#26 - Operational Resilience (OpRes)
Sometimes where we work is Dynamic, Ambiguous, Risky, and Complex—or DARC.
To operate successfully in a DARC environment, it’s not enough to be good at your job technically or to follow the rules. And it’s not enough to be smart or strong.
You also need Operational Resilience.
Operational Resilience means you bounce back on mission as your situation changes.
Sometimes what that means is when you get knocked down you get up again, you get back on task. But sometimes it means you have to find a new approach to the task. Sometimes you have to scale up or scale back. And sometimes it means you have to redefine your mission itself. In all cases, the point is: with Operational Resilience you can keep moving forward in a meaningful way.
Moments of DARCness don’t break your mission.
For example, let’s say you are driving a fire patrol rig and you spot a small roadside fire. The wind is driving the fire east. You have a hundred and fifty gallons of water in the tank in the back of your rig. You pull a live reel and go direct on the east flank of the fire. While you are working the east flank, the wind shifts. Now the fire is moving west. You know if it runs into the oaks it will get big. So you change your tactics and use your water to cool down the west flank. Then you run out of water. So you grab a hand tool and start cutting line around the fire. Soon you have the fire contained, controlled, and out.
This is an example of Operational Resilience: Your fire keeps changing, but you keep adapting. You change your tools; you change your approach; you do what it takes. And ultimately you find a way to succeed.
In contrast, what would it look like if you were less resilient?
You’d be less resilient if you fall apart when the water runs out. Or if you keep attacking the east flank when it makes no sense anymore. Those are examples of being less resilient. If small changes break your operation, you are not very resilient.
Operational Resilience is essential if you want to succeed in a DARC environment.
It may not matter as much when everything is Safe, Stable, Simple, and Straightforward — or 4S.
But you work in the DARC, so you need resilience.
Nerdy Terminology Q&A:
(Tune out now if you don’t like to nerd out on Human Factors jargon.)
Why “resilience”?
Why not just say “agility” or “adaptability”?
The term resilience has a history within the community of people who work in and study high risk environments. Woods, Dekker, Concklin, Hollnagel and others have used this term to describe the behaviors that lead to success in what I call a DARC environment.
I think it’s better to refine the terms we already have, instead of adding new jargon.
So that’s why I stick with the term “resilience.” However, it needs a few clarifications.
Bouncing back to what?
The term resilience includes a sense of “bouncing back.”
What exactly are we supposed to be bouncing back to?
Is it bouncing back on task after setbacks? Bouncing back to the task would be something like “persistence,” “endurance,” even “reliability.” That stuff is good, but it’s not all that we mean by “Operational Resilience.” With Operational Resilience sometimes you have to change tasks when you bounce back.
I’ve heard resilience defined as “bouncing forward.” That’s also good, except that it implies there is a single goal or direction. That’s not quite what we are talking about either. The kind of resilience I’m talking about means sometimes you have to change direction when you bounce back.
If you are fighting fire on the right flank, and the wind shifts, you might just redouble your efforts there and keep pressing forward on that right flank. But, you also might move to the left flank and use the same tactics in the opposite direction. Or you might use different tactics to contain the fire in a larger box. Or you might take a totally different approach, stop fighting the fire and try to evacuate a town. You may even decide there are no good moves here, and the only smart option is to pull back and wait. Operational Resilience includes being able to change direction depending on the situation.
So, then, what exactly are we bouncing back to?
I suggest we are really bouncing back to the mission itself. So here’s how I define Operational Resilience:
Operational Resilience (OpRes) = “Bouncing back on mission”
You need OpRes in a DARC environment because things are always changing, so you need to keep going back to the mission and adapting.
Sometimes Operational Resilience means sticking to your task, and getting back to it again and again despite setbacks and knock downs.
Sometimes it means sticking to the objective, but changing the task.
Sometimes if the disruption is big enough, it means you change your objectives, even your overall direction and strategy, to serve the mission in the new circumstances.
In all cases, you are bouncing back on mission, even as you reassess your situation.
Okay but why “Operational” Resilience?
The term “resilience” has many connotations, and it means something different to everybody.
Instead of looking for a special new word, I think it’s sufficiently clear to just use the term Operational Resilience (OpRes). This makes it clear that we are talking about the kind of resilience that is mission focused.
OpRes distinguishes itself from concepts like emotional resilience, ecological resilience, or physical resilience. These kinds of resilience are important, but we need to keep them distinct from Operational Resilience, which is all about the mission.