Staying Resilient before, during and after a crisis
If one takes a peek into those companies that have been down the path of negative economic shocks, and recessions for a 100 years and thrived, the common thread between them simply put is resilience.
This current pandemic has more than ever opened our eyes to the stark reality of our interconnectedness as people, economies, and nations. if we are to stay strong and emerge thriving, whatever shape and form the “new norm” may take, it will need to have resilience at the core. For this to happen resilience needs to be embedded into the constitution of the way a business is run.
The RICAP Framework for Resilience
The RICAP Framework (©iCube Consortium April 2020) is an approach to embedding resilience into the very core of a company’s way of functioning. Central to the understanding of resilient organizations are 5 principles Relationship, Innovation, Collaboration, Agility, and Prudence, that influence the way an organization functions through the 5 pillars of structure, strategy, process, people management and technology.
The question therefore is how does this fit into a running enterprise?
The RICAP framework Matrix – which is the application of the RICAP Framework- provides direction to decisions on managing a running business to stay resilient, and thriving.
Applying the RICAP Framework Matrix to re-imagine workforce strategy
Relationship:
- Do the workflow processes promote collaborative work between the onsite, offsite and contingent workforce?
Innovation:
- How do you create and leverage centers of excellence (hubs) & shared business services?
- How can you include freelance experts as extended capacity for your business?
- If you have excess capacity, how can you benefit from sharing resources with external partners and alliances?
Collaboration:
- How do you create self-organizing structures, shared resource pools, and a lean expert core?
- What secure technology is needed to support remote working teams and a collaborative workflow?
Agility:
- What activities form the business core that needs stability and continuity and what part of your workforce can be flexed?
- What roles can be powered by a freelance workforce?
- What is the percentage of fixed and contingent workforce will support business agility?
Prudence:
- What people costs can be reduced without affecting morale and productivity?
- What are the pet projects, structures or products that can be eliminated?
- What when restructured will help eliminate between 15-20% costs more permanently?
Circumstances have forced increased adoption of digital technology which has helped immensely in continuing business activity remotely. The comfort in addressing the needs of a new norm has got us thinking about the changes we can make to the way we work. While it has forced business leaders to deal with more unsettling thoughts about what is going to change in the workplace and the impact on jobs, it has also built confidence in optimizing digital technology to experiment with new ways of working and creating new workflow processes that are cost effective, agile, and make businesses resilient. The 5 principles of the RICAP Framework is not a one-time-activity, but allow CXOs to continually test for resilience in the way a business is managed.
Go ahead and Download the RICAP Framework Poster here
Deepa Chandrasekhar
Deepa Chandrasekhar has been a health care entrepreneur for over 13 years. Currently she is part of the leadership team heading Products & Communication at Solvecube Pte. Ltd. She works closely with the team on SolveCube’s flagship Global AI Talent Marketplace Platform for Integrated Talent Solutions.
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