Is your business prepared for a disaster?

In today’s competitive business and environmental landscape, it's important that businesses of all sizes prepare for emergencies of all types whether fire, technological, human (acts of violence/ key employee loss), or natural. While large companies have in-house emergency planners and business continuity professionals, many small businesses can't afford a disaster planning team.

That's why we created this free guide to help businesses of all sizes get back to business faster after a disaster.

But before you can create a Business Continuity Plan, you must understand the specific risks your business faces. How can you prepare if you don’t know what you’re preparing for?Get Your Risk Assessment Guide

In this free guide, we’ll walk through a four-step risk assessment process:  

1. Threat Assessment
2. Facility and Security Assessment
3. Insurance Assessment
4. Evacuation Plan

The recent, devastating tornadoes across Oklahoma are a sobering reminder of just how important it is to be prepared.  No matter the size or type, businesses can’t afford to be down.  Don’t put off seeing if your insurance policy is adequate or that your employees are prepared and can be kept safe. This free guide provides informative tools to help your company be better prepared for various threats.

Get Your Free Risk Assessment Guide Here

Addressing the emotional fallout after an act of terror

flickr photo of Boston Marathon by mgstantonI don’t live in Boston, but Boston has been on my mind…and heart.  And I suspect the same has been the case for so many.   I have been distracted sometimes at work since Monday's bombing during the running of the Boston Marathon.  I find myself frequently checking the twitter sphere for updates.  This morning I was pleased to find this post by Sarah Green, Senior Associate Editor of the Harvard Business Review (4/16/2013).  It contains excerpts of their conversations from over ten years ago with Dr. Steven E. Hyman, who currently directs the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research. I recommend this article to business leaders that may be looking for coping strategies for their employees at a time like this.  Among the points discussed you will find the importance of clear communications from leadership and how to avoid pitfalls; the need for employees to stay connected to social networks; the importance of physical exercise at a time like this; and, what managers can do to help employees deal effectively with feelings of depression or grief that may be triggered by an event such as this.

Why have I followed this event so closely?  I am human. This horrific event evokes the full range of emotions:  uncertainty; the desire to be connected with others; the need to lament.  So I have looked at social media sites for information, connection, consolation, and to be part of the “virtual town square” to lament the meanness of humans with such reckless maiming of life.  I stay tuned in for the sake of my humanity, to keep the connective tissue with other human beings.  Just listen to Boston Globe’s columnist Kevin Gullen who, on NPR this morning, shares about personally knowing the firefighter who carried to safety the severely hurt little sister of Martin Richard, the eight year old who was killed.  About the firefighter – and the many other heroic responses - Cullen succinctly and powerfully expresses what we are all feeling: “… he represents the best of us. And whoever did this represents the worst of us.”

Why have I followed this event so closely? I am a runner.  Running serves as a release from work and life pressures.  It is also an activity that provides a sense of accomplishment.  Like any hobby, running also provides a connection to a community. Nowhere is this more the case than the Boston Marathon, with its requirement of qualifying times, its storied history, and its celebration of humanity coming together.  The bombing is an affront to these values and alters this framework.  This challenge will be on my mind and thousands of others as we take to the streets in less than two weeks for Nashville’s Country Music Marathon as a reflection of our values and as a testament to the resilience of the people who were on the Boston Marathon course that day.

Why have I followed this event so closely?  I think about disasters.  A great deal of my work involves organizational resiliency: helping businesses and communities anticipate, plan, avoid or minimize where possible the effects of a crisis or a disaster upon their business or community, whether technological, human (personnel / succession), or natural.  Just as with Superstorm Sandy and other events and incidents, I have been looking for insights that can help businesses and communities be better prepared.  In the coming days, I will be sharing some of these insights.

Five Tips for Your Life after the Mayan Apocalypse

The Kiwis and the Aussies awoke this morning on their Friday, December 21, 2012 and, after poking themselves to see if they were still alive, they rolled out of bed, grabbed their morning tea and took off for another day of work and living.  Whew! Disaster averted for them.

Meanwhile, I am writing this post on Thursday morning in a different time zone where we nervously (wink, wink…) pace on the eve of December 21, 2012.  In case you haven’t heard, this Friday (12/21/2012) is the day marked by some interpretations as the day of the Mayan Apocalypse: the day the ancient Mayans predicted the calendar would stop flipping and the world would stop spinning.

Let me say I am optimistic that JELL-O pudding will avert the end of the world.  (Click here to view their strategy.) But, on the eve of the Mayan Apocalypse I realize I may have only a few more hours to live.  My hometown of Nashville, TN could very soon look like a scene out of Walking Dead with Zombie invasions. The New Madrid fault line upon which Memphis rests could rumble at any moment displacing millions and triggering mass hysteria and riots. Then, there is the remote possibility of my walking across a crosswalk outside my office on 2^nd Avenue and being hit by a car driven by a distracted out of town tourist who was busy texting to her friend back in Missouri.  She was texting that the world could end for all she cared because she had just talked to Taylor Swift at the local Starbucks.  Lucky for her, but lights out for me. 

Or not.  

