Prepare before nasty weather comes your way
“By the time you hear the thunder, it’s too late to build the Ark.” — Unknown
We would love to learn who first dropped this quote, because it’s a brilliant one. Though there has been increased interest in crisis preparedness in recent years, most organizations remain woefully unprepared. And, not only unprepared, but also in the dark as to how much more difficult they’re making it to recover from an ugly situation. How much effort you’ve put into preparedness and practice is directly reflected in the amount of damage incurred by your organization’s brand, reputation, and bottom line when a crisis hits. And, although it’s not impossible to manage crises without a supporting framework already in place, it’s infinitely more difficult to do so while treading water than it would have been floating nice and dry up there on that Ark.
Erik Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com
Comments 4
Practice makes (closer to) perfect. Even small to mid-size organizations can benefit from running a couple of table-top drills a year at relatively low cost (i.e. good planning, some sandwiches and sodas). These are a great opportunity for people to try out new roles (Who goes before the camera if the designated spokesperson can’t be there?) and to identify talents you may not have seen before. Be sure to include a “hot wash” immediate evaluation with all participants as well as a more formal evaluation with leadership. This gives your team the chance to recognize others who did well, and it lets them identify what they want or need to learn more about.
Author
Couldn’t agree more. Thank you for reading, and for sharing your thoughts!
Erik, I agree with you and Leslie J. Kelsay! Working for a municipality (Slidell, LA ~ across the lake from New Orleans) for over 20 years, our first “crisis” incident was the May 1995 flood, followed by tropical storms, hurricanes, with the most devastating being Hurricane Katrina. We lost all of our city department buildings, with the exception of one. We lost communication with the outside world for a short period of time, due to our emergency ops plan and satellite phones. I had a lot of friends that lost not only their homes, but their businesses, some of which never reopened. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses think “this won’t happen here”, etc. Truth is, in todays world, a crisis isn’t just natural, but man-made as well. The best time to do your plans is before an event happens, not after.
Author
You nailed it Saviya. Crises can come from so many angles and the attitude of, “it can’t happen to me” is far too prevalent. Slidell is lucky to have you!