Barbados continues to experience unprecedented times, with crisis after crisis, lives lost, an increasing number of businesses closing their doors, and the effects of climate change wreaking havoc on our ecosystems and infrastructure. A sense of frustration, vulnerability and sometimes anger, echoes from the conversations I have had with business executives and employees alike. As a Business Continuity Management and OSH professional, there is one suggestion I wish to share to reduce the impact of disruptive events – a consistent commitment to preparation. Developing, implementing, testing, and tweaking your systems to ensure that no matter what occurs, your operations can function even if in a limited capacity, until you are able to achieve full restoration.
What can we do?
- Prioritise safety of employees – The mental and physical well-being of all employees should take precedence – #safetyfirst. Disruptive events can be quite impactful for some employees depending on the level of adjustment that may be required. Keeping communication channels open and providing systems for support is vital. Building greater flexibility into work hours and remote working options is encouraged where possible. Engaging your teams and reviewing their suggestions on mitigation measures could help enhance continuity levels.
- Embrace change – Crises and disruptive events challenge us all. Be creative and willing to adapt processes along the way. Rigidity and fear of change may cost you your business. Rather, be prepared to embrace the challenges being experienced and instead view them as opportunities for improvement. Establish new relationships and diversify supply chains and revenue streams, to further enhance your existing systems and prepare for what lies ahead. If or when disaster strikes, the business will be in a far stronger position.
- Develop clearly defined roles and responsibilities – If not presently in place, establish crisis planning and response teams. If already in place, assess the performance of team members and determine suitability to continue in existing roles, a change in responsibilities or removal from the team altogether. Teams should consist of members from across the company with different skill sets, that will bring value to the desired objectives. Communication lines should be clearly understood, and information shared kept up to date. With these key people and systems in place, timely and decisive actions can be taken.
- Invest in technology and cybersecurity measures– With each crisis experienced, the benefits of operating on digital platforms have come to the fore. Consequently, ecommerce and digital transactions have become the new normal for many of us. Continual investment in technology therefore should be considered fundamental to survival. Identification of technologies that can support your core/essential business functions, has become necessary to not only survive in times of crisis but to remain competitive under normal conditions. Linked to investment in technology however must be comparable commitment to investment in cyber security. The more our businesses are dependent on operating in the digital space, the more exposure there is to cyber threats, which can be as equally devastating as physical threats. Building resiliency into your infrastructure, constant testing for vulnerabilities and maintaining pace with developing technologies for threat mitigation will be crucial.
- Understand your business – One of the key items in being prepared is to truly understand your business. When facing an unpredictable or unknown phenomenon, a critical element of your mitigation process, is to determine what aspects of the business are truly essential to the delivery of your goods and services – i.e. what are the core activities required to keep your business up and running? Identification of these key processes and personnel, will help in the prioritization of responses and actions regardless of the disruptive event. As simple as it may sound, possessing a clear understanding of what is required to maintain continuity, will make it easier to respond to unpredictable situations and changes in the business environment, as each decision will be predicated on maintaining and reinforcing those core business activities.
In summary, devote time to your contingency planning by not only exploring new and potential threats but reviewing the lessons learned from past experiences. Conduct analyses from your own operations, as well as those of others within and outside of your industry. Communicate with your people, provide support mechanisms to ensure their mental and physical well-being. In the end, nothing can be achieved without them being on board and committed to the resilience journey.
This on-going pandemic has certainly tested all of us and highlighted gaps in what might have previously been considered, to be robust contingency plans. The lessons to be learned from what we continue to face however, should help us to address issues in the future that may arise from unpredictable events. Failure to prepare ourselves through analysis and application of learnings from our present and past experiences, is to certainly predetermine our fate.