Why were over 1500 souls lost on the Titanic?
The ship sank after hitting an iceberg
The ship veered away from the iceberg and took a long slash down its side rather than a crumpled bow
The ship was travelling too fast for the conditions
There weren’t enough lifeboats to cater for all passengers and crew
Board of Trade rules did not insist on more lifeboats
Some lifeboats left the ship while still half empty
The bulkheads didn’t go high enough up the ship – had they been higher, the ship may either not have sunk or at least taken longer to sink
Radios were not manned 24/7
There were probably other factors I have not mentioned but with the sole exception of half empty lifeboats (which in itself would have reduced the death toll), if any other single thing mentioned here had not happened, it is arguable that nobody would have perished on that cold April night in 1912. The combination of factors however was deadly.
Similarly, many disasters over the years are worsened or caused by a cruel combination of factors, any one of which, had they not been present, could have prevented the disaster happening. Being topical, the LA fires were made far worse by high winds, lack of water, wooden based housing (and arguably other factors that I won’t dwell on).
Why then, do firms, when testing their Operational Resilience, only test a single thing falling over? At Aldbury International, we see this time and time again, a succession of siloed tests being run by firms who believe that the sheer number of tests being run is proof that they are meeting regulators’ requirements.
Think about it for a second – Business Unit A runs a desk-based test about something going wrong within its operations. Its plan involves borrowing staff from Business Unit B (who very sensibly have been cross-trained and are multi-skilled). In the maddest of mad worlds (trust me it does happen), Business Unit B is also running a test, the scenario for which involves borrowing the cross-trained and multi-skilled staff from Business Unit A.
Do you see where I’m going here?
If the problem was isolated to Business Unit A – no problem. Similarly, if the problem was only with Business Unit B – no problem. What happens if the problem is with both Business Units? Problem. For the clever ones among you who invoke Business Unit C as a source of staff – you are part of the problem.
There is nothing wrong with these siloed tests as they highlight sensible work arounds and solutions that will protect the business from many issues. These days however, you have to be looking at “severe but plausible” scenarios as well and it is entirely plausible that the business can be impacted by something externally that goes right across its operations. It is now a requirement that you be testing this and putting it simply, siloed testing doesn’t achieve this.
Running tests that stretch your Incident Management Team is not only best practice but common sense. Yes, they are challenging, yes, they need some more thought regarding realistic and plausible scenarios, yes, they can take out a number of senior people at the same time. But no, you don’t have to run lots of them. This is not a numbers game. One or two of these tests per year is perfectly sufficient and practical for most businesses. It keeps the IMT trained and warmed up. The muscle memory kicks in when “it” happens for real. The better firms also take out some of the senior people and run 2nd XI exercises, so the deputies know what to do as well. You never know who will be available when “it” happens.
Captain Smith, the White Star Line, the Board of Trade, the naval architects – they all had a hand in what went wrong on the Titanic. Your testing should likewise reflect both internal and external risks to the business.
Aldbury International has considerable experience in helping firms create realistic, plausible scenarios and using them to test/train their Incident Management Teams. Our tests aim not only to put the IMT under pressure but also to enable them to be more effective in the event of a real incident. If the participants don’t leave an exercise feeling that they have learned something valuable, then we’ve got it wrong. (It doesn’t happen)
N.B. This isn’t just testing, this is training so you can get HR to help with the budget.
Contact us on 020 3475 2953.
Comments