Business Resilience: Avoiding Weak Points
June 03, 2026

Business Resilience: Avoiding Weak Points

 

One Monday morning, my technician showed up with a broken leg. His wife dropped him off, and he had a full cast on. Pete explained that he had been in an accident the day before, totaled his car, and would need the cast for several weeks. I had only a few minutes to change the schedule and figure out what Pete could handle.

I asked Pete whether he had a way to get to work for the next few weeks. He said no, he needed another car and couldn’t drive with the cast. I told him he could work in the shop if the shop technician went into the field. Then I asked whether he knew how to use the company’s remote customer service system. Pete admitted that he had skipped that training even though he had been paid to take it.

 

What should a business owner do?

Anyone who has run a business or managed people may understand this problem. Pete could not perform his usual duties because he was injured and had no transportation. A temporary reassignment seemed possible, but he had not completed the training required to make that option work.

The day’s schedule was already full, and every other job was covered. If Pete had completed the training earlier, staff could have been reassigned with little trouble and without affecting customers.

 

A quick plan

I laid out Pete’s choices. First, he needed to complete the remote support training and the front office training before lunch. After that, he would shadow Mark at the tech bench. If Mark believed Pete could handle remote support and nightly service scheduling, then Pete could do that job for a few weeks. During that time, he would lose his car allowance. Mark agreed to work in the field if Pete could handle the bench work.

 

Turning a problem into an opportunity

Pete stepped up and finished the training. Mark said Pete would do fine, and that assessment proved correct. Additional field help and juggling a few tasks were needed, but customers were not affected. The last-minute changes worked. Then the scheduler called and said she was sick. She worked from home, but her voice was gone, and she could not answer the phones. Luckily, a backup plan was already in place.

The next day, the phones were covered for the first hour until Pete arrived. I told him Sheila was out sick and that calls would be routed to the tech bench for him to answer. Pete said that would be easy because he had already taken a few calls while Sheila was busy. He also asked to handle bill processing so he could take customer payments.

I asked how he knew how to do that, Pete said that after he finished the required training, he used slow times to complete training for other jobs too.

Pete not only protected his job, but also showed how valuable cross-training can be.

 

Ways to build resilience

Many small business owners have a common concern. They think resilience costs too much money and time. But in many cases, it does not take much time or money. The payoff can be huge if it helps a business retain customers rather than lose them to competitors.

The Pete story illustrates this idea, and the following two real examples may help business owners think about their own operations in a new way.

 

The printer shop

A local printer ran three shifts, five days a week, and was often two days behind on jobs. Business was strong, so the owner bought another shop 30 minutes away. The second shop was also busy, but it used different machines and served somewhat different customers. While helping with the set-up of the new shop’s computer systems, I noticed differences in equipment, workloads and staffing .

I suggested that Bob, the owner, run some regular jobs at the other shop and train workers to use the machines there. Bob said that it would cost too much.

Two weeks later, Bob called in a panic. One of his printers had stopped working, and he asked for someone to come see whether the problem was with the computer.

Help arrived quickly, and work began with the printer company to diagnose the issue. It turned out the problem was not the computer. The printer’s control board had failed. A replacement was coming, but there was nothing else that could be done that day. Bob was worried because he might miss an important deadline and lose thousands of dollars. It was suggested that the job be sent to the other shop. He said that the shop did not have the same printer and would need setup work, but he was willing to try.

It took about three hours to set up the printer at the other shop so it could produce acceptable work. Bob had two employees stay late, and they met the deadline. A few weeks later, Bob asked for help preparing both shops so more jobs could be run at either location. It did not take long to convert the key print settings. After that, Bob began cross-training workers on the equipment at both shops.

About three months later, Bob said he had cut his third shift at the main shop down to three days a week. Because workers could move between the two locations, he also had more time for machine maintenance.

 

When customers call

Ken owned a business where his wife came to the office to answer the phones. Adding more phone lines was expensive, and when calls came in at the same time, customers often would not wait. Ken believed he was losing business. Because of the equipment in the back shop, those workers could not help answer calls. While working on their systems, the problem became clear. Three lines rang at once, but his wife could only handle one call at a time. She kept putting people on hold, and some callers hung up.

I told Ken that his phone system seemed very busy and hard to manage. He said that customers often complained they had called several times, been placed on hold, and then given up. He also said his wife was tired of having to be there to answer the phones.

I suggested switching to a VoIP phone system, which sends calls over the internet. With that setup, calls could ring in several places at once, move to another phone if no one answered, and even ring on cell phones. His wife could answer from home when needed, and the system could route calls for new jobs, customer service, billing, and other needs. It would also include strong voicemail features.

Ken liked the idea, especially after seeing how much money it could save and how many customers might be kept by answering calls faster.

Three weeks later, the new system was up and running. Within days, Ken said he could see the difference, and customers seemed happier. About three months later, he said his profits were rising, and the business appeared to be up by about 13%.

The new phone system also kept working when the receptionist was at lunch. If one person was busy on the main line, other lines still rang so someone else could answer quickly. Ken’s change made jobs more stable for his staff, helped the business respond faster to customers, and improved profits.

 

These three stories cover people, equipment, and process dependencies. They offer adaptable solutions that are easy to implement and can help ensure your business's weak points are addressed.

 

About the Author

James Knox is a resiliency expert who enjoys solving real-world business problems. He likes outdoor activities such as rock crawling, fishing, and hunting. He has also served in local, city, and state government. His work has taught him how to prepare for challenges and support a self-sufficient family life.

 

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