How can you ensure contingency plan training is effective at all levels?

For any training, be it contingency plan or otherwise, the key word is 'practicing', which increases both confidence and skills to deal with emergencies, because there's not much time to think. In addition, the learning from each exercise/practice should be fed back to improve the training materials and practicing.

Effective contingency training must involve clear objectives, realistic scenarios, and constant evaluation and re-evaluations. Ensure training is tailored to all roles and all experience levels with the different roles. It should incorporate real-world challenges and learned obstacles from prior incidents, and allow for hands-on drills. Leaders should regularly review and update training materials to reflect evolving threats and emerging technologies. As always the training should encourage collaboration among different levels of emergency responders and community stakeholders to enhance cooperation and coordination. Finally, conduct post-training assessments and gather feedback to continuously improve the program.

1. Assess Training Needs: Conduct a thorough assessment to identify the specific training needs of different levels within your organization. 2. Develop Clear Objectives: Clearly define the learning objectives and goals of the training program. 3. Implement a Comprehensive Training Program that covers key elements of the contingency plan, including roles and responsibilities, communication protocols, response procedures, and decision-making processes. 4. Use Different Training Methods: Workshops, simulations/drills, internal and external studies or benchmarking, online modules, videos, and hands-on exercises. 5. Engage Management Support: 6. Regularly Review and Revise 7. Provide Ongoing Support 8. Evaluate Training Effectiveness

First, assess risks. Second, identifying assets, develop realistic courses of action for mitigating the risks. Third, exercise courses of action at all levels, under various security postures, for various scenarios. Fourth, conduct After Action Reviews to identify vulnerabilities, and adjust courses of actions to mitigate the vulnerabilities. Fifth, document and disseminate.

I strongly believe in utilizing the PTEC Cycle in any situation/operational scenario. The PTEC Cycle involves Planning, Training, Exercising, Critiquing and then cycling through PTEC again and again. This method will help you identify other risks and develop contingencies as scenarios evolve or as challenges are introduced. The more you cycle through the method, the better prepared you are for ANY challenges where contingency plans may be required.

One approach that I’ve found to be helpful in engaging internal stakeholders is by leveraging findings from capability assessments and historical data to create a picture of an organization’s current state of preparedness. In addition, providing a space for senior and mid-level leaders, as well as, staff to share role/department-specific perspectives is a way to build trust and proactively gauge support and potential roadblocks when developing your recommendations. Using this information, as well as, relevant industry best practices, you are able to develop evidence-based recommendations that senior leaders can consider and/or adopt, and that staff are more likely to implement because their own priorities were considered.

Get your senior management, staff, customers, suppliers, partners, and regulators in on the action. Their insights and ideas can be a game-changer. Plus, when you share the training objectives and expectations clearly, everyone's on the same page. It's like a team huddle before the big game. When the unexpected happens, you've got a squad that knows their roles and can adapt on the fly. This approach makes sure that everyone's in the loop, and you've got a united front when it comes to safeguarding the future.

As a part of your data collection process, be sure to engage the operations level people (i.e., line workers, maintenance, etc.). These are the people who perform the work and know how things are "actually" done. This will not only get you operational level insight but also help to engage them in the process.

Keep in mind, when engaging stakeholders, it is important to meet them where they're at. Not everyone is at the same level of willingness, experience or openness to this subject matter. It is also helpful to have a very concise value proposition in your back pocket. Why does this matter - how does it connect to that specific stakeholder's work and accountabilities?

Once all these information is gathered, it is key to decide the extent and nature of training needed at various levels. Contingency plan training must be designed keeping in mind that the stakeholders at various levels have different role to play. The training must ensure that it clearly communicates the role played by each person, and the outcome if the plan is not implemented effectively at their level. The key aspect of training to be effective is, the participants must easily understand it, for example the language the training being delivered, the practical demonstrations, the language used for written instructions or signs on equipment etc.

Use a variety of training methods and formats. This will help to engage and retain learners from all backgrounds and learning styles. Some effective methods for contingency planning training include: Simulations and exercises: These allow learners to practice their skills in a safe and controlled environment. Scenario-based training: This involves presenting learners with realistic scenarios and asking them to develop and implement responses. Group discussions and role-playing: These activities can help learners to develop their communication and teamwork skills.

