You should examine yourself daily. If you find faults, you should correct them. When you find none, you should try even harder. Xi Zhi - (1130 BC - 1200 BC)
Training and Exercises
Red Cell training was created after identifying the need for businesses and organisations to continuously test and exercise their Incident Management Plans and assigned management teams. Our consultants help ensure that clients have an effective response to adverse events that may affect their business continuity.
We offer a series of exercises that provide a platform to thoroughly train and test Incident Management Plans and teams charged with the responsibility of managing serious incidents. We have found that due to staff turnover or infrequent testing of Incident Management Plans, teams are often unaware of company policy and procedures as well as their own and others roles and responsibilities in dealing with a serious incident.
If key incident management staff are not familiar with rapid decision making processes and working together as a team, valuable time could be wasted during the immediate response to a developing incident. They are then immediately thrown into a "reactive" response mode, rather than having the ability to forward plan as part of a "proactive" management cycle.
Training Benefits:
- Expert external validation of existing Incident Management Plans.
- Develop staff competencies and practice them in their delegated roles and responsibilities.
- Test and where necessary, make recommendations to improve existing incident management procedures.
Training Delivery:
Red Cell delivers exercises at 'Basic', 'Intermediate' and 'Advanced' levels, reflecting the competence of those taking part. Depending on the requirement to train or test, exercises can be run from as little as three hours to several days, incorporating remote sites and various departmental levels, both domestically and overseas, to fully test lines of communication. This progressive format ensures that the client organisation gains maximum benefit from the training experience. Exercises are designed bespoke to the clients needs as follows:
- Seminar Format: Basic level exercise, delivered over a short time period to stimulate discussion, explore threats and vulnerabilities to client operations and inform the development of Incident Management Plans.
- Table-top Exercise: Intermediate level training exercise used to test Incident Management Plans and Teams, in order to identify shortfalls and recommend improvements. This type of exercise can be used as part of regular implementation training of new or amended Incident Management Plans or new staff.
- Live Exercise: Advanced level exercise incorporating complex, multiple scenario event serials to thoroughly test Incident Management Plans and teams.
Delegate quotes from recent exercises:
"The exercise clearly identified gaps in our Serious Incident Plan and the preparation of the Incident Management Team".
"The Incident Management Team was given a clear reminder of the existing Serious Incident Management Plan and had valuable time to work together through an imaginative and realistic scenario".
"The exercise highlighted the importance of good communication and information management, both internally and externally of the Incident Management Centre".
Case History:
A London-based broadsheet newspaper wanted to exercise their Incident Management Team through a third party specialist security provider. A Red Cell consultant discussed the clients' requirements and subsequently delivered a bespoke half-day basic level training exercise with the scenario based on the kidnapping of a journalist in a foreign country.
The exercise was an excellent learning experience and successfully exposed some important lessons. The outcomes reflected the need to improve elements of the newspapers Incident Management Plan and positive feedback from delegates highlighted the importance of the following:
- Knowledge of the individual roles and responsibilities of the Incident Management Team.
- Practice in being able to function effectively as a team.
- Good lines of Communication.
- Effective Information management.
Red Cell were able to deliver a comprehensive post exercise report that highlighted key action points to the client to make improvements to their serious incident management policy and procedures.
