Turning stress into assurance: Continuity planning during this time of uncertainty

We’ve been immersed in this global pandemic for four to six months. We’ve spent weeks sheltered-in-place, with limited in-person interaction. While change is a norm in today’s workplace, the global pandemic has layered on a new challenge of uncertainty. It’s caused an increase in fear, anxiety, and stress. For this unique moment of repose we are living in, continuity planning has never been more important.

At Palantir.net, I developed and led a series of lightweight, low level-of-effort continuity planning exercises and a corresponding premortem risk workshop to help us navigate these challenging times. During the sessions, teams were empowered to identify areas where the projects they work on may experience risk, particularly if a teammate needed to be away from the office for an unanticipated, extended period of time. Teammates evaluated the potential impact of disruptions to their projects, and noted actions to be taken to protect its success. This method, rolled out at both the company and project levels, was designed to be proactive, sustainable, and client- and company-oriented.. At the project level, I saw stress turned into assurance once a continuity plan was in place. 

At the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

• Lead their teams and/or company through a series of lightweight exercises and workshops to identify large points of risk, uncertainty, or failure. 
• Identify the actions that will be taken in the event that a team member, or multiple team members, needs to step away from work for an unanticipated extended period of time. 
• Openly and transparently document a plan for the company or project that will serve as a key reference to help respond to periods of outage. 
• Use empathetic communication skills to help team members’ and teams’ develop their resilience. 

While this is a Project and Program Management focused session, the current times makes it especially appropriate for all members of and roles on a team (at all skill levels) who are navigating change, challenges, and discomfort.