Vienna: A guide to business resilience for those considering executive education in organizational innovation

Resiliency in business refers to the ability of an organization to absorb stress, recover from setbacks, and adapt to be able to thrive in altered environments. The COVID-19 pandemic has shed a light on the fragility some businesses face, especially when dealing with supply chains and other important systems. Business professionals need to stay up to date with the best options for keeping afloat in a dynamic and unpredictable world.

At Webster Vienna Private University, our executive education programs can help these experienced professionals continue to grow in their careers with tools to help them transform under stressful and uncertain situations. Busy professionals can participate in our Executive Education program in Individual Creativity and Organizational Innovation to stay one step ahead of the game in order to build resilience. Learn about program insights from program director Antonija Pacek, and advice she has for anyone in a management position looking to improve their skills.

Learning to Adapt During Trying Times in Our Executive Education in Individual Creativity and Organizational Innovation Program

When we spoke with Antonija, we wanted to get to know how she became director of this program at WVPU. “In the corporate world, my current role is the Head of Creativity and Innovation Practice at Global Success Advisors in Vienna. Additionally, I have been lecturing psychology for decades at various universities and in corporations, and as of recently, at Duke Corporate Education and Webster Executive Education programs,” she told us. “IMAGINO® is an assessment tool that I co-created for measuring individual creativity and corporate innovation culture in one go,” she added.

When asked about the importance of business resiliency, Antonija answered “Besides current numerous adverse developments (such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine), companies still need to grow and outperform competition to survive the future. Creativity, problem-solving, and innovation are the key to business survival, outperformance and growth.”

“Psychologists define resilience as the ability to bounce back from challenges by adapting to change,” she went on to tell us. In the Executive Education in Individual Creativity and Organizational Innovation for Business Resilience program at WVPU, a key benefit that executives and managers take away is the ability to understand the big picture about innovation strategy and how it applies to their unique situations.

Originality Fosters Resilience in Unexpected Ways

We asked Antonija to enlighten us on the connection between creativity and business resilience. “It is often overlooked that creativity is a way to cultivate resilience, so it is actually also fantastic for our mental health to boost our creativity. When we are creative, we are resourceful, and we can solve problems in new and original ways,” she said.

“Furthermore, better innovation requires a scientific identification of who within an organization are the most creative and innovative individuals, so they could champion creativity in their corporation. A proprietary assessment IMAGINO® is the only tool on the market globally that adequately assesses individual creativity and organizational innovation culture in one go.”

A unique aspect of this program is the ability to explore the level of creativity present in specific situations. “IMAGINO® underpins an organization’s potential and ability to focus on further developing and stimulating key creative and innovative drivers,” Antonija explained. “These drivers or indicators identify individual and corporate gaps by benchmarking vs. a global gold standard, pinpointing how and where to close the gaps, thus, the entire workshop session is tailored to close any gaps that the IMAGINO® assessment results discover. The goal is to boost individual creativity and corporate innovation,” she said.

Dealing with the Fight or Flight Mode in Stressful Situations

Antonija also points out another important aspect of the program which emphasizes participants’ reactions to stress and improves their coping methods to help them come out stronger. “As we have been experiencing a tremendous level of disruption, not seen in generations, business resilience is more difficult to reach, yet it is more important than ever. Do we end up in freezing, fight/flight or panic mode, or do we manage to thrive, innovate, connect with others, and have our open mind to resolve business problems as they arrive? During adverse situations, emotional strains are tension, fear, confusion, disorientation, where our limitations become apparent,” she noted.

When asked how participants in the creative business program will be able to use their own experiences as a tool for a brighter future in business, Antonija responded, saying “They need to learn to deal with flight or fight mode during stressful times in order to be able to still thrive, be creative and constructive during business challenges and adversities around us. The participants will share their experiences and best practices from their organizations in the workshop, and will learn how to be more creative through different techniques (introduced in the program), find their most creative places where they mostly produce their best ideas, and how to change nutrition in order to boost creativity.”

Antonija went on to highlight a program offering that facilitates this, saying that “Innovation is creativity in action, and the best innovation strategies, the nine important stages of the innovation process, will be introduced.” Whether participants know their developmental areas in business resilience or need support in identifying them, every participant of the program will walk away with an added skill set on how to boost strengths and improve their gaps to have a brighter future in business.

Interested in pursuing an Executive Education in Austria?

Contact Webster Vienna Private University for more information!