Tag: business

Operational Resilience and Continuity – without the drama

Our consulting offer for vulnerable times. The gap most mid-sized firms face Most firms have bits and pieces of business continuity, risk, and IT/DR work, but too often: Plans are outdated or don’t match how operations actually run today. • Operations, IT, risk, and suppliers each see their own slice – no one owns the… Read More

UNIVERSAL FRAMEWORK – Domain 7. Governance & Accountability – evidence notes

Metric: % of material issues closed on time (audit, reviews, incidents) E1 – Exists (Gateway Evidence) Do defined governance roles, accountabilities, and issue management processes exist? E2 – Enabled Are issue owners supported with authority, tracking, and escalation mechanisms? E3 – Executed Are material issues reliably closed on time, with consequences for non-closure? Evidence and… Read More

The heat is on …

No, not the 1980s soundtrack … though that was fun. As we move into summer, we are reminded of a chilling fact. Heat kills more people than other extreme events. The second point worth reflection here is that “natural disasters” are not natural. The extreme event might (or might not) be caused by “nature”, for… Read More

How do you “see“ your organization?

Each lens is useful for different purposes. Our clients find the “systems and processes” lens particularly useful when checking for “bloat” or “waste”. This is worth doing occasionally as organizations can become misshaped or bigger than they need to be. The two most useful approaches which our clients use to address this need are:

Believe it or not – systems, frameworks and capability assessments are still popular.

“Continuous improvement” is a clique – bordering on rhetoric … unless it is embraced within a culture as a worthy assumption. As something worth building on … and with. Management Systems – whether they are about quality, risk or business continuity – all benefit from occassional review to provide assurance that ‘the ship is on… Read More

Exceeding expectations

I don’t like the smugness of “exceeding expectations”. “Adequate” is a wonderful term. It is about focusing on a target. It rides on the shoulders of two other great terms, “necessary” and “sufficient”. Anything more is bluster and waste. To address what is necessary and sufficient to be adequate for you, consider our UpWork offerings.

What might coming out the other side look like?

Beyond the jargon of “petri dish and pivot” there are opportunities in ‘the risk’. Wherever we start from, I think it is useful to – stealing a Steve Covey line of “end in mind” – be clear about our preferred Outcomes and necessary and sufficient Outputs. The models and frameworks sketched out below use a… Read More

It’s not rocket science

How often have you heard someone say that in a conversation? It may not be “rocket science” (that is to say “requiring the application of expertise”) to them, but it is just rude to be dismissive. It alienates and it isolates. It erodes respect. Things which are “not rocket science” are often just not very… Read More