Signpost 07

In a nutshell:

Readiness and preparedness are personal attitudes that vary depending on individual perceptions and circumstances. While readiness involves the ability to take immediate action, preparedness focuses on the capacity to handle potential consequences. The subjective nature of these attitudes, even in simple tasks like walking, illustrates the challenge of setting benchmarks for organisations that engage in more complex activities.

Key Chapter: 8

• 7.1 As organisations grow, space needs not only to be bigger to accommodate extra people, but also the space needs to be different to help organisations overcome the challenges and capitalise on the opportunities that may come as they go through different growth and maturity stages. p.27

• 7.2 Readiness and preparedness are personal attitudes towards an event. But whereas readiness is about feeling capable of taking immediate action, preparedness is the degree to which one feels able to deal with the consequence of an event, when or if it ever happens. p.28

• 7.3 The subjectivity embedded in what we need to satisfy our personal setpoint to make us feel either prepared or ready varies greatly in simple activities such as walking. This highlights the complexities of establishing setpoints (benchmarks) for organisations with intrinsically more complex activities. p.29