There are nine key steps to contingency planning. The first step is to make a list of major potential risks. From there, weigh those risks based on both severity and likelihood of the risk happening. Here you can identify important risks that could affect operations, and analyze what impact they may have on your business. Then, you can use a contingency plan template to develop your full plan for the biggest risk, gain approval from superiors, distribute plans to relevant teams, and create new plans if needed.