Embedding business continuity
management into the entity’s culture

This section provides guidance to entities on embedding business continuity management into their organisational culture.

Successful business continuity management relies on expertise from within the entity – it is the people that understand the entity – its objectives, processes and risks.

Throughout business continuity management processes, there are opportunities to embed business continuity management into the entity’s culture, to ensure it becomes part of the entity’s core values and business-as-usual management.

Executive sponsorship

As mentioned earlier, executive sponsorship is a key input to the success of the business continuity capability. Successful business continuity management requires a commitment from the executive to raising awareness and implementing sound approaches to build resilience.

One way the executive can promote business continuity within the entity is through an endorsed business continuity management policy. A business continuity management policy sets out the entity’s agreed priorities, the business continuity management framework, and responsibilities for the program. The policy needs to be appropriate to the entity’s scale, complexity and the nature of its operations.

While a ‘top-down’ approach is necessary for embedding business continuity management into an entity’s culture, this will work best when also accompanied by a ‘bottom-up’ approach, as described in the following case study.

_{The Workbook contains an example table of contents for a business continuity management policy, and examples of statements of a business continuity policy. Click Here}