Last week I found a website on business preparedness launched by the SBA. The preparemybusiness.org website indicates that roughly 40-60 percent of small businesses never reopen their doors following a disaster. They defined disaster as long-term power outages, hacker disruption, fire, earthquake or other catastrophes. I’m confident many of you reading this post have disaster recovery plans for your technology and maybe have addressed the other possibilities through insurance options. Congratulations for your good business leadership skills. It made me think, though, that being prepared isn’t just about disasters. Yet we often focus our preparedness on dealing with disasters, should they occur, and not on the week-to-week or month-to-month preparedness that would be helpful to the business or our company.
I think good business leadership means being prepared for all eventualities. Here are some examples.
What happens if a key person in your organization leaves? Recently one of my clients had an employee leave who was the only person in her company who performed a certain critical task. In her words, “I feel like it’s Hiroshima.” She’s now hiring a replacement and intends to train three people to handle this role so she’s never so vulnerable again.
The same question relates to customers. What if your key customer/client leaves? Do you have enough business with others to weather the situation, or will you find yourself out of business? Consider hiccups that can arise with projects, such as delays, outcomes different than expected, or the project’s going totally awry. Even situations such as a family illness or emergencies, staff vacations or illness, and weather can play havoc if you are ill prepared or not prepared at all.
Don’t let your focus on disaster recovery interfere with running your company. Good business leadership is being prepared for any
eventuality, disasters being just one of them.
