SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 160,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each Tuesday in our e-newsletter.
Last week, we asked: How well-documented and well-known are your company’s emergency recovery procedures?
- We’re generally prepared for most issues, but it takes us time to get our act together: 42%
- We’re ready for anything, and everyone knows exactly what to do in a crisis: 28%
- We’re not very well-prepared, and our procedures aren’t well-known: 18%
- We’re not prepared at all, and our procedures are virtually nonexistent: 13%
It’s called an emergency for a reason. Not being prepared at all can be catastrophic. Even if the emergency isn’t life threatening, it can be business threatening if you’re not prepared to respond. Poor crisis planning and basic procedures will cost you customers and put your business at risk. It doesn’t take much time and effort to lay out the critical points of your business, contingency plan, and occasionally rehearse those procedures. Failure to do so only benefits your competitors.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of ThoughtLeaders and author of “One Piece of Paper.”