From compliance to capability.

Operational resilience has become a board-level concern, particularly in Financial Services—but too often, it’s treated as a compliance exercise rather than a strategic capability. In reality, resilience isn’t a checklist—it’s a mindset, a way of operating, and a cross-functional responsibility that must be embedded into how decisions are made, services are delivered, and systems respond under pressure. 

This workshop helps organisations reframe resilience as a core enabler of sustained performance and continuity. Moving beyond minimum regulatory expectations, it equips leadership teams with tools and frameworks to embed resilience thinking across the organisation—linking customer outcomes, mapping, thresholds, and strategic agility. 

Cranfield has developed a unique Operational Resilience Maturity Model that supports organisations in assessing their current state, identifying strategic gaps, and planning a practical, staged approach to building resilience. The model provides a clear framework for moving from reactive compliance to embedded, adaptive capability—aligned to both regulatory expectations and enterprise performance. 

Drawing on systems thinking and real-world operational failures, Operational Resilience in Practice enables organisations to diagnose gaps, align functions, and develop internal capability to withstand, adapt to, and recover from disruption—without compromising critical services or long-term impact. 

Who is it for

This programme is designed for organisations or business units that: 

  • Operate in regulated, service-critical, or high-dependency environments 
  • Need to comply with DORA, FCA/PRA, or similar resilience regulations 
  • Are seeking to embed resilience into decision-making and operational design 
  • Want to align continuity planning with strategic intent and service delivery 
  • Require improved coordination across risk, operations, IT, and business functions.

What you will learn

Participants will learn how to shift operational resilience from a static plan to a dynamic, embedded capability. Key learning areas include: 

  • Understanding the pillars of operational resilience and their interdependencies 
  • Identifying critical business services and potential impact pathways 
  • Mapping vulnerabilities, recovery timeframes, and response ownership 
  • Using the Cranfield Resilience Maturity Model to benchmark and guide development 
  • Creating a culture of resilience through engagement, testing, and feedback loops.

Skills you will develop

  • Assessing operational resilience using maturity frameworks and diagnostic tools 
  • Identifying and mapping critical business services and impact pathways 
  • Applying systems thinking to anticipate disruption and interdependencies 
  • Designing practical strategies to embed resilience into operating models 
  • Leading cross-functional alignment and decision-making during disruption 
  • Communicating risk, readiness, and response clearly to internal and external stakeholders.

Programme impact

For you:

  • Understand the principles of operational resilience and regulatory context 
  • Learn how to apply systems thinking to continuity and service design   
  • Build confidence in leading and coordinating under pressure   
  • Develop practical tools to diagnose, test, and embed resilience   
  • Create a clear roadmap to raise organisational resilience maturity. 

For your organisation:

  • Move beyond compliance to embed resilience as a strategic capability 
  • Strengthen the connection between resilience, continuity, and customer outcomes 
  • Build cross-functional clarity on roles, responsibilities, and response pathways 
  • Use Cranfield’s Resilience Maturity Model to assess and improve resilience posture 
  • Align resilience activities with regulatory expectations and strategic priorities 
  • Reduce operational fragility and increase leadership confidence in disruption readiness.
 

How to apply

Next steps

Our premium executive development programmes are a strategic investment, with competitive pricing thoughtfully determined by the programme's scope and design to meet your organisation's needs.

Our team of resilience experts will be happy to talk to you about your organisation's development needs. Leave your details below and we'll get back to you.

You can also email ORaCL@cranfield.ac.uk directly with any queries.