Preparing for the Bus

We all know one, or maybe we are one. You know – the person that plans for all eventualities, including the most unbelievably improbable situations or opportunities.

I like to think I’m that person now, but that wasn’t the case many years ago. For me, this was a lesson presented over and over and over again by one of my favorite bosses. For every new idea, project or policy suggested for implementation, she would ask, “What happens if you get run over by a bus? What happens then? How do we pick up where you left off?”

The Bus; what happens after The Bus?

How do you prepare? How far in advance do you prepare? Where are these instructions kept? Who maintains/updates them? What is the basic plan if Employee A is unable to perform their job unexpectedly? Employee B? Employee Z? How do we mitigate the negative aspects of the loss of a staff member? How do we, as an organization, react publicly and to the family?

These are some the questions that constantly run through the mind of a planner.

The answer to that proverbial question is to write down the procedure, logon/password, instructions, etc., so anyone on the staff could step in if necessary during an emergency situation; even if that staff member is you.

This does not mean that everyone on staff knows every aspect of everyone else’s job. It just creates a starting point for those who need to step in when circumstances require.

Some people are inherently opposed to writing everything down for a variety of reasons. Some like to think they can keep it all in their head and act when necessary using just their knowledge. Others feel like writing it down opens the door to being replaced by a younger, less expensive employee, while some just don’t think it is important for anyone else to know because they like to control access for security (or other) purposes.

On the other hand, there are those who write everything down; what time they went to lunch or on break, and what day and time they spoke to "Mark at Intellimedia" about correcting a flaw in the system. This can be helpful, but in some ways it could also be just a little too much.

Over the past few years my team has been working on a project that took much longer to produce results than we anticipated. In the initial planning stages, several options for success were discussed and plans were devised. Over time it became apparent that success would be achieved when least expected; sure enough, it did.

Were we ready? Yes.

Did everything work out the way we planned? No, but we had Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D to pull from as circumstances quickly changed. Eventually we ended up with a combination of every plan that had been devised, and a significant amount of documentation to fall back on as new challenges appeared.

A leader’s job is to lead (no kidding!).

So, lead!

Sell the idea of documenting the key elements of each role in the organization to your staff so that if The Bus hits your organization, those tasked with ensuring the ship is not circling around rudderless have sufficient information to keep it moving in the right direction.

Perhaps working in teams to identify areas where members depend on others to perform their own work is the best place to start. For instance, if Sam depends on data from Kay, Sam should know how to get the data, where it is normally stored, or to whom he can go for assistance so that he can get what he needs if Kay is unavailable for any length of time.

I know this all sounds so simple, like Management 101, but how many of us actually have this system in place? How many actually have a plan for the eventuality of The Bus?

It’s not something we want to think about, but we should – and plan for.

Dawn is the Deputy Executive Director for the Academy for Eating Disorders in Reston, VA. Before founding her own consulting firm in 2013, she served as a respected project management and administrative operations professional in the military, higher education, and women’s healthcare fields for almost 30 years. As a volunteer, she currently serves as the Past Chair of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's Women's Council. 

Dawn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Management from Trevecca Nazarene University, as well as a Master of Business Administration degree and a Graduate Certificate in Organizational Management from American Public University, and a Lean/Six-Sigma Green Belt. 

How Do You Plan for the Unimaginable?

I am an unapologetic bibliophile. 

I simply love to read books. Although I’ve had a Kindle for several years and it is rarely out of reach, especially when I travel, I love the feel of my fingers running along a row of books; especially older, leather-bound books. There is something about the smell of leather and ink, and the exploration of a story that is soothing to me.

But what if there were no more books? It’s unimaginable, right? Even in today’s technologically advanced society, the idea of never picking up a printed book again is unfathomable.

In business, as in life, crisis management begins with identifying the unimaginable, the imaginable, the probable, and then planning how to mitigate the damage IF they happen.

Being caught off guard by the unimaginable is manageable if you routinely engage in, and actively fund, crisis management planning.

However, being unprepared to deal with a crisis of any type or size can be catastrophic and is, unfortunately, often fatal. 

In their book, Managing Crises Before They Happen, Mitroff & Anagnos point out that unlike in previous centuries, today crises are an unfortunate fact of life. Some are minor and affect only your own business, but in a global economy even small events can cause ripple effects that become tidal waves all over the globe.

At the risk of sounding like a management professor by quoting Mitroff & Anagnos, crises fall into one of seven categories:

• Economic
• Informational
• Physical
• Human Resource
• Reputational
• Psychotic Acts
• Natural Disasters

Regardless of the type of crisis your business faces, having a well-defined crisis management plan is essential to its survival. Good crisis management plans include:

• Identifying the type of risks that are possible, probable, and unimaginable (see bulleted list above)
• Determining the ramifications of the possible, probable, and unimaginable
• Identifying mechanisms for recognizing, preparing for, responding to and learning from crises
• Planning for the allocation of the company’s PR, HR, IT, culture, organizational systems and other resources before, during and after a crisis
• Open, frequent communications with all stakeholders so that everyone knows what their responsibilities are during a crisis.

In short, the unexpected will happen, and sometimes even the unimaginable happens. The key to surviving the unimaginable is careful, thoughtful crisis management planning.

So now I’m curious to hear what others think about crisis management.

Please take a moment to share what works for you, what doesn’t, and the best or worst advice you have ever received on the topic. 

Oh, and if you have a favorite book, I'd be happy to read it. 

Thanks for sharing!

Before founding her own consulting firm, Dawn Gannon served as a respected management professional in the military, higher education, and healthcare fields for 25 years. As a Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt, Dawn’s commitment and personal mission to improve the lives of others through service to the community focuses on providing administrative and volunteer management, consumer education, public outreach, event planning, relationship-building efforts, and strategic planning. She is the author of the Management in Motion blog, and has written a number of articles for RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association on the topic of childfree living.