Is the Resilience Manager Hindering the Company's Success?

Or just a pain in the optimization A$$?

The picture on the wall of the meeting room caught my eye. It was an image of a Ferrari, with the background blurred to emphasize its speed.

I was momentarily lost in thought when a sharp comment snapped me back to reality.

"Could you please repeat that?" I asked, hoping to clarify his statement.

"You heard me the first time," he retorted.

"You're wasting the company's money."

I realized I needed to be more persuasive.

He went on to criticize the time spent on assessments and exercises. And don't get me started on the redundancies in the system, he said.

At least he's clear about what he doesn't want, I thought, suppressing a smirk.

This is a common reaction. People often calculate the costs of resilience, measures using a simple formula:

Hours * #employees involved * hourly rate = WASTED MONEY.

But is that the real story? I know the underlying issues are more complicated, but let's debunk this myth for fun.

Let's consider a workshop involving sales reps. The argument might be: "While we're in this workshop, we're not selling. That's lost time and money!"

However, no employee, not even the most diligent salesperson sell for 8 hours straight daily. The same applies to production workers.

The real concern should be the consequences of skipping e.g. safety training or contingency planning. What if an injury sidelines a worker, or an unforeseen event shuts down a site?

Another common objection is that redundancies reduce margins.

Many fail to understand that an over-optimized system is fragile by definition. It can't withstand unexpected shocks. It's a ticking time bomb.

But there's a balance to strike. Too many redundancies can erode profits.

Resilience is about achieving equilibrium. Resilience is a property a system has. 

It's not an "either-or" situation; it's about blending optimization with resilience measures.

This requires ongoing analysis and adjustment, not just an annual review. This is why I always say, Resilience is more than just Business Continuity Management (BCM), Crisis Management, or Risk Management.

These are tools to enhance resilience, not ends in themselves.

Returning to the Ferrari analogy, imagine trying to cross a city as quickly as possible. Driving at 300 km/h (super-optimized) wouldn't be the fastest way since you'd likely crash at the first turn

This example, borrowed from Nassim Taleb, illustrates that blind optimization is never the best strategy. Survival is crucial.

You can't compute profits of a company which is about to go bust.

I'm off in my Skoda now. Thankfully, it doesn't tempt me to speed!

Marco

P.S.: If you're interested in Resilience Engineering, especially in the context of Supply Chains, check out my online cohort-based course.

It's filled with valuable insights and a great community.

Want to learn more? Book a discovery call.