Emergency Management Business Continuity Planning

During the 2020 pandemic, the importance of having a Business Continuity Plan became quite evident when virtually overnight, businesses had to close doors and shut down operations. What is a Business Continuity Plan? A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a strategic document that outlines how a business will continue operating during and after a disruption or disaster. The goal of a BCP is to ensure that essential functions can continue with minimal downtime and data loss, even in the face of unexpected events.

A BCP includes: Risk Assessment, Continuity Strategies, Emergency Response and Management, and Recovery Plans. It's a collaboration of key roles, employees, stakeholders, internal and external partners and leadership. It essentially provides a roadmap for what to do in case of disaster or crisis, or some interruption to operations. Currently, many organizations are working through strategies to mitigate the impact of tariffs. Those that had a BCP in place, are better situated for dealing with this current commerce challenge.

As the current administration looks to reduce the government footprint and costs, emergency management is being shifted away from FEMA and placing both the responders and financial burden more on the individual states. The potential impact to private and public organizations is that there will be fewer resources to help and support recovery. Now, more than ever, organizations need to have a BCP in place. This could be the difference between failure and the ability to continue on. Whether you are running a 10 person small business or a 10,000 employee public agency, you need to have a BCP in place. Consider that a natural disaster will impact each individual in different ways. For example, your facilities manager has a tree fall on their home and they are no longer able to inhabit their house. The stress and disruption for that employee and their family is elevated. The children may be unable to return to school, that employee may be unable to fulfill their work task. What is the plan for your operation? Or what if your primary supplier is flooded out and stops distributing a key component that you need. What is your plan?

As a mediator and facilitator, I can support the creation of a BCP by holding space for the process. By managing the different perspectives and keeping the conversation constructive, co-creating agendas and keeping the group focused, as well as  tracking agreements and tasks, and making sure everyone has a clear understanding of next steps. It is an investment of time and resources. However, being prepared for the worst day of your life can truly be the difference between having a business that continues to function or suffering more loss when disaster strikes.

As a FEMA incident manager, I have seen the impact of disasters to communities throughout our country. It is devastating. However, if members of the community can return to their place of work and be part of the solution, it helps with the healing and getting back to "normal". While a return may not happen immediately after a disaster or crisis, knowing that there is a BCP in place will provide at least some hope for all that count on the organization-employees, customers, consumers, shareholders, suppliers, vendors, etc. We cannot always control what happens but we can be prepared!

As always, I offer a complimentary consultation. Let's get this important conversation started...