Disaster Recovery Journal Summer 2025

informative and efficient. They are famil iar and within your team’s current cone of responsibility. Go for it. I’d even propose your team starts here, as previously men tioned. We used to do this as consultants to large Fortune 500 clients. Start with a brief executive exercise. It provides visibility at the top. If the team performs well and things look good, then we have confidence and can proceed elsewhere. However, if the leaders become uncom fortable with the organization’s level of preparedness during a strategy-focused crisis exercise, this drives healthy action. This begins the journey to increase your organization’s strategic resilience. To conduct a strategy-focused crisis exercise, start by making friends in the strategy department. Here we will talk with your chief strategy officer, a list of questions ready, after prudent research and interaction with the right people beforehand. The goal is to identify the biggest strategic risks facing your organi zation. You could probably type this into your favorite generative AI tool, but we can do better than that, by building good working relationships. Take this list of strategic threats and turn them into a tabletop scenario. Run them the opportunity to explore and prepare for these risks in a healthy way, without diminishing their vigor and commitment to the chosen path. “ The good news is that some of your leaders are keenly aware of these strategic risks. This strategic resilience program provides

Sometimes unexpected things happen. Our role is to help leaders plan ahead, to build capability and confidence, regard less of the weather, disaster, or strategic threat. Validation As we know, a plan needs to be tested to confirm it will work when needed. Otherwise, it is destined towards the now figurative pile of three-ring binders on the shelf, collecting dust and scorn. With validation comes more challenges, but it can be done with confidence. There are two approaches for validation: the first is based on results, and the second is exercises. When using results for validation, think about the familiar hurricane maps. These use sophisticated sensors and data models to forecast the path of the storm, three days, five days, two weeks out. These depict a cone of uncertainty to indicate the range of likely outcomes for the storm’s path. After the storm makes landfall, we know with 100% certainty whether the model and projected path were accurate. Results, after the fact, will also indicate whether our strategic conti nuity plan was valid. As uncomfortable as it sounds, we can simply wait and watch the results. Perhaps our plan will be right, perhaps wrong. Perhaps our plan wins in the

short-term but loses in the long-term. Using results as validation, the clock wins with 100% certainty. Just like with the hurricane map, eventually we know where it lands, and can assess which city evacuated promptly and which city was delayed. If one of our mission-critical strategic initiatives needs to be accom plished by a certain date, we will know on that date, with 100% clarity whether we achieved it or not, regardless of risks and threats. Some organizations use an objec tives and key results (OKR) approach to bring clarity to this process. Using metrics and results to validate our strategic continuity plan is mandatory. Using the proper metrics in the proper timeframes is vital, because what we measure drives behavior. And this process may raise productive questions about employee incentives, executive contract terms, stock options, and activist inves tors who may have different objectives than other stakeholders. The key here: identify and measure the right results that align with your organization’s mission. Even better, measure leading indicators of strategic risk to help your organization adapt faster than the competition, and long before landfall. The other way to validate strategic continuity plans and strategic response teams is through exercises. Exercises are

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12 DISASTER RECOVERY JOURNAL | SUMMER 2025