Last week I presented at the Peter Vickers Business group event, on the invitation of Denise Archie from Coaching College. I was charged with preparing an overview of innovation trends and coming up with some tools to help build business resilience. Attending were people from a range of businesses – everything from local councils and construction, to IT systems and retail. I very much appreciate the opportunity to present. 

Background to the presentation

In the past couple of years, the scale of disruption affecting businesses of all sizes has been unprecedented. While most businesses had a consciousness of how they could respond to all kinds of challenges in (formal or informal) business continuity plans, the full force of the impact of the pandemic was not anticipated.  As a result, many businesses were profoundly affected, and some will never recover from the crisis.

But while this disruption has been both formidable and sobering, the opportunities arising from this crisis should not be underestimated. The very weaknesses that were exposed set out the pathway for significant change.

In this presentation, I conduct what amounts to a literature review of the trends in innovation as described by the major industry research bodies and commentary sources, and I describe the characteristics of resilience as well as sharing some tools for building business resilience. I talk about the importance of adopting Agile processes as a foundation for resilience and I consider what the outlook is for businesses in a post-pandemic world.  

Your thoughts?

Feel free to review the slides here. And let me know your stories and thoughts on building a resilient business. Because let’s face it: if you run a small business and you’ve survived for the last couple of years, you’re already resilient. To thrive in the years to come, your stories and your tools may save another business in the face of the next global crisis.