In the previous two articles, we have seen the various options and approaches through which an organization can achieve the following:
PAS 200:2011 - Part 3 of 5 Planning and Preparing for Crisis Response and Recovery
This standard provides a detailed description of all disaster recovery vendor requirements. This standard was introduced in 2008 specifically to address the IT disaster recovery services provided by third party businesses. It can also be applied to in-house solutions.
- identify potential risks in the organization’s business ecosystem through horizon scanning
- assess its operational pain points through a thorough vulnerability assessment
- understand better the circumstances that influence the outcome of operations through situational awareness
- generate a comprehensive enterprise wide CRIP report that aids in precise decisions
However, an organization’s preparedness for, response to, and recovery from a crisis requires additional tasks to be carried out such as
- crisis management plan invocation¹
- post crisis assessment
- collecting key lessons and
- takeaways for future crisis responses
The collective time frames for these activities span the entire duration of a crisis.
Developing a crisis management plan begins with deciding on its size, scope and level of detail. As we saw in earlier articles, incident management involves chalking out structured and elaborately planned responses to deal with incidents that are relatively more predictable in nature with definable attributes.
A crisis on the other hand, is subject to many more variable factors that make its outcome far more uncertain. This is why good crisis management plans leave a lot of room for improvisation and spur of the moment decisions.
¹act of declaring that an organization’s response plans and/or capabilities (whether crisis management, incident management, business continuity management, emergency management or other, or a combination of any of these) are to be put into effect
Essential Features
Although crisis management plans don’t have a generic template, some essential features have been listed below.
- The conditions for calling upon a crisis management plan are clearly defined.
- The success of the plan depends largely on the ability to get the right people together with the necessary skills to execute the plan efficiently.
- Access to systems and other important information such as contacts, login credentials, entry permits and so on must be kept readily available. Delays during an emergency can lead to severe damage and irreparable loss.
- Roles and responsibilities including tasks for support staff and auxiliary systems must be clearly defined.
- Information management related activities must be clearly defined. This includes coordinating the generation of department wise situation awareness reports and enterprise wide CRIP reports.
- Integrating the tasks and activities of the plan, as and when needed, with
- tasks and activities of the Business Continuity Management (BCM) plan
- the response activities of company staff, stakeholders, external agencies and emergency services
- Establishing a rhythm for the execution of the crisis plan. This involves synchronizing activities such as making decisions, identifying things to do, establishing reporting timeframes and so on with the speed at which the crisis is evolving.
Logistics
The crisis response needs to be supplemented with staffing and resource requirements throughout the duration of the crisis. Executing a crisis management plan can be stressful with minimal margins for error under high pressure situations. The crisis management team must ensure that the staff is put on duty on a rotational basis giving them adequate time to rest and recoup.
Activities
Managing a crisis is a non linear activity that involves simultaneously executing and monitoring the progress of various tasks in order to effectively resolve the situation. Owing to the erratic nature of crisis situations, rigid plans and inflexible strategies can prove counterproductive to the objective of safekeeping an organization’s interests. Some broadly defined, generic activities have been listed below.
Managing a crisis is a non linear activity that involves simultaneously executing and monitoring the progress of various tasks in order to effectively resolve the situation. Owing to the erratic nature of crisis situations, rigid plans and inflexible strategies can prove counterproductive to the objective of safekeeping an organization’s interests. Some broadly defined, generic activities have been listed below.
- Situational awareness and CRIP provide a foundational framework for crisis management.
- The plan’s main enterprise wide goal should be clearly defined and constantly monitored. This usually includes –
- Safeguarding the company’s reputation
- Upholding brand values
- Employee welfare
- Meeting customer demands
- Addressing stakeholder concerns
- Internal and external communication related information should be efficiently managed. This includes:
- Deciding on the kind of information to be shared with individuals in key positions, departments, staff, stakeholders, customers, suppliers and regulators.
- Deciding on the manner in which information is shared (mode of communication, frequency and so on)
- Establishing channels for receiving valuable inputs from employees, departments, stakeholders, customers, suppliers and regulators
- Addressing stakeholder concerns
- Auxiliary objectives for business units within the organization should also be taken into consideration.
- Issues are prioritized
- Deadlines are established
- Resources are allocated
Leadership
Effective leaders possess qualities that are a combination of personal, interpersonal and task oriented skills that drive the organization towards positive change despite trying circumstances.
The leadership team plays a vital role during a crisis. A major part of keeping the impact on business to a minimum depends on the upper management’s ability to prevent the situation from becoming volatile.
Leaders often have to juggle critical activities simultaneously such as
- making tough decisions
- delegating responsibilities
- reassuring stakeholders
- listening to complaints coming in from various quarters
- empathizing with personnel
- boosting employee morale
Effective leaders should look to take decisions that “quarantine” the crisis and prevent it from spreading further to other departments and units within the organization that haven’t yet been impacted. Stakeholder interests also need to be guarded by visibly taking control of the situation through incisive measures that are surgically executed.
Deciding on the right course of action while responding to a crisis is a challenging task due to many restricting factors:
- Too little or no information. Available information might be unreliable
- No ideal response. Management will have to choose a response option that is least harmful
- Conflict of interests between individuals, teams, departments and business units and objectives
- Delay in completion of tasks due to stress, high pressure and insufficient resources
Human Dimensions
The impact on individuals and groups of people during a crisis can be distressing. The overall tension and unrest within an organization can get out of hand if their needs, safety concerns, welfare and interests are not adequately addressed. The leadership team can consider proactively providing relief measures and compensatory benefits to offset some of the losses and damage incurred.
Recovery
Recovery measures should ideally begin with a requirements assessment during the crisis response phase. Depending on how the crisis response plan pans out, recovery teams can take stock of the kind of ad hoc, short term and long term measures they may need to implement.
Recovery measures should ideally begin with a requirements assessment during the crisis response phase. Depending on how the crisis response plan pans out, recovery teams can take stock of the kind of ad hoc, short term and long term measures they may need to implement.
Sensitivity is the key word during this phase as healing, grieving, memorial services, mourning rituals and so on are part of the process.
