What Can A Disaster Teach A Business Manger?

Every time a crisis hits we learn more about crisis management. When the hurricane ravaged New Orleans the country was ripped apart. People died because no one was prepared for a disaster of that scale. The morning of 9/11 stunned the world. We believed there was no way to prevent the tragedies, but since those days we have learned vital lessons about crisis management.

Pass The Buck

Both of these disasters were worse than they should have been because no one created a plan of action. FEMA had a plan. The government had some independent strategies. But no one got together.

Private citizens donated tanks for water and fuel. Unfortunately, because there was no emergency plan the ‘inspectors’ wouldn’t let them be installed because they couldn’t be ‘legally’ installed above ground and the equipment to bury them had been destroyed.

People died for lack of clean water, and succumbed to cold.

The same thing happened on 9/11. The food tents at the ground level were run by one government official who had no training. Volunteers travelled from as far away as Vancouver, BC to help, but were turned away because they were not ‘official.’

Firefighters went hungry. Volunteers went hungry. And Good Samaritans were told to go home because they were not needed, while food rotted because no one had time to prepare and serve it.

The first rule of crisis management is to create a plan. The plan should include everything, including a plan to close the business. One public speaker that talks on this subject tells audiences how it cost them $30 000 to go out of business – something they could have avoided with an exit strategy.

Network

The world watched in horror as the waters swept over New Orleans. Videos were shot when the bridge collapsed bringing down dozens of cars and leaving a school bus load of children trapped in the middle of a river.

What happened next is the stuff that fills ‘disaster fiction’ novels.

Heroes emerged and went to the aid of the children in the river. Private citizens drove to New Orleans and ‘took over’ where officials failed.

Busses drove hundreds of survivors to Texas where they stayed in shelters.

A lesson was learned by the Canadian Military. When the US skies were closed on 9/11 the planes were diverted to a small military base in Nova Scotia, Canada. Within hours the people were off the plans, and comfortable in people’s homes. They were fed and cared for.

This lesson is a vital one for small business owners. People are always willing to help. Networking with other business professionals is one way to have a concerned friend help you out of a situation when it happens. Not everyone has the ‘hero’ mentality. It may take time to find help, but make sure you know who to call when something goes wrong.

Make a Plan

Project Managers and Systems Analysis are taught to create plans of actions in case of emergency. It is hard for a small business or ecommerce business owner to understand what might go wrong. But they can still create a plan of action.

This should include managing family affairs, financial difficulties, and health issues. The biggest threat to most small businesses is the failing health of the business owners. It is amazing how many managers do not create an emergency package so someone else can control the business if they have a heart attack or are in an auto accident.

Learn

There are dozens of crisis management books written about 9/11 and the New Orleans disaster. Take the time to read them. Learn from the professionals. Understanding the basic concepts of crisis management can help business owners learn how to handle their own problems.

A small business owner will hopefully never face a problem the level of the above situations, but their failure to plan for emergencies can leave their loyal employees without a job, and cost them their savings. It can also leave the business owner facing the loss of their house, or even bankruptcy.

Not all business management strategies are learned in business school. They are learned in the real world, where real people live, mistakes are made, and disasters strike.

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