Before embarking on their BCM journey and upon initial analysis, it is observed that organisations fall into two groups;
- the first group do not actively monitor and manage their BC program,
- while the other group, despite acknowledging the importance of managing it, find that progress is difficult beyond the initial year of implementation.
While both groups understand the need to manage and upkeep their program and to keep it relevant to the organisation, most are at a loss as to what needs to be done and how it is done.
This post attempt to help to address this issue and serves as a guide for the various parties within an organisation to choose their appropriate BCM training journey.
Identify BCM Roles
We must first identify and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of different parties within the organisation. Once a personnel’s role has been identified, references are made to each roles’ competency needs and its recommended training journey.
These roles include:
- Organisation BCM Coordinator
- Business Unit BCM Coordinator
- Executive Management (Senior Management)
Develop Training Roadmap
This training roadmap also acknowledges the need for training of general staff members that may not be directly involved in BCM but nonetheless; need to know their role in times of a disaster.
Organisation BCM Coordinator
The Organisation’s BCM Coordinator is essentially a Subject-Matter-Expert in the organisation’s BC program. S/he is the person who would project manage the initial implementation of the BCM plan for the organisation, oversee the management of the plan as well as maintaining the plan upon its implementation.
Typically a full-time position in medium to large organisations, the Organisation BCM Coordinator is thus responsible for the coordination of the organisation’s BC program.
It is important that the Organisation BCM Coordinator has a detailed knowledge of the organisation’s operations and critical functions and is equipped with an in-depth knowledge of business continuity for him/her to conduct a detailed and thorough review of all BC Plans and formulation of organisation-specific tests and exercises.
So, what is the learning roadmap for an organisation BCM Coordinator? Also read "As A BCM Manager, What Can I Do To Improve My BCM Competency and Skill?"
Business Unit BCM Coordinator
The key responsibility of the Business Unit (BU) BCM Coordinator is to assist the Organisation BCM Coordinator and to represent their respective business units.
These appointed BU BCM Coordinators are the various BU-level personnel comprising the various business units within an organisation. What Does My Business Unit BCM Coordinator Need to Improve Their BCM Competency and Skill?
Senior Management
An organisation’s senior (executive) management role is to set the direction and approve any modifications to BC plans.
Members of the management often held the organisation’s BCM Steering Committee – which also comprises the Organisation BCM Coordinator and key BU BCM Coordinators.
It is important to be kept aware of the organisation’s BC readiness and this is achieved through the Organisation BCM Coordinator’s reports and updates on the results of various tests and exercises.
During a crisis, the BCM Steering Committee typically morphs to become the Crisis Management Team.
Crisis Management Team
As leaders of the Crisis Management Team, Management will direct the overall strategy to address the crisis. Hence, some knowledge of plans and strategies developed is required, and these are honed through participation during organisation-wide tests and exercises.
Read more about "What BCM Competency and Skill Should My Senior Management Have?"
Recovery Team and Staff Members
It is observed that the staff members who form the bulk of the response or recovery team are the least trained within the four stakeholders. These part-time BCM professionals are often neglected because of their limited involvement during “peacetime” as the administrative role for the BU-level plan is taken care of by the BU BCM Coordinator.
Knowledge of what to do and where to go during a crisis or disaster can both save lives and costs to the organisation as well as speed up the process of business recovery. Often, the retrieval of critical items such as vital records, laptops and backups forms part of the procedures within a BC Plan. Such retrievals during an evacuation may fall under the responsibilities of general staff members.
Therefore, it is important that briefings be conducted to emphasize both the importance of BC Plans as well as the significance of their roles in contributing to the continuity of an organisation following a disaster. The organisation may decide on the level of involvement of staff members in the BC process by identifying those required for the continued running of identified critical business functions. Briefings detailing their crisis response duties and roles are helpful for these staff.
To learn more about raising the awareness of the general staff members, click: How Do I Prepare and Train The rest of My Organisation Staff members on BCM?
What is the Competency to Participate in the BCM Program Effectively?
Now that we have briefly described the category of participants for this BCM project or program. It is important that the right training and awareness process are provided to these respective groups before the start of the implementation.
BCM roles and responsibilities are often regarded as secondary appointments or "Extra-Curricular Activities" and hence, the seriousness is often not accorded to these appointed functions. It is often very difficult for example, in order for a BU BCM coordinator to upgrade and enhance the content of the BCM submission well, they should be provided with the previous or last submission of the BCM submission by their predecessors and are expected to complete the requirement with no prior BCM understanding and knowledge.
For those who are experienced and are seeking to progress in their career, it is time that you review and develop your learning road map that will accelerate both your knowledge, skillset and most importantly, your career.
Attend a Course to Develop the Training and Learning Roadmap
If you are keen on spending some time analyzing your organisation's BCM requirement and intend to implement a training and learning roadmap for the entire organisation, you may 
want to attend the "Developing a BCM Training and Learning Roadmap" course or course code WSQ-BCM-470. For course attended by Singaporeans, your may only be paying Singapore dollar 165 for a one-day fully hand-on course or alternatively, click the button to find out more.
Is There Any Good BCM References or Guides?
The institute has published a specialized BCM book called "A Manager’s Guide to Implement Your BCM Training and Learning Roadmap." Click the book cover or BCM Specialist Book Series to get an overview of this book.
Alternative, you could purchase from BCM Institute Book Store: A Manager’s Guide to Implement Your BCM Training and Learning Roadmap
Useful References
A list of the other references can be found in BCM Planning Book Series: Implementing and Managing Your BCM Project and Program. A list of the other references can be found in "What Are BCM References That Is Useful?"
The New Manager Series
Need to Upgrade Your BCM Competency?
More Information About Blended Learning BCM-5000 [BL-B-5]
To know more about our blended learning program and when the next course is scheduled, feel free to contact our friendly course consultant colleagues via sales.ap@bcm-institute.org. They are the BL-B-3 Blended Learning BCM-300 ISO22301 BCMS Implementer and the BL-B-5 Blended Learning BCM-5000 ISO22301 BCMS Expert Implementer.
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