[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePpJiTKU5H0]
I’m spending this weekend with about two dozen returning exchange students from my Rotary Club district. I’m taking over the role of what is called a “Rebound Coordinator” for the district. The team of Rotarians I’m working with spend time talking with both returning students and parents about the year the kids were gone, and importantly, how to re-adjust back to “normal” life. You see, being gone to a new culture – with new language, experiences, and even some challenges – requires a bit of debriefing for everyone to assure a smooth transition back for everyone. That’s a key reason parents are required to attend at least part of it. Making sure all stakeholders are taken care of is critical to ongoing success.
In your business, that same care and concern must occur after a crisis or calamity. All stakeholders must be included in a debrief of the event. Now this calamity might not be dramatic; it can range from a loss of power that stopped operations for three hours (and maybe had employees stuck in the elevator for that period of time); flooded your office space and created chaos; or forced a building evacuation due to any number of perils.
We all experience some level of crisis regularly. Whether they be large or small, we need to do a good job of examining what we did well and what can be improved. For every minute of lost time due to an event that stops your regular operations, you risk losing between $1,000 and $10,000 of lost productivity, opportunity, and profits. That’s worth finding a better way to deal with them! By going through this process, you might prevent another event, and at least improve recovery time for the next one.
Here’s your assignment: Create a process for debriefing after any event that you believe caused a loss for your business. It doesn’t have to be complex, but it should include all stakeholders (including clients, if necessary). Identify ways you could have improved your response to recover more quickly, and then integrate that into your Business Continuity program. If you need help with either of those, let me know.
Bottom line: You should never let a good crisis go to waste. Invest some time and resources into finding a way to debrief and improve from every calamity. Your bottom line will then be happier and healthier!
Quote of the Day:
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
~ Dr. Seuss
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