It’s very likely that your management system did not include a contingency for a global pandemic. But it is a fantastic opportunity for us to learn something from it.
Many companies create emergency response plans because they are trying to comply with an ISO standard, or perhaps a statutory or regulatory requirement or even a customer requirement. And many of us go through the motions creating those plans with the usual “fire”, “hurricane”, and “power outage” emergencies. Perhaps we even add in a fire drill once in a while as part of our robust emergency response plan. And thankfully, it is rare that we actually have to activate these plans.
But here comes our friend 2020 and just like that, our lives (and businesses) will forever be changed. This pandemic brings generations together in that we can all agree, “we aint never seen anything like it”. But more than that, it reveals a vulnerability in all of us, and in our businesses about just how important having an emergency response plan IS.
Now, maybe we didn’t have any of this in our previously created plan. But we are being tested now. And we can embrace the opportunity to make our previous plan better. Much better.
Organizations around the globe are finding innovative solutions to protecting their workers, continuing the supply chain (as well as is possible), helping their customers, supporting their suppliers. Even governments (gasp) around the world are finding ways to work together to temporarily enact emergency measures to allow essential businesses to continue to serve the public.
And now is the time to capture all that innovation and put it in our plans for whatever our businesses might face next. I’m encouraging everyone to keep this in mind. Dust off that old emergency response plan and put in some of the stuff you and your organization have learned over the past few weeks, and will learn in the weeks to come.
The old saying, “never let a crisis go to waste” can be turned on its ear from being a really negative one to a positive addition to all our businesses.
What is your organization doing today that you can add to your plans for the future?
