Now I wouldn't say our profession was sexy or glamorous, would you? Business Continuity is one of the roles, in the main, you kinda fall into. As a child, I can't remember saying to my mum and dad, "when I grow up I want to do BIA's and pandemic flu exercises"! I am however, sure I said I wanted to be part of MI5 and be the female equivalent of James Bond! Funnily enough, Business Continuity wasn't high on my list at that young age. No, Business Continuity was my specialism coming out of my Risk Management degree - more than 10 years ago now. I'd like to state here and now, that I do love my job and can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing, sad I'll admit. Yes, it's quite stressful at times, and no, no-one thinks BC is as worthwhile as me - but still, when you are in the chaos of an incident and can see it all coming together, and you and your colleagues have rehearsed and planned, a huge smile spreads across my face in pride that all the work we've put in, reaping us the rewards when we most need it.
In the main, my job is about the two P's - prioritisation and people. It's all about translating our organisational goals into workable plans and solutions for the worst case. It's an endless stream of organisation, communication and co-operation. It's all about co-ordinating that "pulling together" to protect our organisation. It's about influencing and supporting others to achieve our BCM programme. It's about management and leadership of a governance process that most managers would gladly forget about. Most days are a challenge and in this game, no two days are the same. That's what I love most about my job.
There comes a time however, when a girl needs to look beyond what she knows and embraces the unknown. A time, when she stretches herself outwith her comfort zone in an attempt to acknowledge and understand where the skills she has cultivated throughout her working life, such as leadership and teamwork, can be improved. For me, that time was a couple of weekends ago, when I took part in the British Red Cross Disaster Response Challenge.
Let me set the scene. I'm a 5 star kind of a girl, 4 star plus... only if absolutely necessary. Some would call me "high maintenance" but I like to think of myself as "choosy" or "refined". I like life's little luxuries like a hot shower and a good meal, perhaps with a cheeky little glass of Oyster Bay Pinot Noir and at the end of the day, a warm, freshly laundered bed, makes me the worlds happiest lady. My days of T in the Park portaloo queues and backpacking at youth hostels, are long gone.
Imagine then, if you will, my family, friends and colleagues surprise at my announcement that "I need a challenge" and feel that running about an MOD base in Bramley, Hampshire, for a weekend, could give me what I'm looking for. Some sniggered, some openly laughed, but I was determined!
I signed up for the Red Cross Disaster Response Challenge to see what I could learn from others and whether or not my "incident management" skills could be improved by learning from experts outwith the Financial Services field. I saw an advert firstly on Continuity Central and then on the Red Cross Website (www.redcross.org.uk), issuing the challenge "Could you be the first on the scene of a disaster? I felt I could, but had no idea what I was really in for!
For the weekend, I swapped my Marks and Spencer suit and Calvin Klein handbag for combats and a rucksack. Showers for gel wash and a warm bed for a space on the floor of a deserted building with no electricity, sleeping alongside my 4 other "deployed delegates". Luxury it wasn't, but great fun it certainly was.
The Disaster Response Challenge (DRC) has been specially developed by the British Red Cross Emergency Response Unit (ERU), to offer an individual or indeed team development course that simulates the real-life challenges faced by the Red Cross Emergence Response Unit (ERU). The ERU (s) are small, self-contained teams of specialist professionals deployed to the scene of a disaster with 48 hours, wherever it may be in the world. For the weekend, I was one of the "deployed ERU delegates", out to make the world a better place by responding to an unfolding hypothetical disaster. The scenario unfolded in real time over the weekend and take it from me, it tests the most calm and practical of people. New colleagues, new situations, loads of new learning and new skills fulfilled my need for a challenge that stretched me and my "office based" incident management skills.
The programme is designed to take you out of your comfort zone and into an environment, where in real life, acting as part of the British Red Cross's ERU, you and your team's decisions could literally be a matter of life and death. As part of a hypothetical ERU, you and your team, all from different backgrounds, jobs, levels of education and even countries, have to work together to problem solve in an unfamiliar, pressurised environment. All you have is each other and the skills and training each individual brings to the table. There's no time for referring to plans or drafting press releases, this weekend was about dynamic, naturalistic decision making, about being adaptive and actively learning from your experiences "in the field". It was about working with your raw competencies, to ensure that your team succeeds at whatever was thrown at you.
In-between scenario injects about the disaster and its developing situation (which we had to act upon), we had practical classes in Communications, Logistics, Teamwork, First-aid and Casualty Evacuation, Delegate Security, International Humanitarian Law and Basic Survival Skills, all which gave me a glimpse into the world of "real" incident management. In this world, there's no automatic notification systems, conference calls and plasma TV's showing 24 hour news. You and your team have to act on shifting priorities, snippets of information and unclear goals. Without giving too much away, the weekend saw me:
* Sleeping in a deserted building with the other "delegates deployed to the disaster zone".
* As a team, design a refugee camp for the displaced and injured victims.
* Learn about and use field communication equipment.
* Experience ‘front line' first aid.
* Understand how the media can be involved in a disaster situation and how they can be handled effectively.
* Learn steps to minimise security risks.
* And much more...!
A question my team asked was "What did you learn from such a weekend" and thinking about it logically, from behind a computer in the comfort of the office, it's difficult to sum up its effect on me. Sure, I learned all the things I've mentioned above, but it also made me realise that self reflection is an important part of learning. Victor Meyer, Deutsche Bank's Global Head of Business Continuity Management said about a previous DRC "....at the end of the day you get the capability that you rehearse - we got that and much more" and I couldn't put it more eloquently myself. The weekend challenged my leadership skills and specifically for me, the ability to hand that role over to other people. It let me pace head on, a situation that I knew would be difficult and at times, uncomfortable. It opened my eyes to the fact that the skills and competencies you learn as part of organisational incident management and business continuity are not skills that everyone has, and most importantly, that they should not be neglected. Skills can regress if not used, learning forgotten if not actively used. As Business Continuity professionals, we should continually challenge how we think and feel, step out of our comfort zones occasionally to recognise where our strengths and weaknesses lie. For me, it was useful seeing and admitting these "gaps" outwith the office, where there's no pressure from your manager or sponsor, no shame in admitting you need to brush up or learn new skills. The DRC offered a challenge with no "bad" consequences, only learning in a supportive environment. Learning which you can take back to the office and put into effect immediately. All in all, a fantastic, introspective weekend which not only raises awareness of the work of the British Red Cross and in particular their ERU, but also generates much needed funds to support their vital work. Do you think your or your team's incident management and leadership skills would size up? Do you need a challenge? If so, contact Clare Murray on 020 7628 1281 who will be glad to "deploy you to the disaster zone", as part of their next Disaster Response Challenge.
Lorna Anderson, Aegon, Edinburgh