Maybe, just maybe, like any other predicted apocalypse or day, nothing will happen either as a result of ancient Mayan prophecies or errant cars.  I could just wake up on Friday and have my morning cup of coffee and go about another day.

My company Patmos is named after the Greek island of Patmos where John wrote The Book of Revelation, an apocalyptic book in the Bible about the end times.  On the eve of the Mayan Apocalypse, I couldn’t resist weighing in on our pending doom.   Especially when a part of Patmos’ business involves helping companies and communities anticipate threats and disasters and make plans to reduce them. 

I am also an ordained minister which means I am supposed to know something about prophecies.  For the record: I haven’t seen any Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding around to signal the end, although the Gangham Style You Tube Video craze is a little alarming.  The dance craze out of South Korea, where the main dance move mimics riding a horse, is nearing a billion hits on You Tube and should reach a billion tomorrow.  The reality that a billion people have watched this You Tube video is reason to be scared and maybe proof that our world deserves to end! 

For some time, grim prophesiers have pointed to Dec. 21, 2012, as the date of the apocalypse predicted by the Mayan calendar.  According to the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar, the end of this world’s 13th baktun – a baktun is a calendar period of 144,000 days) is Friday, leading some to extrapolate that the termination of this cycle will bring the end of days.  The Mayan scholar who broke the code is brushing off the doomsday theory, holding that the ancient Mayans never said anything about the world ending.  The end of the current baktun was a pretty big deal if you were an ancient Mayan priest, but the prophecy around it is the tendency of our modern culture to come up with excuses to freak out.  Remember the last end of the world scare that fizzled on January 1, 2000?

No matter what happens, it’s probably better to be safe than sorry. You’ll want to be prepared for the end, whenever it comes.  So I offer these 5 tips for your life after the Mayan Apocalypse.

5 Tips for Your Life after the Mayan Apocalypse: 

1. Daily hug the people in your life that you care about.  Make sure they know that you care about them.   (And make sure you all have a plan with how you all will communicate with one another and be re-united if a crisis large or small happens when you all are separated and may not be able to communicate via cell phones.)
2. Treat with respect and understanding those with whom you have dealings in business and in life.  Let respect be your baseline.  The colorful writer Studs Terkel once wrote:  “I want people to talk to one another no matter what their difference of opinion might be.”  If a stranger or acquaintance should do something to violate your trust and respect in them, then you have a decision to make about what is the fitting response, but let respect be your baseline and starting point with others.
3. Don’t dig a spider hole.  Don’t withdraw from our world into a fox hole to wait out whatever causes you fear, but engage.  Before the year ends, perform one charitable act that no one except you might notice.  And, those end of the year, fundraising letters that pile up on the edge of your desk, write at least one check to a charity working hard in your community to help people who are living through their own version of catastrophe whether it is hunger, homelessness, or violence.
4. Always keep a can of tuna fish, water, and some cash on hand.  In other words, take steps to be prepared for being without access to resources for at least 72 hours.  Cash is king following a disaster.  In 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, I was down in hurricane ravaged lower Louisiana.  With the power out, credit cards and A.T.M.’s were useless. It’s a good idea to always keep some cash on hand.
5. Have some type of a plan in place.  The Mayan Apocalypse was a fizzle but you will want to be prepared for the next subapocalyptic event that happens:  a tornado, or a blackout, or a loss of a key employee.  You can’t afford to have your business interrupted.  Contact us; we can help you be prepared to face disasters, large and small.  

Reflections on Leadership Following a Disaster from a BC/Disaster Recovery Expert who is also a Minister

An article in today’s New York Times by Michael Grynbaum and David Chen: “Bloomberg Puts Soothing Aside as He Rushes to Bring Back City” contains these two quotes:

“If he came out here, people would have a stronger impulse to say, ‘Yes, he’s been doing something,’ …He hasn’t even dropped by to see what’s going on.”  - A Queens resident whose power was restored on Monday, two weeks after the storm

“The people in this city didn’t elect Mike Bloomberg three times to give him a hug…His focus is helping people restore their lives. That’s what he believes government is there to do.” - Deputy Mayor of New York City Wolfson

The article highlighting the frustrations of some New Yorkers over Mayor Bloomber's low profile in their affected neighborhoods and emotionally distant leadership has me thinking about leadership and the various styles of leadership which are expected of our leaders in a disaster’s aftermath.  Especially by people who have been affected.  The article references the perception of other leaders forged during current or past disasters  -- Governor Christie of New Jersey, Police Commissioner Kelly, former Mayor Giuliani’.  What do we want from a leader:  a “hugger” or “a get ‘er done” type of person? It’s a false dichotomy to say we need one or the other.  Following a disaster, leaders need to be both: the hand holding leader AND the level-headed tactical leader who can win the battle against time and circumstance. 

