Management Decisions - Mixed Priorities

One of the benefits of doing Business Continuity Planning is that it causes managers, who make decisions typically in silo's to rethink their priorities when making decisions.

A decision made in a silo can be disastrous for the business.

A story in a Toronto newspaper today describes a food warehouse that was shut down due to a mouse infestation, they were running rampant in the building, eating food, droppings everywhere, running over the inspectors feet almost.

Now the warehouse is shutdown, there is a food shortage at some of the stores it services where signs had to be posted, and the story has hit the papers, and I am sure the evening news.

In the story, management claims this is the first they have heard of the problem, and it is an isolated incident.

Are you telling me that no-one who worked there saw it? When they did see it that it was not brought to managements attention? That management did not correct the problem?

My guess is, local management had a choice to make, keep costs down to meet siloed goals for operations, rodent control was less important then other considerations.

Now the company has a public relations nightmare on its hands. Yet I am sure, in the silo the decision seemed right, yet at the top level they know that trust and confidence in the food supply chain is crucial to their business.

When managers lose sight of, or have no idea of the corporate goals......decisions like this get made. A manager who had a role in the business continuity program would realize the right decison to make, long before this became a problem.

Organizational Structure and Success

Take the top 3 businesses in any industry, or your industry. Now take a look at how they do business? It is safe to say they did not start or run their businesses with exactly the same processes. HP and Dell build and sell in two very different ways.......Ford and Toyota, Apple and Microsoft.

Their approaches and execution are different. It is safe to say that the most responsive organization to the marketplace is the one that wins most marketshare. The difference though is not in the raw materials of the business, but in the thought structure of how to execute, and the responsiveness is based on the ability to take the thought process from the top to the bottom and execute it rapidly and well.

Speed to market with the "new" idea.

Is your organization set up to communicate quickly and effectively between groups? Do you have a "siloed" business for budgeting, goal setting, and execution - or does each group do it's best to support the entire organizations goal of getting ahead?

Do you succeed because of Stars or Teamwork?

One of the bonuses of doing a business continuity plan is it breaks down the silo's and gets your team focused on communicating and understanding it's priorities and corporate goals.

A simple test to see if you are prepared is go and ask the head of a department to name the top goal and top problem of a sister department they have to work with in the organization.

If they can't........your not communicating well organizationally.

911 What needs to be remembered

Today marks the anniversary for 911. We should remember the people who died, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, daughters and sons.

We need to remember emergency workers who died saving and trying to save lives.

I have been to ground zero and taught Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery in a building 3 blocks from the site. The building and the room we held the class in was used as a triage site and a morgue. New Yorkers were in the class.

What needs to be remembered are all of the simple preventable actions and mistakes that were made before and during attack.

You won't hear much about these issues, the media likes to present the heroic efforts - AFTER the attack. These are the stories told. You see it again and again after the bridge collapse in Minnesota, the hero's at the scene......does anyone know the name of the engineering firm who ok'd the bridge? Does anyone know who signed off on the reports? You won't hear about this. What about the mine disaster......hero stories everywhere, but no talk of the preventable causes and shirked responsibilities.

In 911 the mistakes were many, from ill conceived evacuation plans, to insufficient training and testing of emergency responses, to failing communications equipment. The list is long.

Today is a day to remember those lost, and tomorrow is a day you should consider what your leadership will be in protecting your mothers, fathers, son & daughters, brothers and sisters working for you.

Identify your risks and take prudent action to prepare.....it does not cost anymore to get it right than is does to get it wrong.

Respectfully
Ross McLean

Product Recalls and Business Continuity

According to the American Bar Association, the best plan is to take proactive preventive measures by establishing a product safety team.

Next, decide if you need recall insurance, but be careful, you get what you pay for, and you do not want to end up under insured.

Some policy's only cover cost of the announcements, mailings, press, and ads. Other policy's are more comprehensive, and will cover wages and other costs incurred in the recall, but be sure you understand the terms, many policy's require pre-approval on all expenses, so if you method of recovery is different than your insurer's position on what is right are at odds, you may not have the protection you need.

The cost of a recall can be high in direct costs, for example a tire distributor in New York got caught in the recall of Chinese made tires, the estimate is they can afford to replace 10% of the defective tires then they will be bankrupt.

Intel's past recall on Pentium chips had costs exceeding $500,000,000, a ceiling fan company had a recall in excess of $700,000,000, Black and Decker recalled coffee makers to the tune of $49,000,000.

The right insurance can play a critical role.