After involving stakeholders, define clear objectives for the contingency plan. These objectives should outline what the plan aims to achieve, such as ensuring business continuity, response to specific risks, or recovery after a disaster.Once the objectives are defined and the plan is taking shape, engage leadership to secure their support and involvement in the planning and execution of the contingency plan. Leadership's commitment is vital for ensuring that the plan is well-supported throughout the organization.

Customize Training tailor the training to specific roles and responsibilities within the organization. Clear Objectives define clear learning objectives for each level of training. Engage All Levels ensure that training is accessible and engaging for all levels of employees. Regular Updates Continuously update training materials. Hands-On Practice Include opportunities for hands-on practice and drills to reinforce learning. Leadership Buy-In ensure that leadership actively supports and participates in training. Documentation Maintain records of who has completed training and their performance. Clear Communication Communicate the importance of contingency planning and training to all employees.

formats for contingency plan training are simulations, scenarios, exercises, case studies, role plays, and quizzes, I've done all those. The worst ones are hand-to-hand combat or self-defense. I've never taken a class where a hotshot didn't want to hurt someone.

Take inputs from your teams from bottom to top and in all the verticles and ask them what sort of risk in day to day operations they feel and maintain Risk Register and keep records / data what crisis in past encountered and how differently at different locations so that it could be referred and your teams must be trained accordingly along with how to deal various crisis situations that are now possible to be simulated by use of AI algorithms even with predictability analysis.

This is also an area that is easy to build KPIs around. It can be hard to define performance measurements in the resilience/crisis/contingency planning space. But the delivery and completion of training is an easy task to measure. This can serve as the basis for more advanced metrics, and can help to demonstrate meaningful progress to leadership teams.

Most of the companies I worked for had a probation period and lots of refresher classes. If you wanted to do better in the refresher classes usually the company didn't offer any extended training, just routine training. Extra training had to be taken on the side and not interfere with your job.

A must ,an evolving system to update using latest technology tools and with your teams inputs & feedbacks. Internal and external audits are must and a corporate resilience plan must be ready especially to deal with pandemic like situation again.

The risk scenario keeps changing at any work locations or processes, as the risk changes it is important to update the contingency plan to deal with the changes. There are several factors that affect these changes, and it includes change in people, process, equipment being used, method followed, materials used or may be change in legal or regulatory requirements etc. So, it is important to continually monitor and evaluate the contingency training. Through this we can plug any gaps within our plan or training and make necessary changes to improve the contingency plan and its training. I always used various methods to get feedback after any of the contingency training that are delivered.

I like to divide training into Enterprise level and Individual level. Enterprise level training expectations and effectiveness is set by oversight committee and should have clear objectives. Individual training is more personal as most plan owners come with a different experience and set of skills. I let them decide what training attributes they want to focus on and have them set their success criteria.

As I said above the refreshing ,updating, reskilling ,unlearning & re-re-skilling are the part of an ever evolving corporate need as we are undergoing an unprecedented change due to digital transformation, Climate change, volatile geo-political events,Cyber challanges and impact of emerging technologies.So, only organisation that shall survive which is resilient in all these challanges the corporate confronts and for that the Change in Training, refreshing it ,updating ,testing it, team building accordingly are must to be sustainable in this VUCA world.Digitalisation Adoption shall be key in next 03 to 04 decades and there you need frequent change to train your teams to keep them productive & efficient to deliver and sustain.

Examine your training honestly. Is it actually effective or is it just box-ticking. If the latter, then you are wasting people's time and a liability to your organisation. Training has to be interesting and relevant. It has to address capability gaps and realistic safety issues. Don't do bare minimum training when people's safety is at stake. Be the driver for industry best practice.

Realistic Scenarios try and develop training scenarios that are close to real-life situation as possible. This help participates understand how to respond in practical situation.

If you are not learning anything you're wasting your time. I've been with companies for over 10 years and I'm in the same class as a new person. Don't be afraid to teach and take advanced classes. When I pay for an advanced class I will list it on my resume and not mention the refresher courses.

