Business Continuity Planner

A founder and CEO of a 12-person professional services firm has operated for seven years without any documented contingency plan. Revenue is healthy, the team is stable, and disruption feels abstract. A client concentration issue has surfaced - two clients represent 60% of revenue - but no formal planning has followed the realization.

Frame this as a one-time, low-drama exercise rather than an ongoing process. 'We're going to write three plans in one sitting - what you'd do in the first three months, up to a year, and beyond - for one specific scenario. Pick the one that's been in the back of your mind.' The client needs to name a real trigger first. 'If business slows down' is not a trigger. 'If Client A leaves before December' is.

Short-term plans that are genuinely short-term (cash management, immediate client outreach, cost holds) versus short-term plans that are actually long-term plans written in the wrong column. Misplaced entries indicate the client is avoiding the medium-term column, which is almost always the hardest one. Watch for the medium-term section going thin - one line, vague language, or actions that are really just intentions.

Start with medium-term - the one most clients underwrite. 'Read me what you put in the 3-12 month section.' Then ask: 'If the disruption you named were actually happening right now, is this plan enough to run on for six months?' The gap between what's written and what's actually needed is the conversation. Then ask the post-tool prompt: 'Which plan would you be most reluctant to execute even if the trigger fired?'

A VP at a mid-size tech company is about to close a Series B and scale the team from 30 to 80 in 18 months. Every planning conversation is about growth - headcount, systems, culture. She has never considered what she would do if the round closes but growth targets are not met in year one.

Introduce the downside planning explicitly as a complement to the growth plan, not a pessimistic counterweight. 'You have a detailed plan for what happens if this goes right. Let's write a plan for what you do if growth is 40% below target at the 9-month mark. Not because it will happen - but because leaders who have thought it through make better decisions under pressure.' The word 'scenario' is useful here: it's a planning exercise, not a prediction.

Long-term plans that are actually escape fantasies ('I'd sell the company' or 'I'd step down') written by leaders who haven't considered the 12-18 month grind before a clean exit is available. Watch also for plans that assume resources that wouldn't exist under the disruption - 'we'd hire a turnaround consultant' written under a scenario where cash is constrained. The plan needs to be executable within the constraints of the disruption itself.

Ask the client to read the medium-term section aloud, then ask: 'What's the hardest call you'd have to make in that section?' Usually it's about people - who to keep, who to let go, which team to protect. That's the real planning conversation. Then ask: 'Is there anything in the long-term section that you'd actually want to do anyway, regardless of the disruption?'

A founder of a boutique consulting firm had a major client pause its contract unexpectedly six months ago - a four-month pause that nearly required layoffs. The client returned, revenue stabilized, and the episode has passed. But the founder is aware they had no plan and barely held things together. They want to not feel that way again.

This client already has context - they lived through a disruption without a plan. Use that directly: 'You have a real scenario to plan from - not a hypothetical. What was the specific trigger last time?' Building the plan from an actual event the client experienced produces more specific and credible plans than planning from abstraction. The short-term section in particular will be easy to populate.

Plans that mirror only what happened last time, without considering different or more severe triggers. The experience was formative, but it may have narrowed the client's planning aperture. If every section is essentially 'what I'd do if that same client paused again,' the plan isn't actually a continuity plan - it's a specific-scenario response. Watch also for long-term sections that are confident and detailed while medium-term remains thin.

Start with: 'Looking at the short-term section - six months ago, could you have executed this plan in the first week?' The question tests whether the plan is real or aspirational. Then: 'What would have been different about the last four months if this had been written and you'd read it when the call came?' That question surfaces the practical value of planning ahead.

A nonprofit ED leads a 15-person organization where two foundation grants represent 65% of the annual operating budget. Both are up for renewal in the same fiscal year. The ED knows this is fragile but has deferred planning because thinking about it feels overwhelming. A board member has asked for a contingency plan.

Name the board request as an asset, not a burden. 'The board asking for this is actually useful - it gives you permission to do the planning. The question before you start writing is: what's the specific trigger? Is it both grants failing? One? A 50% reduction in one?' The ED needs to pick one scenario and plan from it. Multiple simultaneous scenarios produce a document that doesn't help anyone.

Short-term plans that are entirely revenue-focused (more fundraising, new donors) with no corresponding cost planning. Under a 12-month cash runway disruption, acquiring new major donors in months 1-3 is unlikely. Watch for the plan to skip from 'find new revenue' to 'restructure programs' without naming what happens to staff if neither has worked at the 6-month mark. That gap is where real planning lives.

Focus the debrief on medium-term, specifically: 'If neither grant renews and you haven't found replacement funding by month six, what is the decision about staff?' Most EDs have thought about this but never written it. The act of writing it makes the plan real. Then ask: 'Who else in your organization needs to know this plan exists?' The answer tells you about the governance and communication gap.