Business continuity planning for REAL people

By Sean Doherty, BCM advisor, RBC Royal Bank IT department.

If you imagine business continuity planning as being about relocating to temporary office space, redirecting technology and listing tasks, then read on. Business continuity planning is about people. However, as BC managers, we sometimes expect our clients not to act like real people.

Consider that real people sometimes:

* Don’t react according to plan
* Don’t respond to planning requests
* Don’t plan for the worst
* Procrastinate.

People don’t react according to plan
Think back to your last major continuity crisis. Was there someone in authority who acted like they had never read the business continuity plan at all? Often, personalities in positions of authority are the ‘take charge’, decisive type. Gee, what a surprise! This doesn’t mean they haven’t read the plan, it just means they may look at the contents as ‘suggestions’ rather than ‘directions’ .You wouldn’t do this, would you? The good news is that you can harness some of the creativity of these individuals to improve your business continuity plan. Often, ‘can do’ characters will be your most enthusiastic participants during large scale simulations. So, park an observer on their shoulder during an exercise, and capture ideas for plan improvement. Be careful, you will lose their ‘buy in’ if your scenarios are not entirely plausible. Your assumptions will be challenged vigorously, so try and make them airtight.

As an example, try and recall the last time you obtained new computer software. It came with directions for installation and use of features - a User Manual. Now, be honest, did you read this manual in total? Or did you read just enough to install the software, get started using it, and ‘wing’ the rest? Similarly, most clients will use the business continuity plan as a reference, rather than a ‘to do’ list in an emergency.

People don’t respond to planning requests
As a planner do you sometimes feel your job is to coerce or harass your clients until the latest panic is under control? It seems it always has to be ‘down to the wire’ and involve imminent ‘executive action’, before even your simplest planning request can be complied with.

The perception is that business continuity activities are not production related. Inevitably, employee compensation is not geared to reward people for spending time on business continuity management unless that is a core competency. For these and other reasons, planning requests freefall to the bottom of your clients’ priority lists unless an audit or continuity emergency is in progress.

People don’t plan for the worst
When thing are going well, we do not like to plan and prepare for the worst. While you may have written your last will and testament, you may not have a plan for the details of your funeral. Sure, having a funeral plan may be very efficient, considering the inevitability of death, but avoiding creating one is normal human behaviour. Some things are best left to be dealt with, by capable managers, at time of disaster. If that is the case, why then, do we insist that our clients wrap their heads around every detail in advance of an event that may not occur under the guise of creating a good plan?

If the business continuity plan is looked upon as a handy reference rather than a cumbersome collection of every possible scenario and solution, it is more likely to be relied upon during a business continuity crisis. Your job, as a business continuity manager, is to strike a balance between data and information, ensuring that your plan is the ‘go to’ document in an emergency.

People procrastinate
You are a good BC manager. You usually think ahead and take prior action to mitigate any risk. You do not procrastinate. In turn, this is what you expect of your clients when it comes to business continuity management.

You may be a good planner, but it’s hard to do all the right things. To most of us, maintenance can be a boring, repetitive, and less than satisfying activity. Let’s take a closer look at some household maintenance items you may be responsible for:

Filters
Are your filters (water, furnace, AC, auto air & oil) changed on time?

Tires
Do you regularly check your tire pressure? You know that incorrect tire pressure can cause accidents, the inconvenience of a puncture, and increased fuel consumption.

Smoke alarms
Are the batteries fresh? Do you test each alarm every month?

No matter what the possible consequences, we seem to be willing to procrastinate on maintenance. It’s no different for your clients.

Unrealistic expectations of what is feasible makes business continuity planning stressful and difficult at best, and impossible, at worst. Setting out to understand the real people that you are dealing with and to work with and manage their strengths and limitations will make the whole planning process much more productive; and much less stressful for you!

Sean Doherty is a BCM Advisor for RBC Royal Bank IT department. He has worked in BCM for 13 years, including experience in disaster recovery planning. Sean is currently the Treasurer of Disaster Recovery Information Exchange (DRIE) Toronto. His email address is sean.doherty@rbc.com

•Date: 26th October 2007• Region: Canada/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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