Risk culture comprises the shared mindsets, practices and behaviors that determine how an organization understands and responds to risk. It is more than a series of theories—it is the collective instinct that determines whether an organization’s workforce will be hampered by extreme disruption or if it will rise to the challenge and find solutions outside of its usual operations. Organizations must test these two possibilities before a crisis hits.
To build organizational resilience, risk leaders need a methodology that combines managed disruption exercises with collaborative engagement to build or evolve a sustained risk culture. The goal is to cultivate an environment where teams develop shared capability, trust and adaptability.
This methodology avoids the typical top-down approach, where leadership tests employees with no feedback loop. Instead, it creates an environment more like a shared laboratory where everyone from executives to front-line staff participates, observes and learns together. The insights gained belong to the entire organization, not just leadership. The following exercises can help risk leaders implement this approach:
1. Examine Critical Dependencies Through Collaborative Testing
One exercise is to select an important process, such as a critical weekly report to the rest of the organization, and temporarily pause it for a few days without first notifying the entire staff. Before proceeding, it is important to gather a cross-functional team beforehand to explain that the exercise's purpose is to collectively identify organizational dependencies and resilience gaps now, before a real disruption occurs.
After pausing the chosen process, observe how different team members respond. Are they collaboratively problem-solving or are they waiting for directives? The results will reveal cultural patterns around initiative, adaptability and problem-solving that are specific to your organization.
Research supports this approach. A chapter from the 2021 Cambridge Handbook of Routine Dynamics found that organizations with rigid routines create "truces" that often miss early warning signs of trouble because no one questions the status quo. When teams collectively examine these dependencies, they develop the cultural muscle to identify and address vulnerabilities before crisis strikes.
NASA also uses a similar practice through their real-time, human-in-the-loop simulations that prepare teams for spacecraft anomalies. In these exercises, the simulation and graphics branch at Johnson Space Center employs virtual reality and AI-driven models as part of collaborative exercises simulating emergencies that can go from cabin depressurization to system malfunctions. These exercises reveal whether the teams default to protocol adherence or adapt dynamically.
2. Facilitate Transparent Crisis Simulations
Announce a scheduled crisis response exercise that has clear learning and development objectives for everyone. While the specific scenario and timing can remain undisclosed to maintain authenticity and to collect reliable data, it is important to communicate openly that this is a collaborative learning opportunity rather than an assessment to avoid any potential concerns or divisions. The goal is to learn about how people behave in the face of adversity and what it says about an organization’s risk culture. This way, when teams face a realistic, challenging situation, such as a major client complaint, critical system outage or compliance finding, an organization should be able to facilitate real-time, cross-departmental communication.
It is important to track information flow patterns: Where does communication excel? Where does it break down? Rather than focusing on individual performance, use this as an opportunity to collectively map communication networks and trust pathways throughout the organization.
A 2023 Ph.D. thesis at IULM University noted weak informal networks in organizations correlate with delayed crisis responses to misinformation attacks. The BP oil spill of 2010 demonstrates this risk, as internal concerns never reached decision-makers until disaster struck. As organizations run these exercises collaboratively, they are not simply testing infrastructure—they are strengthening the cultural fabric that enables effective communication during actual crises.
3. Develop Analog Resilience Through Tabletop Exercises
Consider facilitating a tabletop exercise where digital channels like email, specialized software and other digital tools are temporarily unavailable for a defined period. Present teams with a scenario such as a data breach or market disruption and provide traditional office supplies as resources. To ensure genuine learning rather than evaluation, everyone in the organization should act as both participant and observer at different points in the exercise. Such a rotation of roles can prevent hierarchical dynamics from interfering, allowing everyone to focus on honest discovery about organizational patterns. External facilitators can help document insights without introducing status-based biases into the process.
Next, observe how the teams adapt and collaborate. Do they demonstrate resourcefulness? How do they prioritize and, more importantly, how do they make decisions and how quickly do they do so? Document insights about your organization's cultural capacity for adaptation. Through this exercise, people experience the resilience component of risk culture in action.
In a 2020 Oxford study on artificial intelligence in the workplace, one of the key risks outlined was that dependency and over-reliance on technology can leave organizations vulnerable if critical systems fail. The Northeast blackout of 2003 provides a telling example. Organizations that maintained collaborative manual procedures continued operating, while those without such cultural practices experienced operational collapse.
These exercises not only identify technical dependencies, they also promote a culture that values adaptability, knowledge-sharing and collaborative problem-solving.
Recognizing and Amplifying Cultural Leadership
During these exercises, certain team members may demonstrate exceptional leadership traits like staying calm under pressure, facilitating effective collaboration or finding innovative solutions. While this is only one data point, the team may wish to recognize these contributions meaningfully through formal acknowledgment or other appropriate rewards. By creating structured opportunities for individuals to share their approaches with colleagues, the organization can attempt to promote similar behavior among other employees.
Recognition of positive behaviors aligns with cultural reinforcement practices documented in a 2016 Harvard Business School study. The study determined that the acknowledgement of exemplary performers not only boosts collective team morale but also helps propagate positive behaviors throughout the organization. The U.S. military employs a similar approach in after-action reviews where innovative problem-solving is identified and those responsible are engaged to train others.
Going Beyond Testing Systems
Beneath the surface of these exercises, organizations are doing more than just stress-testing systems or processes. Disrupting the status quo reveals the following qualities that constitute the bedrock of the organization:
Cultural DNA: Moments of unexpected pressure reveal what teams truly value. When faced with uncertainty, what do they default to? How do they share information? The exercises do not create these tendencies—they expose the essence of a risk culture.
Behavioral Norms: These exercises help establish new norms around information-sharing, initiative-taking and cross-functional cooperation during uncertainty.
Unspoken Assumptions: By temporarily disrupting comfortable patterns, organizations can uncover implicit assumptions about how things work, which can then be examined and refined.
Trust Networks: Each exercise strengthens interpersonal connections that form the foundation of organizational trust, which is a crucial cultural element during actual crises.
The cultural impact of managed disruption extends far beyond the exercises themselves. When risk culture is collaboratively examined and strengthened, it becomes a competitive advantage.
Initiating a Cultural Transformation
A managed disruption approach differs from conventional stress testing in that it is extremely practical and focuses on shared vulnerability and collective growth. By experiencing these managed disruptions together, teams develop mutual trust that will transcend hierarchical boundaries. Leaders learn about operational realities they are accountable for, but that they might otherwise miss. In turn, team members develop better understanding of strategic priorities. This reciprocal learning creates the foundation for a genuinely collaborative risk culture
After each exercise, an organization can gain precious insights. As critical dependencies emerge, organizations can collectively examine them and reveal cultural patterns that define a group’s adaptability, trust and communication networks, and collaborative problem-solving capabilities.
In an environment of geopolitical tension, technological disruption and market volatility, waiting for a crisis to test an organization’s risk culture is a significant vulnerability. By implementing these collaborative exercises now, organizations can develop the cultural foundation necessary for resilience when it matters most.