Getting Your Act Together

By JEAN BENNAJMA, CBCP

I majored in acting at Virginia Commonwealth University. While participating in an acting class one day, high school students touring the campus were invited to observe. The professor told us, “Your next performance will be an improvisation. I want to see some really bad auditions. Go!”
When it was my turn, I flawlessly recited a Shakespearean monologue while wielding a menagerie of about a dozen props. These props did not support the scene in the least and actually distracted the audience from whatever message I was trying to convey. My performance worsened; I tried juggling some of the props and ... well, juggling is not one of my talents. I finished up my disastrous performance by handing out the props to several students.
Was the professor’s message lost on these anxious students who wanted to go to our acting school and work in professional theatre? For four years our professors trained us to perform under pressure and use the right amount of props. We knew the secrets (lessons learned), we had the talent (skills and experience), we were the in-crowd (connected with others in the industry), and we knew the best acting practices around (common bodies of knowledge).
What does all of this have to do with business continuity planning (BCP)? This memory came flooding back to me recently as I reflected on several BCP tools that were created to enhance or drive BCP performance. Some of them run the spectrum of bad props, some are merely irritants, while others are plagued with problems. Most disturbing, many of these tools are far outside generally accepted practices. For example, I have seen business impact analysis (BIAs) that:
u Did not measure customer service impacts at all (missing a key driver of recovery time objectives)
u Did not consistently use the same timeframes to measure impacts (making it impossible to compare BIA results consistently across the organization)
u Forced recovery time objectives (rather than allowing management to adjust recovery times to reflect changes of roles at time of disaster and impacts to downstream business processes)
And the list goes on. ...
Okay, so if you are a knowledgeable, well trained, and experienced BCP “actor,” do you need a menagerie of props (i.e. tools, templates, software, databases, etc.) to successfully complete the planning process and support a successful program?
Yes and no.
The props should enhance the play and not detract from it. Your BCP props should follow generally accepted practices for your industry. Your props should be used to help convey a solid message to your audience and assist you in getting the response you desire.
In other words, your props should facilitate the planning process and not detract from it, sidetrack you, or give out a negative message. As a BCP actor, you need to strike a balance between delivering your message to the audience and introducing the appropriate props while engaging them. You do not want to over burden your audience and receive a negative review. Your props should not in any way hinder your ability to perform professionally and should move you forward in the planning process.
BCP props, including every software package out there, cannot take the place of the skills and experience of the BCP actor. BCP props, no matter what the cost, cannot replace the BCP professional actor’s preparation, planning skills, and experience that must be in place prior to the curtain going up. BCP software and other tools may enhance results, but not if the BCP actor has little knowledge and experience about his craft. BCP props can be unnecessary, expensive, and complicated.
Be careful not to focus on the props before embracing the principles of the discipline for your BCP program.
Business continuity planning is not an overnight process and neither is preparing and planning for the BCP program’s performance. Make sure the props are used to enhance rather than drive the performance of the BCP program.
To borrow from an old Broadway cliché, make sure your program and tools don’t hinder your performance in any way so you can confidently say, “I am getting my act together and taking it on the road.”

Jean Bennajma, CBCP, is the managing director of JDB Associates, a consulting firm specializing in business continuity planning. Bennajma is also a member of the DRJ Editorial Advisory Board.

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