:

• Identify Potential Disruptions: List both minor disruptions (like staffing shortages) and major crises (like natural disasters). Develop clear protocols for each scenario, ensuring everyone knows their roles.
• Prioritize Actions: Determine which actions are critical for maintaining operations and prioritize them within your plan. Regularly test and update your plan based on new insights and changes in your business landscape. Consider using a fast-fail experiment approach to make small changes throughout the process.

Strengthening Business Operations through Resilient Practices

Implementing practices that bolster operational resilience ensures your business’s longevity. Here are some specific practices to consider:

1. Operational Changes: Introduce flexible work arrangements to adapt to employee needs and market conditions. Invest in technology that enhances efficiency and facilitates remote work capabilities.
2. Effective Methodologies: Implement Lean methodologies to eliminate waste and streamline processes. Foster a culture of innovation where continuous improvement is a core value.
3. Encourage Team Mindsets: Business resiliency is a team effort. Work through different scenarios and decision trees with your team to build this mindset.
4. Prioritize Self-Care: You can’t pour from an empty cup, so make sure you are taking care of yourself so you are ready to lead your organization during normal operations as well as during challenging times.

Communication During Disruptions

Maintaining clear communication during disruptions is key for business success. Just like basketball players on the court, you have to communicate with your team and your customers. Here are best practices to follow:

• Internal Communication: Establish regular updates and check-ins with your team to keep morale high and maintain focus. You can use any communication platform, but it is good practice to have a back up to your primary method of communication. The more you prepare and practice the resiliency mindset in your business, the calmer everyone will be during disruptions.
• External Communication: Keep your customers informed and engaged with clear, concise messaging about challenges and your response strategies. Keep them updated on your commitment to ensuring service continuity during disruptions.

Building Support Networks for Business Resilience

A robust support network is essential to business success. Here’s how to build your network:

1. Collaboration Opportunities: Engage with local business groups, industry associations, and community organizations to expand your network. Explore partnerships with complementary businesses (like other businesses in your area) to enhance service offerings and share resources.
2. Supportive Relationships: Foster relationships with mentors and peers who can offer guidance and support during tough times. Regularly participate in networking events to meet potential collaborators and share experiences. Consider seeking relationships with other businesses in your industry, complementary businesses, local government (attend a city council meeting monthly), and local business associations. Remember, relationships go both ways, so make sure you share and give as much as you ask and take, if not more.

Key Advice for Building Business Resiliency

There are many ways to build your business resiliency:

• Resilient Mindset: Understand that building business resiliency is not just about surviving challenges but thriving amidst them. Cultivate a mindset focused on growth and adaptability, laying a strong foundation for sustained success.
• Experienced Planning: Remember, just because you’ve planned for it doesn’t mean it will happen or that you will respond in the way you have planned. However, the experience of having thought through risk and different scenarios for how you will respond to them is the difference between a measured approach to a situation and wild guessing.
• Do It Scared: In your personal and professional life, even if something is scary, do it anyway! That’s the best way to build resiliency and your tolerance for the emotions that come along with a disruption to the norm.
• Lean on Your Network: You never know who will be a key player on your journey, so stay connected, be open, and ask for help when you need it.

By adopting these strategies and building a culture of business resilience, your business can not only weather storms but come out the other side stronger than ever.