Overcoming psychological barriers to plan invocation

Although very few — if any — crisis management, business continuity or incident response plans fail to include procedures to cover their instigation, there are many instances when these procedures are not enacted as intended or do not produce the expected results. In such circumstances, the gravity of the situation may well be appreciated at various levels, but for complex reasons, the teams or structures envisaged as being required are nonetheless not established fully. This paper explores this phenomenon, considering the nature of the problem and its significance, as well as the challenges faced by those making invocation decisions. It reviews the individual cognitive biases and team dynamics that prevent plans from being used effectively, before considering how plans, procedures and people can be arranged or developed to help overcome these limitations. This knowledge will equip the reader with a better appreciation of the risks inherent in plan invocation procedures and hence the capacity to understand the frailties in decision making; to recognise when these might have the potential to occur; and to understand how to overcome them.