Driving Success Through Operational Resilience

Adapting to changing conditions and recovering quickly from operational disruptions:  That’s what resilience means to many companies.

For Goodyear, the 125-year-old tire manufacturer, it also means supporting associates and the business, said Mike Janko, director of global business continuity at the US$20 billion company, which has 57 manufacturing plants in 23 countries. “We’re aligned with our business units to effectively implement all our activities. What’s the outcome? We’re not compromising quality; we’re simplifying things. We’re avoiding complexity. We’re implementing activities that promote successful strategic execution.”

Speaking during the recent “Excellence in Operational Resilience” webinar presented by CAPS Research, the Tempe, Arizona-based organization in strategic partnership with Institute for Supply Management^® (ISM^®) and Arizona State University, he discussed the benefits of resilience and tools to achieve it, saying that Goodyear’s experiences can help other companies in their journeys.

“A resilient organization is one with the ability to rebound, to embrace change, to be able to adapt,” Janko said. “We’re all subject to some incident, crisis or event. Are we going to be able to recover rapidly when issues come up? Are you going to be able to focus as a team and tackle them quickly? How about managing risk? Are you able to not only identify it, but manage it, mitigate it, and have a plan to address?

Components of a Resilience Plan

Derisking the supply chain can go a long way in promoting resilience and pursuing excellence.

One way to do so, for example, is ensuring compliance, Janko said. Goodyear must comply with several quality standards, among them ISO 9001. An International Organization for Standardization (ISO) auditor comes annually for, Janko said, “an overview from our perspective on how we identify risks, what’s critical in the supply chain, how we’re ready for any disruptions to them, and how we’re ready for IT issues.”

Associates also are trained in the standards and strategies. “We share whatever is relevant in the field and in our manufacturing locations, anywhere throughout the footprint where tires are delivered to the customer, including our warehouses, our logistics and transportation, so they can also validate to the auditor that we’re meeting the intent of the ISO standards,” he said.

Another component is continual improvement. “Once you start down the path toward resilience, everything's about continual improvement,” Janko said. “Are there any gaps? Did we identify them? Are we going to fix them? Are we going to share this with others? Are we going to test it again when necessary?”

Continual improvement leads to competitive advantages, he added.

Resilient Leaders

Individuals must be resilient, too. They must be tough, persistent, tenacious, strong and adjustable as well as able to handle stress, have a sense of humor and gratitude, and be a survivor, Janko said.

“We all recognize people like this. You could see it in yourselves” as well as in family members, friends and others, he said. “You can’t have a good, strong, resilient organization without strong, resilient individuals.”

Pairing such leaders with resilient organizations is the key to success, he said.

Resilient leaders can drive success by focusing on teams and teamwork. “We never focus on an individual,” Panko said of Goodyear. “We focus on a team and the whole thinking process between lead, follow and guide. … You’re going to have to lead. The follow part is to find other leaders or other individuals in your organization that have similar issues (so) we can make it ours, not just mine.”

Jacko reiterated the importance of the “guide” component. Resilient leaders may need to lead an organization to success by guiding other teams.

Among Janko’s resilience recommendations to organizations and leaders:

• Share best practices through monthly meetings in which all teams participate
• Ensure team members are engaged
• Establish good communication
• Lead, follow, guide
• Determine priorities.

(Photo credit: Pexels/Bogdan Krupin)