What comes first? The Chicken or the Egg? Risk Culture or Operational Resilience?

When thinking about whether to focus first on building a risk culture or creating an operationally resilient organization, it’s helpful to remember that these two goals are closely linked, but starting with a risk culture generally makes the most sense. Here’s why:

🏗️ Building the Foundation
Think of risk culture as the foundation of a house. If you don’t have a solid foundation, anything you build on top might not hold up well over time. A strong risk culture ensures that everyone in the organization understands the importance of identifying and managing risks. This shared understanding is crucial when it comes to setting up the processes and systems that make your organization resilient to disruptions.

💡 Informed Decisions
When your organization has a solid risk culture, decisions at all levels are made with a clear understanding of the risks involved. This is vital when you’re working on making your organization more resilient. Without a risk-aware mindset guiding these decisions, you might find that your resilience efforts don’t fully address the actual risks your organization faces.

🔍 Proactive vs. Reactive
A good risk culture encourages people to think ahead and deal with potential issues before they become big problems. This proactive approach is essential for building resilience because it allows you to prepare for challenges in advance, rather than just reacting when something goes wrong.

👥 Getting Everyone On Board
To make your organization truly resilient, everyone needs to be on the same page. A strong risk culture helps ensure that all employees understand why resilience is important and what role they play in it. Without this cultural buy-in, your resilience strategies might not be fully embraced or effectively implemented.

🔄 Keeping Resilience Going
Operational resilience isn’t something you achieve once and then forget about; it’s an ongoing process. A strong risk culture fosters continuous learning and improvement, helping your organization stay adaptable and responsive to new risks as they arise. This culture is what sustains resilience over the long haul.

🎯 Wrapping It Up
So, if you’re wondering which comes first, start by focusing on building a strong risk culture. This will lay the groundwork for everything else and ensure that when you move on to enhancing your organization’s resilience, those efforts will be effective and long-lasting. With a solid risk culture in place, you can confidently work on making your organization resilient, knowing that your team is equipped and committed to managing risks effectively.