Lessons for an Accidental Business Continuity Manager

The same can be said of the business continuity community: Many disaster recovery and business continuity professionals find themselves “accidentally” in DR or BC!

The importance of business continuity management has rapidly increased since 9/11. Each new wave of natural, accidental or intentional disasters brings more organizations to the table to discuss their business continuity plans. According to a survey by the Security Services practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP and the CPM Group, during the past six years, the number of companies that have developed formal business continuity plans has nearly tripled, with more than 83 percent of those companies saying that they now have formal BC plans. Still, other recent studies are not quite as optimistic.

Just because organizations see the importance of creating a business continuity plan, it doesn’t mean they are using a trained business continuity professional (BCP). The same Deloitte survey found that a full 27 percent of companies had either no or less than one full-time equivalent employee dedicated to business continuity. This means the BCP has other duties besides business continuity, and likely did not plan on being a BCP. Instead, many are chosen from within their organizations because they hold a certain skill set. There are many BCPs who are “accidentally” in the profession, where the role is thrust upon them, rather than being part of one’s chosen career path. The result is a steep learning curve.

BCPs are responsible for their organizations’ BC strategies and tactical activities, identifying vulnerabilities related to the business continuity plan. They must have a general skill set that includes the ability to plan, organize, implement and monitor a BC program, and lead all business continuity efforts.

Although business continuity management initially grew out of IT disaster recovery planning in the 1980s, it is not just about recovering from an incident that affects data. It is also about failed supply chains, workplace violence, pandemic flu, fraud and reputation damage. It is about prevention and communication as well as response and recovery. A BCP needs to be prepared to actively anticipate a plethora of incidents that would negatively impact its organization.

That is a daunting task for someone who is accidentally in this profession. At the outset, one key to successful BC planning is to look at it as a project, breaking down the tasks necessary for success into smaller, more manageable bits. The strategy below will guide you through ten proven steps to successful business continuity project planning.

1. Understand the Context of Project Management
Project management is inherently problematic for a normal corporate structure, as it forces people to work outside the boundaries of traditional hierarchical structures in environments that rely on alternate methods of authority. A project is a temporary endeavor companies undertake to create a unique result. Projects tend to threaten the status quo, as they intrinsically mean change. Because of this, it is imperative to understand stakeholder expectations, how to get and maintain management support and resources, how to develop a project scope statement that will hold the test of time and how to define, plan, measure and control the project.

2. Understand the Context of Business Continuity Planning
A BCP should never create a plan in a vacuum. Before the BCP can create a plan, he must have a thorough understanding of probable risks and their impacts on the organization. The BCP must understand, from the business perspective, why he is developing the plan and how it will support the business drivers. It is up to the BCP to figure out the best way to achieve these goals. The development of the business continuity plan is a temporary endeavor and the plan document is the tangible result, thus making the endeavor a project. Only when the business continuity life-cycle is complete does the program itself become part of continuing operations with ongoing updating, training and testing.

3. Take Stock of Stakeholders’ Needs
Managing a project of any size means the BCP must learn to balance many, generally conflicting, needs of powerful stakeholders. Early on, the BCP needs to realistically assess who the stakeholders are and their underlying agendas. Typical stakeholders include: the BCP, team members, management (all the way to the top of the organization), project sponsor, key customers, vendors and governmental agencies. The BCP cannot attempt to be all things to all people. Instead, as the project manager, she needs to maintain a level of general satisfaction through mediation, negotiation and great communication.

4. Use Politics to Advance the Program
Every organization makes decisions through negotiation and deal-making. A successful BCP project manager will be able to leverage the political agendas of the organization to the advantage of the project. The project manager needs to be well versed in what those agendas are as well as in negotiation tactics to further the goals of the project. A BCP needs to readily tap into his own reputation, power and influence to ensure positive relationships with stakeholders, which in turn will help secure the resources necessary to successfully complete the project.

