Roads to Resilience

Section 5: Resilience Principle No 4: ‘Rapid Response’

Overview of the ‘Rapid Response’ principle

of responses to anticipated scenarios, so that an effective response to the potentially more serious or significant unexpected developments becomes possible. Resilient organisations recognise that rapid response to an adverse development needs to achieve more than recovery of operations; it has to include media response and, in particular, actions to protect reputation. An appropriate and effective response to a crisis can serve to enhance the reputation of an organisation.

Introduction to ‘Rapid Response’ Another characteristic of resilience observed in the case study organisations was the ability to respond rapidly and appropriately. They are able to deal swiftly when unexpected problems and incidents occur, thereby ensuring that these do not escalate into crises and are able to restore the organisation to normal (perhaps a new state of normality) as quickly as possible. The risk radar capability ensures that issues are identified early, when a measured response can prevent serious problems arising or a business opportunity being missed. However, if a serious problem does emerge, resilient organisations use emergency response teams. Such teams take control of the situation, so that senior leaders do not have to manage the operational aspects of the crisis, the media and the rest of the business in parallel. Resilient organisations recognise that a professional response to the media is essential at each and every stage of an incident 1 . Resilient organisations need to have the capability, resources and relationships to be able to respond rapidly and appropriately not only to what is clearly an emergency, but also to react to small changes that could ultimately develop into a disaster. The benefits of rapid response also extend to the ability to seize opportunities – the upside of risk. This capability is based on empowered teams, practised processes and flexible resources. The organisation will then be able to respond based on the rehearsal Resilient organisations have the capability to ensure decisive and rapid response and there are four components associated with this principle: 1.  Decisive and Appropriate Actions: case study organisations recognise that acting quickly can often prevent issues developing into problems and can prevent crises. Therefore, ignoring an issue or deeming it to be unimportant is not an option for such organisations. AIG recognises that repeated small issues can mark the beginning of a trend, or that the total risk posed by multiple, concurrent issues can be significant. Also, the ability 1 The ‘ Roads to Ruin’ report showed that following an incident, all communications quickly enter the public domain and both internal and external communications will be scrutinised by the media. Understanding ‘Rapid Response’

to recognise the early indications of an emerging opportunity and respond accordingly is a positive benefit of resilience. 2.  Identified Teams and Processes: processes are perceived by resilient organisations as providing a useful platform for a response, but it is recognised that tailoring the response to the unique situation is best undertaken by skilled and knowledgeable employees. These teams are cross-functional and empowered to decide what type of response is appropriate. Virgin Atlantic has designated crisis teams trained to deal with the operational issues 3.  Empowered Responses: to be able to respond, organisations should not be overburdened by the pressures of running their normal business. Therefore, ensuring that there is enough flexible capacity 2 in the organisation to provide a response is essential, but often overlooked. TTP works on challenging research and development projects and always maintains spare capacity, so that it can successfully respond to the emerging and unpredicted problems that inevitably arise. Allowing employees a degree of empowerment when responding to customers can often solve a problem before it becomes serious. 4.  Rehearsed Reaction Plans: although the exact situations that will arise can seldom be predicted, organisations can still practise their responses. At IHG, “ the organisation is well prepared and has built up in advance the capabilities it needs. Security awareness training is a cornerstone, as is our ability related to a crisis, so that top management is not overwhelmed by having to deal with normal operations and the emerging crisis at the same time.

2 Spare, flexible capacity within an organisation is referred to as ‘organisational slack’ in the literature

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Section 5: Resilience Principle No 4: ‘Rapid Response’