Managing Disaster
While Hurricane Katrina and it’s after effects are fresh in people’s minds I thought it would be a good idea to share a lesson about business and disaster. I’m sure that thousands of businesses have had their operations ceased as a result of this killer storm. For many businesses that can mean major upheaval and, in some cases, insolvency. Your business can survive a major disaster if you follow some basic steps.
The story of Merrill Lynch from the September 11, 2001 attacks provides a clue on how to prepare for a disaster. The company successfully evacuated 9000 employees from the area around the World Trade Center in the minutes following the terrorist attacks. Within hours, Merrill Lynch’s New York operations were up and running again. How could they achieve such an amazing feat? There are two reasons. First, they had a plan. Second, they had leadership.
As a business owner or key person in a business you need to have both in order to survive not only the initial moments of a disaster but also to withstand the aftermath.
A plan to deal with disaster can take many forms. Certainly there must be a financial component. How will you deal with the loss of income and property from a disaster? Procuring good insurance is one way to mitigate the financial effects of a disaster. Unfortunately insurance doesn’t always cover 100% of your costs in a situation so a disaster or “rainy day” fund is a valuable asset. As much as you can you should save for that rainy day that you hope will never come. Unfortunately, sometimes those days do come along and your fund will help to ease the pain of the event.
There also needs to be a component that addresses people and physical assets. How will you evacuate people and physical assets if you have the opportunity? Do you have another location that you can work from if your primary location is compromised? Which personnel are critical to keeping your business running at a minimum level? These and more questions should be answered as part of your disaster plan.
So you must make sure that a plan exists. Once your plan exists you must re-evaluate the plan periodically to make sure that the plan still makes sense as your business changes. All personnel must know their part of the plan before a disaster occurs. For that reason, rehearsing and talking through the plan are keys to success. Taking the extra time to do this will make things much easier when it comes time to execute.
If the rainy day should come and you have to put the plan into action then you’ll need leadership. Great leaders know how to keep their composure and follow the plan, adlibbing as necessary. As a key person in a business, you always need to be aware of the level of leadership on your team. Take the time to nurture leadership traits amongst your staff and you’ll have another insurance policy to protect your business when you need it most.
All of this is fine and dandy, but there’s one more way that you can insure a soft landing from a disastrous event. Treat your employees well. Take care of them during times bad and good and they will take care of you when the business needs it most. You can always replace machines and furniture, but replacing a great employee is a very difficult task. Treat people as your most precious resource for overcoming disaster and you’ll be a step ahead of circumstance every day of the week.
