Another week has come and gone with no new material published here, so time for a quick review of what has grabbed my attention via the news-feeds, which these days includes Twitter and Facebook as well as RSS.
There were some significant items in the newsfeed over the past 10 days, and four specific items I want to highlight.
First was the tragic news of the Costa Concordia. A very difficult situation for the passengers, crew and their families, which is not improved by all the editorial discussion and conjecture about cause and blame.
The single issue I wanted to draw from this was nicely made by Lynda McMullen on a LinkedIn discussion. The discussion is about the difference between having a plan and being prepared, I have posted on this debate previously, but Lynda has highlighted the key issue – the Costa Concordia had the plan(s) but they were clearly not prepared.
Planning and preparedness are not the same thing.
They are not the same set of activities nor do they produce the same product.
And people continue to die because we seem unwilling to change our thinking on this – dig deeper and check the similarities to the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster almost 25 years ago.
My second item is a lot more light hearted, but unfortunately illustrates the same issue as above, and leads to bad outcomes.
Amy Stephenson posted this comment on Twitter;
Business Continuity and Resilience are not the same
I think this should be made a compulsory mantra for people to chant until they come to understand it. The renaming bandwagon is in full swing, yet again, before we know it BCM will be renamed to Business Resilience Management – and we will still be doing the same thing – Disaster Recovery Planning!
Item 3 is really two news items, but the comparison of the two highlights some limitations on our thinking – and why we are still in the DR mode. The World Economic Forum and the BCI have both released reports on the major risks to business in 2012. You would think that the risks to business would be those that would risk it continuing – but you would be wrong.
The BCI does not see the same risks as the World Economic Forum – more detailed post on this issue tomorrow.
Finally, at times there is hope for new thinking in this world. If I had the money (or lived in the UK) I would be making my way to CALM Alpha on 16-17 Feb. This is the first public seminar to discuss the Mashup of Cynefin, Agile and Lean (hence the title CALM Alpha).
There will be some learnings emerge from this new community that will enhance the practice of risk, BC and resilience too – if we will listen and learn. If any readers are going I would love to get a report.
Alternatively, I would love to hear from anybody who wants to sponsor me for the airfare!
What has grabbed your attention, or gotten you thinking, so far this year?
I disagree slighlty. If done correctly Business Continuity and Business Resilency can be the same. If a Plan sit on the shelf and is not treated as a living breathing entity then they are different. But if a plan is maintained, tested, updated then yes it can Resilent.
Hello Patric, and thank you for commenting.
I suspect we are going to have to “agree to disagree” here.
When I talk about resilience (even the newly minted Business Resilience) there is no need to talk of plans.
Planning, and testing those plans, is the product of BCM. If you are not testing and making it a living plan, then you are not even doing BCM.
You also have to understand when I suggest there is such a discipline as Resilience Management it is a very tongue in cheek comment. Resilience Management would be an oxymoron!
Thanks for reading, hope to hear more from you.
Ken