Business Continuity Feature
For management to be in a position to instil a
resilient culture, it has often become the role of
the business continuity manager to educate that
management on the importance of resilience
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One business resilience director
stated: “All-too-often, the business
continuity function reports into risk, but
the latter reports into the CRO and
doesn’t necessarily place any importance
on business continuity. Until they do,
nothing will change. The ideal is to have
a Chief Resilience Officer in post, but
only a few organisations do.”
The BCI’s Good Practice Guidelines
state that senior management should
always be involved in the construction
of the business impact analysis (ie the
process of determining which activities
and processes are critical to ensure
organisational resilience and continuity
of operations during an incident). Our
2020 report on the ‘Future of Business
Continuity and Resilience’ reveals that
only 50% of organisations have
executive involvement in this process.
Had senior management been engaged
in the business impact analysis process
prior to COVID-19, clashes between
them and business continuity
professionals could have been avoided.
New breed
The significance of executive input into
business continuity processes and
procedures is plain to see, while the
importance of resilience and business
continuity must be drilled into all
members of staff. This ensures that
everyone is aware of their role in an
incident and allows them time away
from the day job to take part in training
exercises (with management also taking
part in such procedures). There’s clear
promotion of the importance of
resilience throughout.
For management to be in a position
to instil a resilient culture, it has often
become the role of the business
continuity manager to educate that
management on the importance of
resilience. This has resulted in a
discernible shift in the attributes
required of business continuity manager.
The ‘Future of Business Continuity
and Resilience’ document shows that the
days of the business continuity manager
working on plans with little
collaboration from the rest of the
company have now changed. The
modern business continuity manager
has to be a collaborator, agile in their
approach and very much a team player.
During interviews that underpin the
document’s content, many professionals
outline their belief that the business
continuity manager of 2021 has to be a
marketer – even a salesman – in order
to be heard by the Board and create a
Best-in-Class business continuity
programme within the organisation.
Back in 2011, the role was about
process orientation. In 2021, it’s now
focused on agility. From being risk
averse to being a problem solver. From
being authoritative in 2011 to being a
relationship manager in 2021. From
being entirely operational to more
strategic in focus. From being a director
to becoming a collaborator. Someone
who works with the executive team
rather than being isolated from it.
“The most effective business
continuity professionals need to be good
communicators,” stated one consultant.
“The role needs to connect all the
strands of resilience to establish and
maintain multiple benefits. Look at the
competency framework, particularly for
engaging with company decision-makers.
How can relevant competencies
be further developed to maximise the
softer skills to your benefit?”
There’s a feeling that the best business
continuity managers must employ an
element of persuasion and influence and
not merely be viewed as an ‘offshoot’ of
the facilities management function.
Embracing resilience
The term ‘resilience’ has become
somewhat overused during the
pandemic, but this is a force for good in
terms of organisational resilience. It’s no
longer something discussed solely
within the realms of business continuity,
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