Test, Test, TEST
In three previous posts, I considered why it’s important to be able to handle a crisis, what one might want to consider when forming a crisis planand managing risk. So, we’ve now looked at all the scenarios and got what we think amounts to a plan – what next?
The next key stage is to test the plan. By this, I mean we simulate a situation where (say) our work premises are inaccessible, staff have to go to either a Contingency Site (CS), work from home until instructed otherwise, or act as though they’re buying replacement furniture, equipment or other essential activities.
Testing is vital not only to see what works, but also what doesn’t.
We might have to ask certain “stakeholders” (buyers, suppliers, clients, lawyers, bankers, emergency services) to “play along” to see if our contingency communications or delivery channels work – and if it’s practical.
Remember, things don’t have to be perfect, they just have to work.
After the test, we get everyone involved together and find out what they felt went well, what needs improving, and what didn’t work at all (and why). By using “real” stakeholders, we can also obtain useful feedback on what works for them and what doesn’t. What we think will work from our side may not from theirs. Our business or reputation could suffer unnecessarily if we can’t address this.
Initially, we might want to carry out “mini-tests” on different components of the plan. This also makes for more control and minimises potential disruption to “Business as Usual”. Sooner or later though, we need to test the whole plan to make sure that all the “bits” work together. There’s little point in having a perfect (say) IT plan if they can’t interphase with internal and external customers.
Test once, test again and keep testing (at least once per year). What worked last time may not work this time because things have changed (location of suppliers, telephone numbers of vital contacts, new staff, roadworks, for example).
We need to accept that we’ll never get the plan 100% “right”, but if we can achieve 80% effectiveness, we’ve got more than a fighting chance – certainly more than 99% of our competition.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Customer Care, Leadership, Risk, Strategy, Teamwork
Managing Risk
There’s a saying, “Crises don’t come with manuals”. If they did, the world would be a better and safer place. Although there’s no manual for a crisis, we can easily create manuals for handling a crisis. They don’t have to be long (in fact, it’s better that they aren’t, so that people are more likely to read them). Even a single sheet of A4 setting out “Whom-to-speak-to-about-what” is a start.
Assuming that people have identified the possible “danger areas”, the next stage is to decide what we can do to eliminate, mitigate or manage them.
“Elimination”is what it sounds like; remove the risk altogether. This may mean putting physical distance or barriers up. It may mean locks on doors, waterproofing equipment, armed security personnel. We eliminate when we decide that the risk of a certain event happening is intolerable.
“Mitigation”accepts that things may well happen and looks to reduce their potential impact. We install fire extinguishers and fire blankets (in the hope that we never have to use them) to put out small fires before they go out of control. We have First Aid kits and trained First Aiders in case of workplace injuries that can either be treated on-the-spot or so that the victim can be stabilised pending the arrival of paramedics and ambulances.
“Management”means accepting that the risk is out there and that we try to reduce it happening. As an example, we wear “Hi-viz” jackets in poor visibility to increase the chances of being seen. They won’t stop people hitting us, but they reduce the chances of it happening because the motorist couldn’t see us. No one can legislate for inconsiderate drivers causing accidents, but we managethis by ensuring that, before someone is licensed to drive, they pass a stringent test to ensure that they can handle a car and know the rules of the road.
We may store emergency equipment or have a back-up site so we can continue working. We may store older records offsite to that these don’t get destroyed by fire on the premises.
Neither “Mitigation” nor “Management” completely eliminate the risk; they may reduce the likelihood or impact of something happening. We rely on the cooperation, alertness and consideration of others at times to be safe.
One vital aspect to remember is people. All the equipment in the world won’t save us if “key personnel” can’t be back up and running as soon as possible. One company realised that, as part of their contingency measures, two staff who took orders over the telephone had to be functioning again as soon as possible. They were, in this case, more important than the Managing Director!
Assuming we’ve identified the areas of risk to us, what can we do to eliminate, mitigate or manage? What equipment, processes and people need to be in place? Who are the "Go-to" personnel (and their backups) in particular situations?
