This week (3rd June) sees the start of Coaching Week. So, we thought it would be good to consider why training is so important to business continuity.
Ultimately business continuity is about ensuring the smooth running of a business – in fact it is a requirement of directors to minimise risk within their business. Something which can be achieved through sufficient business continuity planning.
Let’s consider why your business has a business continuity plan.
It is imperative to have a plan in place for what to do if things go wrong or disaster strikes. It is all very well that the management team and business continuity team (if your business has one) spend time putting a plan together, document it and then file it away, thinking you have ticked the business continuity planning box.
But what good is a plan that no one else across the business has seen – if the people doing the day to day work haven’t been given access to your business continuity plan how will they know what to do if things do go wrong?
Is having a business continuity plan in place enough?
A business continuity plan will contain the necessary steps needed to get business critical systems and processes back up and running. The more people who know what to do in the event of a disaster, and if your employees understand the tasks required of them, the quicker and more efficient it should be to restore business critical systems and processes.
If your employees are only seeing or being told about your business continuity plan after the disaster has occurred, it is likely that progress towards your end goal will be significantly slower than if you had invested time and effort in training your staff.
What role should training play in your business continuity planning?
Training should ultimately be part of your business as usual. By training and giving your staff the details of your business continuity plan you can ensure an appropriate level of understanding of your plan. Once your staff are familiar with the content of your plan, training can be taken to the next level – testing your plan to ensure competence in the execution.
It’s important to remember that as with all of the best made plans, things change. Through investing in training and testing you can ensure a continuous ‘test and learn’ approach to business continuity – something which could stand you in good stead if the worst were to happen.
If you don’t yet have a business continuity plan in place, then now is a good time to start. Read our blog on the 4 steps to creating a business continuity plan. Or if you’d like an expert at your side then First Recovery are specialists in providing support to businesses in the event of a disaster. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help assure your business continuity.