5. Use Flexible Leadership Styles
As the leader of the business continuity project, the BCP is the spearhead of the project, where the stakeholders turn for the majority of information regarding the project. A good project manager, however, acknowledges her own limitations and works through the strengths of others. Flexible leadership involves a realistic assessment of strengths and weaknesses from within the team, too. All team members do not warrant the same managerial style. The BCP should tailor her approach to the situation at hand and work directly, in a hands-on approach, to best facilitate the success of the project.

6. Build Motivated Teams
Most business continuity plans are team-centric. That is, the recovery after a critical incident is achieved by pre-determined teamwork. Often, managers “volunteer” people to be on teams, and those people may not be as enthusiastic about the project as the BCP. Fostering a cohesive team environment is paramount to the success of any project. The project manager is relegated to the task of doing whatever is necessary to build and maintain cohesion among the team participants. A BCP must be prepared to wear many hats in this role, including mediator, motivator, coach, teacher and cheerleader. There are no unimportant jobs on any project and there are no unimportant people on the project team.

7. Manage Business Continuity Plan Project Risks
A BCP must uncover risks for the proper development of a plan. Equally, he must also uncover risks for the proper management of a project. To manage project risks, the professional needs to know and fully understand what obstacles to success are certain to occur and the known risks that might occur (threats) that could cause disruptions to or failure of the project. These are not obstacles and risks to the company in general. They are project-specific. Project risks might include events such as needing to complete the cost/benefit analysis on time to get it into the next budget cycle (certain to occur) or a team member is up for promotion which will take them away from the team (might occur).

8. Understand What “Success” Means
A successful project is completed on or under budget, on schedule, meets specified performance criteria (the goals), meets the stakeholders’ expectations and keeps team morale in balance. In the case of business continuity, the stakeholder is the organization and the expectations are how the plan is put into action. Any project, including a business continuity project, is only as good as its use. A BCP must make every effort to ensure she implements the project within the constructs of the organization’s needs. The ultimate determination for success of a plan is how the organization uses and implements the plan during a rigorous test. The BCP must define success criteria up front, with stakeholder buy-in.

9. Stay Focused
Efficient time management starts with an effective project plan. Unfortunately, many project managers spend much of their time in unproductive ways, including unexpected phone calls, quick chats that take up hours of time, unfocused and undirected meetings. When a project manager takes each new problem or issue as it comes, it is easy to become unfocused and lose track of the bigger picture. A BCP cannot get bogged down in the details of the development process by constantly putting out fires. Status meetings are designed to deal with these types of issues. When possible, the project manager should delegate the details to someone else. This is why adhering to a well developed project schedule, based on specific work packages (tasks), is so important. If the project manager loses focus, the team members inevitably lose focus as well. The success of the project depends on continued focus by all members.

10. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Communication is paramount to the success of any project. Communicating effectively as a BCP includes ongoing communication to all stakeholders and team members throughout the duration of the project and beyond. Part of communicating effectively is listening well. A BCP must communicate with the team regarding their responsibilities, coordination, the status of the project and project goals as well as key decisions made that affect the project as a whole. A BCP must also communicate with the stakeholders to inform them of the status of the project and what project goals he has attained in an effort to effectively manage the stakeholders’ expectations. Creating a communication plan, along with a responsibility matrix, will remind the BCP project manager to whom, what and when communication must take place.

Summary
The skills necessary to become a successful BCP are transferable from other areas of project management. Although business continuity is a challenge, it does not need to be a mystery. Even if you are an accidental BCP, you can begin with the basics of project management, building upon those skills you already have, to make your organization’s business continuity plan a success.

About the Author
Irene Rozansky, Founder/CEO of R&A Crisis Management Services, an international consultant, author and speaker, teaches Project Management at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in Lake Forest, IL. Ms. Rozansky has been in the BC/DR field for more than 15 years serving clients in diverse industries in the US and abroad. You can reach her at [email protected] or (847)827-4267.