Putting Plans to the Test

Ensuring Plans Work in Practice

Having plans in place is only the first step in building organisational resilience. The next is understanding how those plans work when teams are under pressure and normal operations are disrupted.

Horizon Planning & Resilience provides structured business continuity and emergency exercises designed to test plans, explore realistic scenarios and strengthen confidence in incident response. Exercises provide a safe environment to practise decision-making, clarify roles and responsibilities, identify gaps and capture practical learning before a real incident occurs.

Who This Service is For

Training and exercising may be beneficial for organisations that:

• Have existing business continuity or emergency response plans they would like to test

• Want to understand how effectively current arrangements would work in practice

• Are introducing new plans, procedures or incident management structures

• Want staff to feel more confident in their roles during disruption

• Need to identify gaps or areas for improvement in a constructive environment

• Want to demonstrate that resilience arrangements have been exercised and reviewed

This service can support a wide range of organisations, including healthcare providers, small and medium-sized businesses, community organisations and event organisers.

What Exercise Facilitation May Include

Exercises are tailored to your organisation’s operational context, risks and objectives and may include:

• Tabletop exercises

• Scenario-based workshops

• Business continuity or emergency response exercises

• Incident simulation exercises

• Testing of specific plans, procedures or response arrangements

Sessions can be designed around a single operational issue or developed into a wider scenario that explores how different parts of the organisation respond as an incident evolves. The aim is not to catch people out, but to create a realistic and constructive environment where teams can explore how arrangements work, build confidence and identify practical improvements.

Typical Exercise Scenarios

Exercises can be developed around risks that are relevant to your organisation. These may include:

• Adverse weather or infrastructure disruption

• IT or cyber incidents

• Loss of premises or utilities

• Workforce disruption or staffing shortages

• Supply chain disruption

• Major incidents requiring a coordinated response

• Multiple or escalating operational pressures

Scenarios can be kept simple and focused or developed progressively to test decision-making, communication, escalation and coordination as circumstances change.

Focused Training

Focused training can also be incorporated into an exercise programme or delivered as a standalone session where appropriate.

Topics may include:

• Escalating effectively during incidents

• Incident management roles and responsibilities

• Structured debriefing and capturing learning

• Decision-making during operational disruption

• Communicating effectively during incidents

These sessions are designed to give teams practical guidance they can apply during exercises and real operational situations.

What You Will Receive

You will receive a structured exercise or training session designed around your organisation’s objectives and operational risks.

Depending on the scope of the work, this may include:

• Scenario development

• Exercise materials and injects

• Facilitated discussion or simulation

• Observation of organisational response

• Post-exercise debriefing

• A written summary of key findings, learning points and recommended actions

The focus is on producing useful learning and practical improvements, rather than simply demonstrating that an exercise has taken place.