How to build your organization's resilience in turmoil times. Improve employees engagement and handle Coronavirus / Covid-19

1. 12 Steps to Building
Organizational Resilience
Rotem KazirHillik Nissani

2. Organizational Resilience
The ability of an organization to anticipate, prepare
for, respond and adapt to incremental change and
sudden disruptions in order to survive and prosper.
It is based on the company’s culture.

3. 1.
Over-communicate

4. Optimistic yet realistic over-
communication
● In absence of information - people tend to assume the worst
● Clear, transparent communication addresses one of the major
stress factors - uncertainty.
● Reduces ambiguity, politics, conflicts, misinterpretations
● Solidifies the perception that ‘things are in control’
● No Bullshit - don’t promise that ‘things will be ok’
● No Panic - don’t tell them that ‘it is a shitshow’
● Transparency is a MUST.
● Be Authentic
● Allow people to ask questions. Answer as honestly as you can.

5. 2.
Obtain Alignment

6. Align the team around
business goals
● Communicate your business impact assessment
● Make sure EVERY employee knows what the top priority
tasks are
● Set updated KPIs & how they are measured
● Inform the team, make sure managers communicate it
forward

7. 3.
Empower Your
Managers

8. Appoint your “Resilience
Officers”
● Law of the few - your leaders have the ability to “tip” the
organization in the direction of resilience and to serve as a
catalyst to increase group cohesion and dedication to the
“mission.”
● Find those that could hold this title, assign it to them and
empower them.

9. DecisivenessOptimism
Open
Communication
[What to look for when] Identifying your resilience
officers
Integrity

10. 4.
Encourage Desired
Behaviors

11. Resilient culture
● Based on trust in leaders, and across the organization
● Role Modelling starts from the very top
● Set and communicate your desired behaviors - “Code of
Conduct”
● Reward, promote, compensate and recognize based on
these behaviors
● Consistency is a MUST to achieve high level of integrity
● “No Assholes”

12. 5.
Spend Quality Time

13. Make them feel meaningful
● Feeling meaningful is a basic human need
● Set 1:1 quality time - make it personal. don’t just talk about
work
● Acknowledge their contribution to you as a manager, to
the team and the impact on the to the company’s
performance

14. 6.
Develop Ceremonies

15. Routine leads to stability
● Design ceremonies
○ Daily stand-ups
○ Weekly all-hands
○ Company wins
● Perform weekly
○ Periodic communications (e.g. CEO letter to all the
employees reporting on company status)
○ Fun activities
○ Educational activities

16. 7.
Check On Individuals

17. Ask, repeatedly - 360°
● Professional checks
○ What are your 3 top priority tasks?
○ What worked well for us and for you this week?
○ Where can we improve?
○ What can we do to move faster?
○ What do you need from me as your manager to
perform at your best?
● Mental temperature check
○ How do you feel? (go deep)
○ What is your stress level? (1-10)
○ How can I be of help to reduce your stress?

18. 8.
Embed Empathy Into
Everything

19. Empathy is crucial, now
more than ever
● The ability to understand and share the feelings of another
● Listening is key
● Telling people to relax is ineffective. Acknowledge their
feelings - whatever they are - fear, anxiety, frustration.
● Don’t criticize. Don’t ignore. Don’t dismiss or say “get over
it”. Most people don’t know how. Ask how you can help

20. 9.
Use Positive
Psychology

21. Positive psychology
develops employees’
resilience
● Celebrate successes (big and small)
● Limit sarcasm and cynicism
● Praise in public, criticize in private
● If you think that someone is doing a great job - tell them
● Use positive language
● Be forgiving. During stress, people tend to make more
mistakes than usual
● Be self-compassionate, do not over-criticize yourself

22. 10.
Educate Your
Employees

23. Invest in your employees by
educating them
● Powerful habit forming
● Emotional management
● Stress Relief / mindfulness / meditation
● Adopting a “Growth Mindset”
● Fun & recreational topics - you have lots of multi-talented
employees that would love to share their knowledge

24. 11.
Improve Remote
Team Effectiveness

25. Effective teams practices
● Psychological safety
● Equal “airtime”
● Trust & dependability
● Structure & clarity
● Meaning and shared goals
● Make an Impact

26. 12.
Tell Them You Love
Them

27. Feeling loved is a basic
crucial need
● They need it, especially now
● It is contagious
● Practice as many forms of love
○ Words of affirmation
○ Acts of service
○ Spend quality time
○ Gifts that demonstrate attention
● Your employees remember, so this will have a great ROI
after the crisis
● Make it genuine, don’t fake it

29. Some immediate practical tips
● Create a “Sensitivity Map” of your employees - who can
be a “Resilience Officer” and who needs more support.
Consider emotional stability, support system at home,
attitude, optimism, etc.
● Be in close contact with your “sensitive” employees,
support them and their managers
● Appoint “Remote Work Buddies”
● Help leaders and teams develop routines - teamwork,
team fun and personal. Be extra meticulous about it
● For every 1:1, create an open doc on which you can
mutually record agreements and goals during meetings,
revisit weekly
● Open a 24/7 Zoom Room for people to engage and
interact, and Whatsapp/Slack channel for venting

30. Building Long-term Resilience
● Plan your Legacy
● Develop a “Code of Conduct” (Alphabet’s CoC, 18 other
examples)
● Develop a company-wide “Successes Journal”
● Plan ahead - education, recreation

31. Selected Resources
● CultureFirst, by Culture Amp
● Tips on building organizational resilience
● The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell (book / summary)
● (Growth) Mindset - Carol Dweck (book / summary)
● Habit forming - Atomic Habits - James Clear (book /
summary)
● Positive Organizational Psychology - explanation and
collection of resources
● Netflix’ cofounder Patty McCord - Powerful (book / famous
deck)
● Headspace - wellness, mindfulness app and resources
● Code of Conduct - (Alphabet’s CoC, 18 other examples)

32. Rotem Kazir - www.pitango.com
rotem.k@pitango.com
Hillik Nissani - www.thevalyou.com
h@thevalyou.com +972-544-922123