Unanticipated disruptions—including those caused by natural disasters, cybersecurity breaches and more—bring distinct challenges to any business. It’s critical that companies always have robust risk management strategies in place.
At Calian, it’s also a governance imperative for our own senior leaders to be prepared to address any disruptive event in a timely and efficient manner.
To ensure that plans and procedures are effective, this requires an ongoing commitment to regularly test and validate response structures, verify the processes that work well and identify opportunities for improvement.
Raising questions to improve response strategies
In 2024, the Calian Learning division’s Emergency Management team led a tabletop exercise with our board and senior leaders. Facilitators presented a scenario to the group—a wildfire approaching our Saskatoon facility resulting in blocked route access for suppliers and staff, disrupting normal business operations.
In the two-hour discussion that followed, participants evaluated our current emergency plan and identified ways to further bolster corporate resilience in the face of similar disruptions.
Enhancing confidence in emergency protocols
Tabletop exercises are an incredibly effective way to validate existing plans and procedures by challenging participants to think critically about their responses to potential disruptions. These sessions help participants to recognize gaps in current response processes or policies, highlighting areas that need improvement to better protect the business and its employees from risk.
But not only does this approach raise important questions regarding the plan—it also helps identify training priorities. By proactively addressing potential issues, our senior leaders and board members were able to enhance their emergency preparedness—empowering them to feel more confident about following established protocols should an actual disruptive event occur.
Empowering leaders for effective crisis response
Every day around the world, companies, governments and communities face a wide range of potential disruptions to “business-as-usual”—from natural disasters and economic downturns to public health crises, cybersecurity threats, global supply chain breakdowns and more.
Tabletop exercises can greatly improve preparedness before an unexpected disruption occurs, sparking discussions to help:
- Minimize miscommunications or delayed actions
- Clarify roles and responsibilities
- Streamline processes to strengthen the overall corporate response
- Enable a faster, more effective recovery should there be a disruption
- Support overall company resilience
By anticipating various scenarios, organizations are more prepared to make informed decisions during disruptions—and more likely to keep their people and environment safe. Moreover, this proactive approach can also lead to better resource allocation, enabling greater financial stability even in challenging times.
Refining methods for better future preparedness
We believe that training our leadership team with our own in-house expertise highlights our confidence in Calian’s emergency management products and services. This approach also reflects Calian’s ongoing commitment to continuously improving our risk program—enabling us to refine our methods and bolster our defenses in an ever-changing and uncertain environment.
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Plans are in place to ensure an effective response to an unexpected event. The goal is to streamline the decision-making process during an emergency and mitigate any impacts where possible. Exercises are an excellent opportunity to test and validate those plans prior to an incident, in a safe environment, to optimize resilience when faced with a real emergency.
—Sandy Lavigne, Senior Manager, Calian Emergency Management
About Calian CARES
Disruptions to Calian affect both our operations and the customers who depend on us. By fine-tuning our emergency response strategies, the board and senior leaders ensure we're prepared to quickly address risks and mitigate financial impacts, ensuring continued service and business continuity.
