LISTEN:
We had quite a scare last weekend with Bella.
Bella is our 16-year old, less gregarious than her pal Captain Jack, but equally loved dog. On that Friday, she stopped eating, an activity she usually performs with speed and gusto. Sometimes she has stomach issues, so I didn’t think much of it until later in the evening. When her lack of appetite moved into Saturday, my mindset turned to alarm.
We are fortunate that there is a fantastic Animal Emergency Clinic right down the street from us. We took her in that morning to find out what the problem was. At her age, I was deeply concerned that this could be an “end of life” scenario.
Within an hour after her admittance, we received the good news on Bella. This was not an end of life scenario. She was suffering from pancreatitis. It was treatable and the outlook was very positive. As a senior dog, they were going to keep her overnight and then send her home with a special diet for the week.
Bella’s recovery diet was a week full of bland food – unseasoned chicken and white rice. We started slow with smaller, more frequent portions, and then progressed to her regular portions. Additionally on Day 4 of the plan, we were able to start integrating her regular food back into her diet. The hardest part was separating the two dogs by a gate so they didn’t get their diets “shared.”
As I’m writing this a full week after the scare, she is very happily sleeping on the chair next to me. The reason? We were provided a plan given to us by experts. We followed the plan. And the recovery was rapid and successful.
Recovering from any type or scope of calamity for your business is no different.
In order to recover rapidly and successfully – and that means profitably and with as little disruption as possible – you need a similar recovery plan.
In business, it’s preferable to have that plan in place before the crisis. While we certainly couldn’t anticipate an emergency for either of the dogs happening on a weekend when our veterinarian’s office is closed, we knew about the 24/7 emergency facility down the street and how to contact them.
Businesses can suffer their own form of pancreatitis. That nausea and stomach pain can be caused by countless things – loss of power and/or connectivity, inability to deliver products or services, fire damage, water damage, cyber attack, auto accident, and theft of money or goods to name just a few.
Are you ready to recover?
If you’re the CEO or business owner, can you confidently communicate your plan to your employees? If you’re the employee, do you know what to do in an emergency?
Your assignment this week is simple. It’s time to make sure your business has a plan in place to deal with business continuity challenges. It requires an expert – just like the ones who helped us with Bella – who can provide you with a plan. You then must be prepared to follow the plan.
If you do all of that, especially in advance, your road to a rapid recovery will be as good as Bella’s was.
Quote of the Week:
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
~ Winston Churchill
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