Michael Lissack
This distributed intelligence mechanism works by enabling what cognitive scientists call “common ground” in decision-making (Clark & Brennan, 2021)—shared understanding that allows individuals to antic- ipate how others will respond and make coordinated decisions without explicit communication. This dramatically increases adaptive capacity during disruptions.
5. Stakeholder Relationship Maintenance
Coherent organizations maintain stronger relationships with external stakeholders during disruptions. Even as Airbnb cut marketing spend by 54% during the pandemic, hosts and guests maintained engagement with the platform because they connected with the company’s broader purpose beyond transactional relationships. This relationship maintenance mechanism operates through trust continuity. Research by relationship scientist Nicole Gillespie (2023) demonstrates that purpose-driven organizations maintain stakeholder trust during disruptions at rates 3.2 times higher than transaction-focused organizations, creating resilience through sustained engagement despite operational challenges. Together, these causal mechanisms explain why coherent organiza- tions demonstrate superior resilience during disruptions. They maintain identity while changing structure, accelerate decisions through value alignment, reallocate resources without fragmentation, activate distrib- uted intelligence, and preserve stakeholder relationships—all critical ca- pabilities during turbulence. Research by McKinsey suggests that companies with strong organi- zational coherence deliver total returns to shareholders three times higher than their less coherent competitors over the long term. This performance advantage becomes particularly pronounced during market disruptions, when coherence enables faster, more coordinated adaptation.
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