The risk scenario keeps changing at any work locations or processes, as the risk changes it is important to update the contingency plan to deal with the changes. There are several factors that affect these changes, and it includes change in people, process, equipment being used, method followed, materials used or may be change in legal or regulatory requirements etc. So, it is important to continually monitor and evaluate the contingency training. Through this we can plug any gaps within our plan or training and make necessary changes to improve the contingency plan and its training.

Resilient organizations are inherently learning organizations. I always emphasize that every crisis response - or contingency plan activation - is both a win and a loss. You never all-the-way win or lose: it is always a combination. That means meaningfully capturing the important learnings or key takeaways and returning them to practice in a way that the organization can actually implement.

No matter how robust and well thought out contingency plans might be, their success or otherwise is almost always down to the preparedness and mindset of those taking part. Law enforcement is a prime example. We drill repeatedly and to most, it becomes second nature. Even here however, how many times have we witnessed disinterested parties - people who treat drills as another 'tick box' exercise, often participating reluctantly and with a defensive or resistant mindset?!

One of the largest pieces of a learning organization is learning about your people. Watch your people during exercises and drills. The natural leaders will rise to the fore. Reward that. Put them in positions where they can have the greatest impact for the entire organization. Worry less about titles and position descriptions. All of that can be rectified later, but make sure that you have the right people on the right places at all times. Most importantly, identify those that are not making the cut and change them in either behavior or put the right person in their billet. Longevity in a billet is not the same as experience and performance. Make sure this is understood and promulgated and find those that can do the job better.

A culture of learning requires open minds. As a leader, one must model this openness by actively seeking data and feedback, not only from peers, but from all levels of the organization, as well as other stakeholders and affiliated organizations. Applying principles and practices is important, but so is seeking “outsider” assessments to reduce “silo” thinking. A contingency plan should always be viewed as a work in progress. Situations change, and, therefore, our plans also have to be adjusted. Contingency plan training should test the plan to find potential weaknesses. As a leader, one must also model that flexibility and willingness to change where change is needed. This willingness to learn makes us and our organization more resilient.

Fostering a culture of learning ties directly to the precious topic of updating and keeping the training relevant. If you're presenting fresh topics, in a variety of delivery methods, people will more likely be to engage and more likely to look forward to attending the training.

Ensure that you conduct exercises on a regular basis. These can be simple desktop exercises where all roles are represented. It's important to step through any BCP or EM plans with any scenarios to ensure that plans are still valid and that training reflects the plan. Also conduct an after action report with exercises just like you would with an actual event. This will help keep you prepared for when actual emergencies do happen.

Use your imagination. Be creative in coming up with the worst case scenarios. The reason we often get shocked by an incident isn't because it's some truly novel disaster, it's because we didn't take the time to tease out how things can actually cascade out of our control. While it may seem foolish, coming up with scenarios that are completely far fetched can help you recognize where you have ZERO knowledge or experience. I remember an exercise where I thought, hey I'm going to break the phone system. I ran the inject and our IT/comm folks were like, oh dude if that happens 911 shuts down for half the city and it would take us weeks to resolve it. Dumb luck discovery all because I thought it would be funny to make people talk face to face.

Agreed Zack, being about to identify the key risks and then being able to provide the response teams with visual impressions of the incident scenario and impact is crucial. Some great products and support out there to help those is senior roles who haven’t experienced major incident events and being accountable for mitigation.

Use the crawl, walk, run method to help get your team up to speed with scenarios that focus on small obtainable objectives. Avoid conducting large scale exercises with multiple objectives that may be unattainable until the team is better prepared to handle larger scale events. This process will help build confidence within the team and avoid missing big picture items.

Many classes, drills and exercises were performed after we provided training to those responders that would be impacted in preparation for 9/11. We gave them cognitive and psychomotor skills that would prepare their minds to manage large population areas to be safely controlled and coordinated for rescue and thorough evaluation of the dangers. Sometimes the anxiety of these dangers makes people to throw off this training and respond instinctively.