Business As
Usual?
It's time to develop your own business continuity
plan
By Ira S. Wolfe
This article was published in Business2Business, October 2001
The events of the past few weeks are a clear reminder that emergencies
happen unannounced and rarely at a convenient time. The devastation from
this nightmare, which seems surreal and divorced from reality, is different
from many of the other crises and emergencies we have ever faced. Since
World War II we have lived through numerous conflicts, confrontations,
invasions, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and even a near-nuclear
meltdown. In these cases, the threats and warnings came and we responded.
The events passed and we recovered. In this case it will take years, maybe
even decades, to return to a state of normalcy.
And despite the devastation, so many systems did continue to work with
a minimum of disruptions. To our amazement, many businesses that were
nearly vaporized were beginning to recover by the next day. In less than
a week, the economic heart of our country, the New York Stock Exchange,
began to beat again. Can we attribute this quick path to recovery due
to resilience and resolve? Yes, but only partially.
Getting back to business simply does not just happen without planning.
Imagine needing to evacuate your business right now, leaving everything
as it is and unable to retrieve anything again. The events immediately
following an emergency or disaster of any kind are related to disaster
recovery and business continuance.
A natural hesitation by managers in preparing for emergencies and developing
business continuity plans is that they rarely have any immediate return
on investment. At the moment of impact, however, the return on investment
could be the difference between losing everything and keeping or regaining
every thing you had before the emergency. Almost two years ago, individuals
and companies across the United States and around the world were preparing
for every imaginable breakdown linked to Y2K. Nothing happened. Many individuals
and organizations believed their money and time investments in preparation
were wasted.
The disruptions linked to Y2K did happen but not as a result of Y2K.
Now thankful for the billions of dollars and man-hours invested in preparing
for Y2K, the lives and livelihoods of many people were saved. Despite
the thousands of lost lives and the billions of dollars of damaged property,
this damage would have been a mere speck of ash on the mounds of rubble
in what could have happened without recovery and continuity plans.
Before you begin to write your plan, it is important to ascertain the
types of threats to which your organization is vulnerable. A sound business
continuity plan or disaster recovery plan should then identify the probability
and risks of each potential disaster. How would each one impact your business
and what must you do to minimize the immediate and long term damage?
Having determined the impacts, it is now equally important to consider
the magnitude of the risks that could result in these impacts. Again,
this is a critical activity - it will determine which scenarios are most
likely to occur and which should attract most attention during the planning
process.
Having developed the business continuity plan, it is sensible to perform
an audit... not just initially, but at regular intervals. This helps ensure
that it remains current, and that it stands up to rigorous examination.
Equally important are periodic checks on 'business as usual' contingency
practices.
Having a plan and being able to implement it are two different stories.
In the event of an emergency, do you have individuals in your organization
that could actually lead a recovery and continue your business? With higher
turnover and layoffs, many organizations find themselves without the expertise
of the people who developed the plans at the critical times they may be
needed the most.
The responsiveness of Rudy Guiliani, the mayor of New York City, during
the days after the attack epitomized what I have identified as the Five
R's for Effective Crisis Management:
React quickly and effectively
Respond with confidence
Restore and maintain calm
Repair physical and psychological damage
Return to normalcy
The Five R's are desirable behaviors that don't always deliver desirable
outcomes without also having a strong foundation of skills and knowledge.
The combination of skills, knowledge, and behaviors collectively are called
competencies. Competencies go well beyond intent and effort and integrity.
Competencies have been also identified as the difference between highly
effective managers and supervisors compared to average performers. Twelve
competencies have been identified that are common to effective management,
regardless of the task or industry.
In respect to Mayor Guiliani's performance, at least 6 of these 12 competencies
clearly rise to the top of his talent list. I have identified these 6
competencies and included a brief description of each below.
Getting unbiased information
Especially during emergencies but basically in all communication, much
of the information we receive is second-hand. Yet the quality of the decisions
we make and actions we implement can be only as good as the information
we get from others.
Listening and organizing
The quality of information we receive serves as the basis for making
decisions and is directly related to our skill in listening to the facts
and sifting through the feelings we get from others. As employees were
evacuating Two World Trade Center, an announcement declared it was safe
to return to their offices. Some employees turned back, others ignored
the warning. In this case, listening and organizing was the difference
of life and death. Mayor Guiliani was bombarded with information, much
of it second-hand. Taking it all in and quickly filtering its quality
likely saved thousands of more lives and restored a degree of calm at
a time of chaos and fear.
Giving clear information
No single skill seems more important than our ability to influence the
thoughts and actions of others. This skill also requires the ability to
assess a situation and give information in a clear, concise, well-organized
message with a minimum of bias and with a maximum of trust. The Mayor
certainly gets another star for his performance in this area.
Training, Coaching and Delegating
A manager's own effectiveness is determined by the effectiveness of his
or her people and the quality of the team they he or she built. Regardless
of normalcy or crisis, one-man shows rarely survive.
Making Decisions and Weighing Risk
This really has to do with our ability to identify the limits, obstacles
and risk of a decision, to identify appropriate alternatives, and then
select the best option.
Thinking Clearly and Analytically
Refers to your ability to use logic, to recognize shaky premises,
to avoid faulty conclusions, to avoid generalizing from inadequate information,
and to approach decisions rationally and unemotionally.
In evaluating the key people on your emergency response and business
continuity teams, how would they measure up to Mayor Guiliani and the
other examples set by our rescue and recovery teams? How severely would
your business survival be impacted by a lack of any of these skills? (By
the way, these are not special skills but the same skills that differentiate
top managers from the average performers who are responsible for even
day-to-day operations under normal states.)
We don't always get second chances. Today is the day to set time aside
to develop a plan for disaster recovery, prepare contingencies for business
continuity, and evaluate the individuals you have selected to lead, manage,
and work your organization in both good times and bad.
Ira S. Wolfe is Founder of Success Performance Solutions, a training
and assessment center helping business to match, manage and motivate employees.
Success Performance Solutions would like to emphasize the necessity for
religious and racial/ethnic tolerance. Now is the time for everyone to
pull together and value both our differences and similarities to create
a workplace and community where all people feel safe. Ira can be scheduled
for a presentation on Now Is The Time for Tolerance at 717-656-4632 or
iwolfe@super-solutions.com.
Ira can also be heard on WALE AM 990 (www.nabcinc.com) every Friday
morning at 7:00 -8:00AM, hosting BreakThrough to Success.
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