By Jana Mathieson
Everyone knows that if you don’t practice before a big game, chances are that you won’t do as well as if you had practiced. Superstars in sports, world-class musicians, orators, and more all practice their craft well before they perform.
The same holds true for business preparedness. Sure, all the pieces are in place — from the MOU and MAA to the communications plan and IT backup — but how do you know it will all work when an emergency or disaster strikes? Have you practiced your plan?
David Greenhouse, Business Continuity Manager at Mercury System and Red Cross Preparedness expert, wants to help you practice to your plan. Greenhouse will present a table top exercise at the Rocky Mountain Business Preparedness Academy on September 30, 2014. He has done this exercise for many communities and companies, including the Mile High Chapter of the American Red Cross.
Greenhouse has seen incidents where preparedness succeeds in keeping businesses and communities alive and incidents where lack of preparedness has caused the downfall of communities. Greenhouse pointed to Joplin, MO, as an example where planning and preparedness paid off. Only a few years after their community was devastated by a tornado, they are nearly completely recovered. On the other side is New Orleans, Greenhouse said, where leaders waited and didn’t enact their plan; years later, some residents still have not returned and the community has not recovered.
Greenhouse wants people to be able to think about the possible scenarios that could happen and plan appropriately. That might mean planning for loss of site, loss of technology, and unavailability of staff, to name a few. “If we can practice our plans, we can see where there are holes and then the fix them,” said Greenhouse.
If you haven’t practiced –or even mad — your emergency plans, get hands-on training and advice from Greenhouse and other preparedness experts at the Business Preparedness Academy. The cost is only $25 and you can register here: www.redcross.org/RMBPA.