What if your core team is unavailable?

In most continuity or recovery plans, there is a silent but critical error: it is assumed that the right people will be available at the right time.

But… what if they are not?

• What if the IT manager cannot be reached?
• What if the HR lead is on holiday?
• What if the crisis management team is unavailable because it was affected by the same incident?

This is where many plans fail, before they are even tested.

“The illusion of having the right person in the right role, at the right time”

Beautiful documents. Clear organisation charts. An available and up-to-date emergency contact list. Everything looks solid… until the unexpected happens.

The reality is this:

• People fall ill.
• People panic.
• People lose digital access.
• People… are human and, therefore, they fail too.

Plans that do not consider the absence of their key actors are structurally fragile.

The real test of maturity

Business continuity does not depend only on the existence of plans. It depends on the ability to answer questions such as:

• “Who replaces whom, in each critical role?”
• “How are critical decisions taken in the absence of the usual leadership?”
• “What is automated and what depends exclusively on one person?”
• “What are the single points of human failure?”

Mature organisations plan for the absence of critical people and test, rigorously, the team’s response capability.

Real cases of failure in continuity planning

Case 1 – Financial services company
A fire forced the evacuation of the company’s headquarters.
The continuity manager was travelling internationally, without access to the network.
Result: three hours lost before someone assumed leadership.

Case 2 – Industrial plant
A ransomware attack paralysed the systems.
The administrator credentials were stored in a digital vault… accessible only to two people, both affected by the attack.

Case 3 – Software company
The company carried out a successful simulation with the team members.
On a Friday night, during a real incident, the team was incomplete.
This made proper decision-making impossible and led to failures in coordination.
Result: disruption to operations.

Preparing teams — not just plans

1. Create redundancy for critical roles
   • It is not enough to appoint designated substitutes: they must be trained in a practical context.
2. Ensure shared access to resources and credentials
   • Use shared digital vaults, emergency access mechanisms and contingency systems.
3. Test scenarios that consider the absence of key actors
   • During exercises, simulate the absence of key decision-makers and observe the team’s response.
4. Map points of human failure
   • Identify situations in which everything depends on one person and mitigate that risk.
5. Develop interpersonal skills under pressure
   • Leadership, communication and decision-making are trained before the crisis — not during it.

What distinguishes the plans that really work?

• They are exercised and tested realistically and under pressure.
• They anticipate the unavailability of key people.
• They prioritise cross-functional capability, and not merely hierarchical dependency.
• They have functional backups for leadership, access and decision-making.

Real continuity requires the ability to respond to the unpredictable.
“Expect the unexpected” is not a cliché; it is the principle of resilience.

Because, in critical moments, it is not only a plan that saves the organisation:
it is prepared people, available people… and replaceable people.

The right question was never: “Do we have a continuity plan?”
The right question is: “If you are not there… does everything keep working?”

Author: Behaviour
Published on: 25 August 2025
Copying or reproduction of this article is not authorised.