Reframing Resilience: How You Can Make Tech a Force For Equity

By Elise Balsillie, Head of Thryv Australia and New Zealand.

Resilience in business has often been equated with grit and endless endurance. Yet resilience built on exhaustion isn’t sustainable, it’s survival. True resilience in business comes from structure and support, where smart systems carry the weight so people can focus their energy on leadership, creativity and growth.

The gendered cost of resilience

In our industry, many leaders still carry extra weight – whether managing endless admin, juggling competing priorities or shouldering tasks that distract from their core strengths.

Burnout may be confused with capability, but it is actually about capacity. Digital tools offer a way to redistribute that load, freeing up time and energy to focus on strategy, creativity and leadership where it has the greatest impact.

When efficiency becomes empowerment

Too often, technology is pitched as ‘productivity at all costs’. That’s the wrong lens. The most transformative use of tech isn’t about doing more work, it’s about reclaiming agency. You may be involved in a suite of client projects, but some stall under endless revisions and unclear briefs. By centralising feedback, automating project timelines and tracking inclusivity in campaign data, you start building a culture where you can step out of admin quicksand and into the spotlight of creative leadership.

Resilience is not a solo act

Resilience has long been romanticised as a personal trait – grit, hustle and sacrifice. However, when women are told to “just be tougher,” it ignores the structural reality.

True resilience is collective and designed into the way we work.

Imagine resilience as an infrastructure project, not a personality test. Automation, shared dashboards and inclusive communication platforms create a safety net that holds teams steady and prevents individuals from absorbing all the shocks.

Digital moves that matter

Resilience is engineered through deliberate and human-centred digital choices:

• Liberate your labour: Hand over draining admin like follow-ups, reminders and invoicing, so energy flows into work only you can do.

• Measure what is invisible: Track who speaks in meetings, whose contributions are acted on, whose clients get priority. Technology can surface inequities that culture may ignore.

• Build inclusive workflows: Adapt tools for different learning styles, access needs and

  working rhythms. Resilience fails when systems only serve the loudest or fastest.

The culture shift that sustains

The tools alone won’t transform you – culture will.

Resilient businesses make space for experimentation, invite feedback on how tools are serving (or failing), and celebrate the small wins when tech creates breathing room.

One creative director told me the most radical change wasn’t saving hours but finally feeling she had the headspace and capacity to mentor the next generation.

That’s resilience with positive ripple effects.

Why this moment matters

Economic volatility, rising client expectations and constant disruption aren’t slowing down. What women leaders can do right now is decide how prepared we are to meet that turbulence. By embracing digital systems that lighten the load, reveal inequities and fuel adaptability, we are not only building stronger businesses, but we are also rewriting the rules of resilience. And when women redefine resilience, the whole industry shifts.