The events surrounding
Hurricane Matthew contain many leadership lessons for all of us. Living in South
Florida, those lessons are all too real and take on more immediacy! As
fortunate as we were, clearly there are many in the Caribbean and in the
Carolina’s that were not. In reflecting on my own preparations as well as those
at the local and state level, it gets me thinking out loud about the importance
of a leader’s ability to anticipate and prepare versus just hope things
work out!
First of all, I encourage
everyone to remember the sacrifices and dedication of all types of first-responders
who respond to these emergencies. Everyone from law enforcement, fire/rescue, medical
professionals, power crews, national guard, etc. mobilized during the storm so
that they could be on the scene as soon as possible. If you listened to the
briefings by state and local officials, clearly you could tell they had
emergency response plans and assets that were coordinated.
Obviously I hope you and
your organization never has to face such a monumental challenge, but what are
the lessons to be learned here? Whereas not an exhaustive list, here are some things to consider.
Threat Scenarios = list the
possible threats to your enterprise. Do you have contingencies for your I.T.
and communications if the primaries fail? What about inventory? The point is to
identify the physical, digital, and human resource issues that could impact
your organization.
Assets = best on the above,
what assets do you have in place that you could draw upon if needed? These
assets could include partnerships, expertise, equipment, procedures, backups,
etc. that can help you in times of need.
Proactive Solutions = the
time to have solutions is BEFORE you need them, not WHEN you need them! For
example, if you live in South Florida and other hurricane possible areas, you
check and restock your supplies before the season and NOT when a storm is
approaching to avoid the long lines and possible shortages at the grocery store,
gas station, home supply stores, etc. The same is true for your business. You may
not want to make such proactive expenditures but I guarantee it is better than
the alternative of not having them at all when you really need them!
Coordination = make sure
you have contingency plans in advance and that all parties know what to in the
case of an emergency or challenge. Coordinating with customers, vendors, your
own team, etc. is critical when things come off the rails!
Mindset = when challenges
emerge, what is your mindset or attitude? If you have prepared the best you can
and done all that you can do, then it is up to you to stay strong and resilient.
Survival experts assert that the primary difference between those the survive challenging
situations and those that do not is the WILL do so!
Post Review = a big part of
emergency planning is reflecting on the lessons learned after the last one! You
may realize some procedures worked better than others and some assets were more
important.
Leadership expert John
Maxwell tells us that challenges don’t create
character, they reveal them!
I am sure in the days to come we will hear countless stories of how individuals
and communities come together to help each other based upon individual acts of
courageous and selfless leadership. I encourage you to do what you can to help
the victims of this storm. If you donate, research carefully so that your
generosity is maximized versus going to fund large overhead costs that is often the case with large organizations and foundations.
As always if I can help you and the
people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would
invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the
training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a
bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will
send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your
organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to
your organization!
Yours in Leadership,
Bill Faulkner
Principal Consultant –
Out Loud Strategies
Independent Coach,
Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team TM
Email = bill@outloudinc.com
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