Systems that are optimised for efficiency often remove duplication wherever they can. In calm conditions, that works well. Under stress, it can expose how little margin remains.
Redundancy is simply having more than one way to carry out something important. It might be a spare key, a second water tank, or more than one person who knows how to open the hall. When systems run too lean, they function smoothly until something breaks. Then there is no capacity left to absorb the disruption.
In resilience thinking, redundancy is one of the design features that allows systems to withstand shocks. Deliberate overlap provides options. It spreads risk across multiple pathways rather than concentrating it in a single point of failure. Mapping dependencies can reveal where a system is vulnerable: what relies on one person, one funding stream, one communication channel or one critical asset?
Building in backup is not about adding excess everywhere. It is about understanding which functions are essential and ensuring they are not exposed to collapse if one element fails. That can feel inefficient, particularly when resources are tight. Yet systems without margin often discover their limits only when they are already stretched.
Redundancy also creates space to experiment. When there is more than one pathway, organisations can test new approaches without jeopardising the whole.
Something to chew on:
Where in your system would a small amount of built-in redundancy reduce the risk of a larger failure?
Resilience Bites offers weekly insights from the Australian Resilience Centre, drawn from decades of work alongside communities across Australia and internationally. Each Bite explores an aspect of resilience and closes with a reflective question to chew on.
Across the series we'll explore themes that shape resilience in practice, including place, patterns, networks, leadership, learning, feedbacks, thresholds and the deeper work of change.
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