Among the many unwitting assumptions that occur when developing Business Continuity plans is the assignment of roles to specific individuals. A smart BCM planner will at least buttress that assignment with a backup person – just in case. But is that really enough?
In many cases is should be. But there are many others in which roles assigned to individuals (even with a backup) may prove wholly inadequate.
The most obvious is in a natural disaster scenario. What if the individuals cannot be contacted or the roads are closed? Those may cause a temporary problem. On the other hand, consider that the individuals may have other priorities – like protecting their family, or their home. Those priorities may not mean they can’t respond to their BCM obligations – but they may be unwilling. If you’ve assigned tasks to an individual who doesn’t show up, you’ll have to scramble to reassign the task (perhaps to someone unfamiliar with the role and responsibilities). And even in a non-disaster situation, a named individual may be on holiday or away on business. They can’t help if they’re not there.
What can you do to avoid such a dilemma? Assign tasks to Teams (of at least 2 members, and preferably more). When their Plan is activated, allow the Team Members to allocate tasks as they see fit (based on who is available and who among them has the best skill set or experience). Even if some of the Team members are unavailable there should be sufficient availability to pick up the slack – and the added benefit that all the Team Members can be cross-trained (through exercises) to a minimum level of competency for each task.
A second, often overlooked personnel assumption involves alternate site planning. Whether planning for a DR site or an alternate Business function work area, assuming that all participants in that response strategy will be willing and able to travel to the alternate site is risky – unless you ask.
Team members can have many legitimate reasons not to travel (if the destination is outside normal commuting distance or requires overnight stays): single parents or caretakers for someone elderly or with special needs, those with certain health issues, and the same family and home safety issues that arise during natural disasters. What will you do if the needed Team of 8 has only 3 members available to travel?
How can you avoid the problem? Ask questions. Perform a Risk Assessment on critical Teams. Once you know the possible pitfalls you can add Team members as needed.
Don’t assume Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Responders will be available when needed. And don’t assign critical tasks to individuals (who may not show up). Anticipate those risks – just as you would any other – by performing a Team Risk Assessment and adding (and training) additional Team Members to assure adequate staffing during a disruption or disaster.
