Human factors in business continuity
Introduction and overview of human factors “If you can keep your head when all about are losing their’s…” This first line of Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘IF’ perhaps encapsulates a major aspect of the human factors in business continuity. Obviously in a critical incident situation it is vital to help people stay calm and be able to think clearly. However, in our experience of speaking to business continuity teams, there is an unspoken assumption that people will know how to keep their head, if there is a well constructed business continuity plan. But this is not necessarily the case, leading to the question: ‘How do you know who will keep their head’? An understanding of trauma physiology is vital for business continuity teams because it is this very understanding that will enable people to keep their heads and recognise when others are not doing so. We passionately trust people’s innate human resilience and believe that any organisation can create the right conditions to connect people with their own resilience and thus promote a supportive recovery environment. Appropriately much business continuity planning concerns data recovery, IT systems, alternative office space, etc; however, the human factors may often be missing from the business continuity strategy. When we deliver training explaining the brain physiology, there is often an ‘ah-ha’ moment where people understand something critical to their business continuity plans: for example, why a simple action such as turning on a tape recorder during an assault is forgotten; or why people may revert to their mother tongue language when highly stressed. With this understanding an organisation is then able to change procedures because they know that the brain doesn’t learn new behaviour during traumatic stress. ‘A resilient ecosystem can withstand shocks and rebuild itself when necessary. Resilience in social systems has the added capacity of humans to anticipate and plan for the future’ [i] The strategy we recommend is designed to build on learning from incidents. The four phases are:
* Have we ever had a critical incident? * What did we learn from that? * What was the fall-out from it and how did it affect our staff? * Do we identify anyone with any particular strengths/experience in this area who might be interested in driving the human factors business continuity? * How do we assess the resilience of our current crisis teams? * Are we dependant on outside agencies? * Do we have any recognised in-house systems in place which we could dovetail with to provide support for people? * Are they trained adequately? * Do our managers have adequate information and training in the human factors aspects of business continuity? * How do we assess the resilience of our crisis teams? Current theory and research In particular, the organisation and the relationships within it, can be a positive factor in recovery; if there is an understanding of how to harness this and provide appropriate structures. As stated by Hutt 1984 and Levy 1983 ‘Social support is especially important in helping individuals cope with psychological reactions after critical and traumatic events’ [ii]. With some forethought it is possible to ‘improve the quality of the recovery environment’ [iii] which proved in a five year study by Avery /King 2003, to be of considerable benefit to organisations dealing with traumatic incidents. This research also established that first-stage response by in-house trained volunteers was welcomed by staff and that professional help was more useful at a later stage for people who are not recovering over time. With this in mind, some organisations that deal with traumatic situations regularly have adopted an in-house volunteer training programme, such as Staff Supporters or Trauma Support Volunteers. This enables them to respond immediately and provide normalisation within the first 72 hours as suggested by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines. Normal stages of trauma follow this pattern over a period of time: * Shock / terror / fear / denial / disbelief * Anger / guilt / analysis / despair and fragmentation * Sense of moving forward / setbacks / making sense / analysis * Integration / making meaning / acknowledging results. Acquainting both line managers and senior managers with these stages and time lines enables them to provide appropriate support to individuals and the organisation as a whole. Traumatic anger, which is a normal stage of recovery, can become directed at the organisation when support is not in place, as was recognised by London Underground managers when staff were recovering from the 2005 terrorist attacks. “I was aware that if we did not support people in a correct and sensitive manner, that the anger that naturally occurs when an incident of this type is experienced, would become directed at us as managers and the organisation as a whole.” Lack of this understanding can erode confidence in both employees and stakeholders. Research has shown that people who are more active during situations such as critical incidents are likely to recover more quickly from post traumatic stress [iv]. Taking some sort of action to help ourselves or others, is a natural way of protecting ourselves against the damage of shock and trauma This can emerge as solidarity and social cohesion, coming to the fore during critical incidents, as observed during and following the 7th July London Bombings. This need to help is called ‘social capital’ by the World Bank and underlying it is an innate wisdom which is at the heart of our humanity. The well worn phrase ‘people are our most important asset’ is never more pertinent than when a critical incident occurs; people are the history and knowledge holders, without whom all the best laid plans cannot happen. In the next article, we will explore the proactive phase in more detail sharing some case studies and experience. Authors: As a psychotherapist and occupational therapist, Siobhán McGee and Emerald-jane Turner, share over 30 years experience working with people and have brought their knowledge of the physiological understanding of trauma into many business sectors and organisational settings including working with financial institutions, fire services personnel and providing support and guidance following 7th July bombings. Siobhán and Emerald-jane work for Human Resilience Ltd. The focus of Human Resilience is to help organisations understand the processes of traumatic stress and create a number of in-house strategies for providing support and emotional first aid to their staff in order to ensure a supportive recovery environment and therefore reduce the need for longer term support such as counselling. Footnotes [i] Source: Wikpedia Resilience (Ecology) [ii] Page 215, Avery, Anna and King,Stephen, The Linconshire Joint Services Initiative: an early intervention protocol for emergency services staff ‘Reconstructing Early Intervention in Trauma’ Ed- Orner and Schnyder Oxford Uni Press 2003. [iii] Page 217, Avery, Anna and King,Stephen, The Linconshire Joint Services Initiative: an early intervention protocol for emergency services staff ‘Reconstructing Early Intervention in Trauma’ Ed- Orner and Schnyder Oxford University Press 2003. [iv] Levine, Peter & Frederick, Ann ‘Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma’ North Atlantic Books, 1997
•Date: 1st February 2008• Region:UK/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general |
