The UKs business continuity plan BCP for pandemic drafted over more than a decade under several governments was effectively written on the back of a fag packet!
The UK needs to prepare better for major risks to business economy and society. The UK and the world is now dealing with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. However it is clear from Dominic Cummings evidence before today’s joint parliamentary committee that the UK was not prepared for any pandemic despite pandemic risks being an acknowledged major threat to UK people businesses and society as a whole. What is your business doing to prepare for key significant threats to the survival of your business? How will you respond for known and unknown business risks? Who will manage your business sustainability through all business rough seas. Where will your existential threats come from? When will your business survival be challenged?
Some revelations from Dominic Cummings related to preparation of threats to continuity of life and business in UK include:
People are ill prepared and potentially incompetent when responding to major risk events – senior people within the UK Civil Service and within political leadership are often promoted beyond their capability to react appropriately to mitigate impact of risk events.
Written business or service continuity plans are poorly drafted and useless upon the occurrence of major risk events – the UK Civil Service and UK politicians across the political spectrum whilst in government failed to write suitable usable and effective plans to mitigate the impact of major risk events on UK businesses economy and society as a whole.
Some people on your team will react poorly to the demands placed upon them from major risk events – just as in normal operating circumstances, during a disaster event and the recovery therefrom, people will perform poorly without the guidance support and direction from well written business continuity plan.
Competing demands unrelated the major risk event will impede business recovery – the rest of the world will not stop spinning just because your business has been majorly interrupted due to a risk event. Your business continuity plan needs to accommodate continuation of normal business risks as well as recovery from major risk events.
Delaying business decision making during a recovery of major risk event can increase the damage experienced by the business – procrastination due to fear you make wrong decisions can in itself cause further business damage.
Group Think can cause increased damage following major risk event – just because everyone is pulling together to recover from major risk event does not mean you are doing the best thing for your business. Decisions made using bad thinking can exasperate the damage to a business trying to recover from major incident.
Leaders can only make good decisions based on good risk analysis and data – just because you are receiving data on the impact of risk event does not mean the best solutions will be chosen during the mania of major risk event.
It is clear that any government would have struggled to manage the risks from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Tory government struggled in England and made mistakes as did the SNP led government in Scotland and the Labour led government in Wales as well as the DUP led government in Northern Ireland. However, relying on the wit and off-the-cuff reactions of leaders in the event of major incidents leads to worse outcomes and longer interruption.
Dominic Cummings may have his own motives for his written and verbal words on the Covid19 pandemic. However, what is 100 percent certain is the inability of leaders to make good decisions without a proper practiced and revised business continuity plan.
Make tomorrow today. Do not procrastinate another day. Transform your business tomorrow today. Things will be better in business tomorrow cause of what you did today and every day.
The business world today and the business world tomorrow will be hugely different after coronavirus pandemic. We need to tackle tomorrow today even in lockdown before peak infection comes.
There are better ways of working that can help alleviate and even solve the coronavirus pandemic. We can learn the better ways to make post coronavirus pandemic better.
We will not manage this crisis quicker by doing what we have always done. Neither will post crisis be better by going back to business as as normal.
Tomorrow will be a better if we change our today
Take action today for a better business tomorrow. Transform your business today. Tomorrow is not a given. Ask yourself how can I make tomorrow better than today? Work with people who can help you make your business better tomorrow.
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Making the most of unexpected disasters. Make the most of disasters. No one asks for a disaster to hit their business but when one comes along look for the opportunities that come with it. If you do this as part of business continuity planning you can come out of the disaster quicker stronger and more resilient.
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A disaster can be an opportunity to grow if you change your mindset
To come out the other side of major risk event stronger includes being ready to seize new business opportunities as well as mitigate downside risk impact.
You may be able to bring forward future planning as result of risk event. If you have a major fire then do not just build what you had before. Bring forward better ways of working that you may have planned for 5 years time prior to risk event.
Competitors who are not resilient as your business may not survive crisis. This may allow you to change pricing or provide opportunity to introduce new marketing campaign to mop up their customers.
You products or services may simply be more in demand after the crisis than before it. Attitudes of business buyers and consumers will change during and after the crisis. Your business maybe well positioned to take advantage of change of attitude to sell more and grow your business faster.
There is nothing morally bad about making the most of a bad situation. If you survive a crisis you have the right to explore a new way of working that will benefit both your business consumers and society.
Many great inventions or innovations have been introduced and transformed life and business due to mistakes. Some new drugs and products were discovered when the inventor or developer was trying to achieve something totally different from what transpired as brilliance.
Necessity is the mother of invention
When forced into an existential situation it is human nature to fight to survive. There will always be risk events that threaten survival in business. Sometimes they risk event may be located on one business. On rare occasions a risk event threats whole business systems of working.
Around every 10 years business leaders should expect a financial crisis that threatens business survival. It is almost impossible to know how the financial crisis will arise. The cause of the risk event that creates the crisis is less important than the resilience to overcome the impact on your business.
Th last financial crisis was 2008. May countries in Europe have still not recovered from the 2008 financial crisis never mind businesses.
If you are in business for the long haul then you need to be prepared for at least one financial crisis every 10 years. In between you need to be ready for your own individual crisis’s that pop up just for your business.
