How tough does a crisis exercise need to be?

It needs to be really tough - Yes? Well, sort of…..

We regularly have conversations around the type and complexity of crisis exercise that is right for an individual organisation.  The temptation is often to add challenge and complexity but is essential to consider the experience levels of those participating.

It is important that the participants enjoy the exercise and that they learn from it — the last thing you want is to destroy their confidence. Consideration must be given to whether the proposed participants are capable of delivering the exercise objectives. Also, you don’t want senior executives thinking that all the investment in business continuity and crisis management has been wasted because the organisation still isn’t ready.

An exercise is not the place to train individuals in their roles. Ideally this will be addressed in the exercise programme - maybe in a workshop - so that inexperienced individuals or teams receive training before taking part in a simple exercise, allowing them to put their training into practice in a controlled environment. Only once this has been successfully achieved should they be exposed to a more pressured complex exercise environment.

At the other end of the spectrum, it is important that experienced individuals and teams are challenged sufficiently to ensure that they remain engaged and also learn from the exercise. The content of the exercise must reflect the participants’ experience and capabilities. If participants feel patronised or are just repeating what has gone before, their concentration and involvement will quickly lapse.

So next time you sit down to consider your exercise objectives remember to match the exercise to the maturity of your firm and participants.