ISO22301 certification at the UK's Houses of Parliament

"If you don’t know where you are going you’ll probably end up somewhere else!” At the BCI World Conference in November I’ve been asked to run a session on two key stages of the BC Lifecycle; Policy and Programme Management and Embedding BC into the organisation. Can you imagine my excitement?!

Well, having just achieved ISO22301 certification for the Houses of Parliament I see the outer ring of the lifecycle (Policy and programme management) and the inner core (Embedding) as the tyre and axel of the wheel; get this right and you’ll have a smoother journey.

There are many lessons to share and I hope the conference provides an opportunity to do so. Let me give you an example of what I mean. My BC policy originally said that it ‘would be reviewed on a regular basis’. The external auditor from the BSI pointed out that ISO22301 requires that the policy is reviewed at ‘planned intervals’. My policy now says it will be reviewed ‘at least annually’; that is what we always meant but didn’t make clear. Other examples of poor language are found in phrases from Management Board papers saying “Human Resources might want to look into….” What does ‘look into’ mean exactly? It is not about being pedantic, it’s about being clear in your planning so that all interested parties understand what is being asked of them and how this will be assessed.

The policy sets out what you are going to do, the scope of your BC capability and defines roles and responsibilities. The programme will set out how and when you will implement the BC capability. So, the policy will help you know where you are going and the embedding will help you stay on course. My workshop at the conference will describe how these parts of the BC Lifecycle can be achieved.

Martin Fenlon MBCI, Business Resilience Coordinator at the UK's Houses of Parliament, will be discussing this issue within the 'Learn' stream at the BCI World Conference on Wednesday 5th November, starting at 10:30.