Adapting From Crisis to Recovery

Insight: Staying Grounded While Responding To Change

Adaptive delivery matters now more than ever.

We’re not living through a single, defining crisis. We’re navigating multiple overlapping shocks - from social pressures and workforce disruptions to economic volatility and climate events. Any one of them could escalate.

This echoes what many leaders raised at IPAC: crises are no longer isolated, and recovery strategies must stretch across ministries, jurisdictions, and even sectors. 

In this environment, public sector leaders face a constant flow of information: from AI tools, social media, frontline data, and community feedback. The risk is that deadlines and pressures push us into firefighting mode - reacting to every signal, but sometimes losing sight of the real issues driving the crisis in the first place.

Adaptive delivery - an approach that blends fast response with focus on core issues - offers a way forward.

For government leaders, that means treating mandate letters, budget priorities, and Cabinet planning cycles not as static instructions, but as living frameworks that can adapt as conditions shift. That balance is what prevents fragile fixes. Instead, it positions recovery as a chance to build systems that are more resilient - so the next crisis isn’t just managed, it’s better prevented.

“Adaptive delivery helps us respond quickly while keeping sight of what really matters”
—Kathryn MacDonald, Senior Consultant, Opus Group

Insight In Practice: Recovery Needs A Different Playbook

Adaptive delivery shifts the focus from reacting in the moment to building recovery models that last.

Three ways leaders can apply it:

1. Anchor to the core issue
   Recovery starts by clarifying the drivers that truly matter - and using them as the compass for every decision.
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2. Integrate real-time data
   Treat feedback from communities, frontline staff, and partners as a continuous loop - not one-off input.
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3. Connect across systems and jurisdictions
   Improvements stick when they link across programs and ministries, not just within one silo.

When leaders do this, recovery stops being a fragile “return to normal” and becomes a launchpad for systemic improvement.

Case Study: Housing & Employment For Newcomers (HOME Project)

In Toronto, many asylum claimants are finding steady jobs yet still living in shelters - a clear sign of how one system’s success can be undermined by another’s gaps.

Through the HOME project, Opus Group and HTA 75 are linking housing navigation with employment pathways, treating them as a single delivery challenge. This adaptive approach reduces shelter reliance, builds landlord trust, and creates sustainable housing options for working newcomers - turning short-term fixes into lasting solutions.

Read the full case study here.

Try It With Your Team

Run a one-hour “crisis-to-recovery” session:

• Map vulnerabilities: What did the crisis reveal about weak spots?
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• Capture new signals: What feedback loops are still active?

Design for steady state: What changes will make recovery affordable and repeatable?

If you connected with us at IPAC - or want to explore adaptive delivery in your context - Book a one-hour Working Session

Question to Consider

What’s one lesson from your last crisis that, if embedded now, could strengthen system-wide recovery next year?

Quote of The Week

"The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better."
—Nassim Nicholas Taleb