Lunch anyone?
In addition to upper management, getting middle-management support is extremely important to the success of your business continuity program. Without that support you will have a difficult time implementing and maintaining a robust program. Process owners, directors, department heads will be your partners on the front lines. I have been fortunate in my career to have always had middle-managers committed to building a strong resilient business continuity program and partnership.
A great way to get full support from all levels of management is if upper management hosts a lunch your first week on the job introducing you to the middle-managers. It will clearly demonstrate upper management’s support and buy-in for you and the program. They will introduce you to all of the middle-managers and they will speak to the importance of having tested plans in place. You will have the opportunity to meet lots of people critical to the success of the business continuity program.
Meetings and time commitments from middle-managers and line workers will fall into place when they realize upper management is committed to making the business continuity program a big success.
In one company in which I worked upper management hosted a lunch for me during my first week on the job while one of my counterparts in another region of the country met with middle-managers ‘cold’ (no upper-management hosted support lunch). It made my job so much easier and more effective.