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My websiteprovides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
Crisis Planning: What to Include
I recently wrote about the importance of “crisis management” (some call it “Business Continuity Planning” or BCP). Whatever you wish to call it, it’s important to have a framework that staff can understand easily and that allows the business to keep functioning in “Recovery Mode” until “Business as Usual” (BaU) standards and processes re restored. How long this takes depends on the type of crisis to hit, but no plan will mean your business takes longer to recover
Crises arise for a number of reasons including (but not limited to):
- A major supplier failing
- A major buyer failing
- Staff being unable to get to work
- Office premises being inaccessible for some reason (e.g. gas leak, fire, explosion)
- Inclement weather
- Flood
- Unfavourable publicity (e.g. due to employee injury, poor customer reviews)
Many of these aren’t in our control, but what is within our control is how we respond. A basic example is the problems that the UK railway network used to encounter every autumn with leaves falling on train tracks. The rotting leaves formed a slippery surface which could result in trains derailing or failing to slow down quickly enough. This resulted in delays for passengers who relied on trains to get to work.
This problem used to occur every year. The transport companies couldn’t stop leaves from falling, but they could develop plans to deal with them when they did.
When developing plans, some of the questions to ask are:
- What do we rely on to do business (e.g.: road/train/air/sea transport, electricity, computer systems, telephone, broadband internet, buyers, suppliers, stable raw material/supply prices, staff who take telephone orders)?
- How do staff get to work?
- What systems/equipment/machinery is crucial to our operations?
- Where do we draw our power/water supply from?
- What access routes (roads, railways, rivers) lead to our premises?
- Where is the nearest hospital, police station, fire station?
- Who are the most important “stakeholders” (e.g. staff, lawyer, banker, accountant, industry regulator)?
Depending on your business, you may need to ask other questions.
The next step is determining the “real” threats and what is needed to counter or at least mitigate them. You may find you have more than one plan per threat(s) as well!
This will be the subject of another post.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My websiteprovides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Customer Care, Leadership, Strategy, Teamwork
Handling Crises
I’ve always been interested to see how organisations handle crises. These are the true test of one’s ability to lead, prioritise, communicate, solve problems and keep customers and staff happy. Many businesses are great at working out how to handle “Business as Usual” (BaU), but when it comes to a crisis of any sort, communication breaks down, staff “freeze” at their posts and management can be overwhelmed by a welter of information about problems coming in from all sides.
The problem with crises is that they don’t come with manuals – or do they? We can’t really forecast what’s going to happen to us, although we can usually hazard a pretty accurate guess at what might stop our business running or our ability to run our business. Causes might include:
- A major supplier failing
- A major buyer failing
- Staff being unable to get to work
- Office premises being inaccessible for some reason (gas leak, fire, etc)
- Inclement weather
- Flood
Often, we can’t tell that one of these things will happen in the next 24 hours, but what we can do is understand how our business works, what the most critical services are, which staff supply them and what they need to be “up and running” as fast as possible.
The other distinction to make is between “Recovery Mode” and “BaU”. Recovery Mode is when the disaster has struck, and we’re running a “basic service” only. During this time, we’re assessing damage, what can be recovered and how quickly. Gradually, we rebuild capacity until things are “back to normal”.
During “Recovery Mode”, the essential thing is communication right from the moment we know there’s a problem. I’ve been in so many situations where customers or staff weren’t kept informed and as a result the organisation lost the goodwill and confidence of others. If our crisis management doesn’t include a communications plan, our task will be far harder. Think who needs to know what’s going on, e.g.:
- Customers
- Suppliers
- Bank
- Regulator
- Police/Fire Brigade/Ambulance
- Lawyers
- Accountant
- Local press
- Families of staff
Anyone connected to the business is a “stakeholder” who may have a right (if not a need) to know what’s going on. We need to tell them what’s happened, what we know so far, what we’re doing and when we expect things to be running normally again. At first, we won’t have much information, but that shouldn’t stop us from saying what little we do know (as long as we’re not breaking confidentiality rules).
Lack of information fuels rumours. Lack of a crisis plan fuels speculation that we’re not in control. Crisis plans can’t necessarily be too specific, but they can forecast the types of events that may cause trouble for the business. From there we can work out how to respond.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My websiteprovides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Leadership, Strategy, Teamwork