I have what I think is an interesting perspective: I am an ordained minister who is also a disaster guy and a business continuity planner.  One friend who tries to bridge my work history refers to me as the “Pastor of Disaster.” My work has taken me to numerous disaster zones: Southern Louisiana following Katrina and to affected TN communities during several of our presidentially declared disasters.  As a planner, using software and excel spreadsheets I work with clients to help them anticipate, survive, and be able to recover quickly if they are faced with a serious crisis or business interruption.  As a business continuity planner, my clients’ expectations are that I will help them assess their threats and vulnerabilities and deliver an executable recovery plan that will help them get their business back up and running quickly if faced with an interruption.  During my days as a minister, when I walked into a crisis such as the emergency room to be with a grieving family, it was expected of me as a minister that I could compassionately hold the hand of the hurting and find the right words to say in a difficult situation.  Over the years, I have had to embody both leadership styles: the hand holding as a downtown minister gathering citizens together for a service of remembrance one week after a tornado churned through our Nashville downtown and urban neighborhoods back in the ‘90s and as the “tactical leader”, leading the planning effort to make sure there are no single points of failure in its infrastructure or in its people.  The aftermath of Superstorm Sandy has underscored just how important are the leaders who can provide the hugs, hands, and listening ear AND leaders who can mobilize resumption efforts.  

Observing and documenting leadership following disasters from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to local business interruptions, I can say it is such a tightrope one has to walk between these two poles of leadership, especially in this awkward period between crisis response and the beginning stages of a very long recovery.  I haven’t had the pleasure of knowing Mayor Bloomberg; I don’t know firsthand his strengths or limitations.  What I have observed about leadership following disasters is that the more business-like and tactical a leader is observed to be, the more she or he needs to move closer to the pole where leadership is “guided by the heart”, especially when it comes to dealing with people who are in a world of hurt.  Meanwhile, the leader who has the more embracive, consensus building style does well to move towards the pole of clear command and control following a disaster.  Whatever one’s nature is as a leader, one has to make sure they are covering the other base, too either through their own efforts or by surrounding them with team members who possess that style.

So Deputy Mayor Wolfson, my advice would be for the Mayor to try to convey more “heart” and a little more hand holding during this awkward transition time from response to recovery, especially as so many continue to face such difficult circumstances.  Training is essential in disaster preparedness and response plans.  Mayor Bloomberg might do well to undergo some hugging training.  But in NO way take the office’s eye off of the outstanding tactical and strategic leadership and focus that is being provided and will continually be needed during this long-term recovery and the corresponding infrastructure needs Sandy has exposed for your city and for all of us.  I’m watching here in Nashville…and praying for you…and stand ready to help with the huge task at hand.

Advice from our Nashville flood (2010) to businesses and nonprofits affected by Hurricane Sandy

In April 2010, Nashville, TN and the surrounding area experienced historic flooding which affected over 2000 businesses and even more homes.  In the days that followed, Nashvillian John Hilley was a frequent blogger about tangible actions leaders of organizations could take as part of the response and  recovery process.  What is found below is an entry from 5/25/2010, which appeared almost 3 weeks after the flood date.  It is being reposted now in the hope the information may be helpful to businesses and nonprofits affected by Hurricane Sandy.

It’s “Open for Business” now for most Nashville businesses.  For the estimated 1600 businesses impacted by the recent floods, business owners may be saying they will be open for business “soon” or “maybe”.   A few may be seriously considering if they can re- open at all.  The U.S. Department of Labor provides the sobering estimate that over 40% of businesses never reopen following a disaster.   Just how soon depends in part on matters outside of your control.  But there are things within your control that can make a difference whether you can and how soon you can.

Earlier, I wrote about how important it is to communicate with your employees, making sure they are okay.  Here, I highlight some of these areas that lie within your control and reference my website http://www.patmosconsulting.com where I have written in greater detail about these critical steps.

1. Assess.  Assess the damage done to your business.  Look at the costs of the damages and what it will take to rebuild.  Assess your financial position.  What amount of money will you need to make your business operational?  SBA Disaster loans, tax relief from the IRS to offset losses, and insurance will help you determine where you line up on the continuum between “open soon” and “not open at all.”  Assess your market reach and customer base.  Communicate with your stakeholders.
2. Time is of the essence in getting your business up and running.  Every impacted business owner wants life to return to normal.  Often the stress following a disaster can disorient and cripple decision-making ability and prevent you from dealing with the change required to move forward.  Conditions have changed and your business must change to succeed in the “new normal.”  Your primary goal in the “new normalcy” is to create a work environment that will satisfy the needs of your customers and generate revenue.  The quicker the better. ("The New Normalcy") 
3. Create a plan and work the plan.  If you already have a business continuity or disaster recovery plan, use it.  If not create an action plan and work the plan. (On creating an action plan.) 
4. Don’t run the race alone and understand the recovery is more akin to a marathon and not a sprint.  The impact of this flood is bigger than what you can handle by yourself.  Enlist the support of available resources. Yes, time is of the essence right now, but the road ahead is a long one. Pace yourself.  (Leadership) 
5. Disaster preparedness.  Businesses who escaped the flood waters, take heed. Time taken now to establish a business continuity plan will better position you to survive whatever the next impact might be.

 John Hilley is Founder and President of Patmos, LLC provides services for corporate and nonprofit clients focusing on organizational resiliency. John is currently working with area business leaders and emergency officials on a regional plan to boost the preparedness of businesses and nonprofit organizations to face future disasters.    (www.patmosconsulting.com) @Patmosllc