For me, Business Continuity & Resilience is simple, I see it as a key element in performance management/delivery.
I use our BC methodology to plan and race multi-day, self-sustaining races in deserts, where competing and completing are all about continuing to deliver performance, no matter what happens. I have plan B's and C's and know how to respond when things go sideways.
Human beings don't find BC easy; we are wired for certainty and don't like dealing with negative outcomes. Devoting time to something that may never happen can feel like a poor ROI for business leaders who are generally time-poor. I know this, I am one.
Dara O'Brien once described Business Continuity as "ex-Army guys scaring the sh*t out of corporate types...
Have you thought about an attack of killer bees???
What would killer bees want with Woolworths?
Pick n'Mix!!.....
Jees your right!!!"
I enjoy helping businesses find the positives and the commercial advantages of the BC&R Process - this is critical to their engagement in it.
That usually starts by framing Continuity & Resilience in a way they won't have come across before. I like to use these 2 questions to get them thinking of it as an organisational capability and not a document.
- If a significant competitor had a major disruptive event, would you be able to capitalise on it without disrupting your organisation, losing your mission and purpose?
- If you had a major outage, what would your competitors do to take maximum advantage of your disruption?
BC&R is the ability to cope with both negative and positive disruptions, and the mind-shift from disaster recovery to business performance, and in many cases, an enhanced customer or supplier proposition, value-based competitive advantage, and increased business value, is a real light-bulb moment. Taking a fee for writing a document that’s going to gather dust doesn’t feel anywhere near as rewarding, which is why we don’t do it.
To find out more about our approach to Business Continuity and Resilience, click here.