Learning opportunities from a crisis
Major risk events are perhaps alarmingly more frequent than one expects. Rather than being overly alarmed maybe the best thing to do is learn from risk events. Take the good from the bad to improve future business performance.
Do not press the panic button
We can also learn from other businesses who make mistakes on our behalf! If they suffer find out what they did wrong learn from their mistakes and make sure your business does not suffer the same consequences.
More than that find out what lessons other business leaders have learned from their past mistakes or negative risk events
Sharing bad experiences allows the herd to be better protected! Sharing successes helps the herd to join in on the success for faster growth and speedier progress.
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Enterprise wide risk management consulting services can boost your business performance. Enterprise risk management consulting services can support your business ambitions. What does your enterprise need to do or stop doing to be more successful? Enterprise wide risk management consulting and training services will provide you with the answer.
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Develop a more integrated and coordinated enterprise risk management process that places greater emphasis on the whole instead of the parts of the enterprise. Your revised enterprise risk management framework should be built with new enterprise risk management policies processes tools techniques and reporting for improved governance risk and compliance GRC.
Effective governance risk management and compliance is critical to build a resilient successful enterprise. It is fundamental for strategic operational and project management.
An Enterprise Risk Management ERM holistic approach is important because its successful embedding in your enterprise will give you more confidence it can survive and prosper regardless of the environment it has to work in. Manage threats better and seize new opportunities you may otherwise have missed or turned down.
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Is There a Demand for Risk Management Consultants?
In today’s increasingly complex and uncertain world, businesses of all sizes are under pressure to manage risk effectively. This has led to a growing demand for risk management consultants, who can help organisations identify, assess, and mitigate risks.
What Do Risk Management Consultants Do?
Risk management consultants typically have a background in business, finance, or statistics. They use their expertise to help organisations develop and implement risk management frameworks. This may involve identifying and assessing risks, developing risk mitigation strategies, and managing risk throughout the organisation.
What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Risk Management Consultant?
There are a number of benefits to hiring a risk management consultant. These include:
Expertise: Risk management consultants have the expertise and experience to help organisations identify, assess, and mitigate risks.
Objectivity: Risk management consultants can provide an objective view of an organisation’s risk profile. This can be helpful in identifying risks that may not be apparent to internal stakeholders.
Best practices: Risk management consultants can share best practices from other organisations. This can help organisations improve their risk management practices.
Improved compliance: Risk management consultants can help organisations improve their compliance with regulations.
Is There a Demand for Risk Management Consultants?
The demand for risk management consultants is growing. This is due to a number of factors, including:
Increased complexity of business operations: Businesses are becoming more complex, which means that there are more risks to manage.
Increased regulatory requirements: Governments are imposing stricter regulations on businesses, which means that they need to improve their risk management practices.
Increased awareness of risk: Businesses are becoming more aware of the importance of managing risk. They are realising that risk can have a significant impact on their bottom line.
What Are the Skills Needed to Be a Risk Management Consultant?
The skills needed to be a risk management consultant vary depending on the specific role. However, some of the most important skills include:
Business acumen: Risk management consultants need to have a strong understanding of business operations. This will help them identify and assess risks that may impact the organisation.
Quantitative skills: Risk management consultants need to be able to analyse data and use statistical methods to assess risk.
Communication skills: Risk management consultants need to be able to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.
Problem-solving skills: Risk management consultants need to be able to identify and solve problems.
How to Become a Risk Management Consultant
There are a number of ways to become a risk management consultant. Some people choose to earn a degree in risk management or a related field. Others gain experience in risk management by working in a business or government organisation. There are also a number of certification programs available for risk management professionals.
The Future of Risk Management Consulting
The future of risk management consulting is bright. The demand for risk management consultants is expected to continue to grow in the coming years. This is due to the increasing complexity of business operations, the increasing regulatory requirements, and the increasing awareness of risk.
If you are interested in a career in risk management consulting, there are a number of things you can do to prepare. First, you should gain experience in risk management by working in a business or government organisation. Second, you should earn a degree in risk management or a related field. Third, you should become certified as a risk management professional.
The field of risk management consulting is a dynamic and rewarding field. If you are interested in helping organisations manage risk, then a career in risk management consulting may be the right choice for you.
In addition to the above, here are some other factors that are driving the demand for risk management consultants:
The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters.
The growing threat of cyberattacks.
The increasing complexity of financial markets.
The globalisation of business.
As these and other risks continue to grow, the demand for risk management consultants is likely to remain strong.
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Looking back at past mistakes to make future better
In order to move forward we must look back. If we want to create a better future for our businesses we need to learn the lessons from the mistakes of the past.
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Sometimes you have to look back to move forward
Nobody wants to make mistakes. Where they have been made we should not repeat them
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Reduce risk of duplicating past mistakes by learning the lessons
Benefit from others mistakes as well as your own mistakes
Learn how to use past mistakes to make business better. Undertake risk reviews to check what went wrong and why. Develop real risk insight to build your business intelligence.
Often we learn more from failure than success. Ultimate business performance can be higher after lessons learnt. Not reviewing risk management errors condemns you to repeating them.
Transform your business on back of past mistakes. Your past mistakes can be the foundation of your future success. However do not dwell on past mistakes. Learn lessons move on but do not keep picking wounds.
Step into your future by looking back at past mistakes
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