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“Those that acted “The more digitalised

swiftly and an organisation,
decisively were able the better it was able
to get back to adapt to
up and running radically changed

quicker” circumstances”

most business continuity plans had made • It all begins with the business
provision for a pandemic, but nothing on continuity plan. This must be a living
this scale. Specifically, who could have document, constantly improved upon,
predicted that the worldwide response Michael Davies, CEO of ContinuitySA and incorporated into the organisation’s
to the crisis would ultimately cause more and then follow a plan when the chips overall strategy and milieu.
disruption than the pandemic itself? are down is nerve-wracking, to say the • Practise, practise, practise. You
least. People who have participated don’t know if the plan works if
Judging from our clients’ experiences in regular tests and simulations are you haven’t tested it. More testing
across the continent, there are many innately better prepared and more is the only way to improve it and
lessons that we, as resilience empowered to keep their heads and get your people combat-ready.
professionals, have learnt from this act calmly in a changing context. • Create a holistic resilience culture.
emergency. The most obvious are: those As most CEOs know, it’s the people
that acted swiftly and decisively were That is why the military conduct so many that make an organisation. Plans and
able to get back up and running quicker, ‘exercises’ - to prepare their soldiers for processes will be background noise
and the more digitalised an organisation, the combat situation; and anticipate if teams don’t buy into them. Like all
the better it was able to adapt to the ‘unseen’ that can quickly change issues relating to culture, resilience
radically changed circumstances. the combat situation, and strategy. culture must come from the top and
be managed effectively to become
Certainly, allied lessons were the need Resilience comes from this combination more than a project but inherent
for robust ICT infrastructure and systems of a plan, the ability to adapt it on in the way you do business. If you
to support remote and home working, the fly and to execute at pace when get this right, then the organisation
and excellent cybersecurity. But the the risk materialises. The concept will naturally be resilient.
one that I really want to highlight, is also encompasses the ability to • Build operational resilience by
that those organisations with practised recover when a crisis hits. Returning rethinking your approach to office
business continuity plans managed to the military analogy: a reverse – or space. COVID-19 has driven home just
better than those that either had no even retreat – may be necessary to how reliant we are on being able to
plans in place or had plans, yet never ensure future victory and long-term access our premises. There’s consensus
rigorously tested and practised them. survivability, but does the organisation that the remote working experiment is
know how to regroup and recover? likely to herald the emergence of hybrid
This isn’t surprising. Business continuity working models that are themselves
plans focus on identified risks, but forGinG resilience in more resilient. A total move to remote
they also recognise that crises do not YoUr dna working is not sustainable, but many
unfold according to a ‘plan’, and the Here are my top thoughts and tips for of our clients are planning to build
unexpected usually occurs. Good forging resilience in an organisation, in resilience through, for example,
business continuity planning is to ensure it, you and your teams relocating one third of their staff to
therefore designed to be adaptable. become more resilient, better able our campus, one third to remain on
to respond to, and recover quicker site, and one third working remotely.
As anyone who has lived through a crisis from any changing circumstances:
knows, having a plan, even if you are There can be no doubt that more lessons
adjusting it all the time, is half the battle. will emerge over the coming months, but
But the other half is encapsulated in the “crises do not unfold one thing is clear: the ability to adapt to
word ‘practised’. A crisis is inevitably a according to a plan“ the unexpected or improbable will itself
time of high pressure. Trying to adapt become a critical business capability.

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