Relationships Matter

You wouldn't expect support from an uncle you haven't spoken to in twenty years. The same is true of our extended business family. To build a resilient support system for your business, the time to develop those relationships is now. As we enter into the holiday season with Thanksgiving, you can reach out and say thank you for being part of your business and how important this relationship is to you. You can then introduce the topic of being there for each other if a local disaster might strike. Ask your employees what challenges they would face if the business needed more from them during a crisis. Generally, these challenges fall into the three broad categories:

1)     Time: to address issues with their families at home.

Since many workers have child, pet, or elder-care issues they may have strict limits to the additional time they can devote to business recovery efforts.

2)     Transportation: to work if roads or public transportation is not 

operational.

Ask how your employees travel to work. Do many of them rely on public transportation? A surprising number of organizations sign contracts for alternative work sites that are far away from bus and train lines without first checking to see how dependent their workforce is on such services. If your employees are forced to relocate to another site for a prolonged period of time, try to find ways of helping them cope with the difficulties this change may cause.

3)     Access: to services for the challenges the community is

working to overcome.

Are there adequate support services in the area such as parking sites, restaurants, banks, and retail stores so that the inconvenience of working at a new location is manageable? Can they get to appointments and other activities in a reasonable time? Will they be able to support their family during this time of crisis while putting in an extra effort at work?

Taking your employee's needs into consideration will build loyalty and help ensure you get the maximum benefit from their efforts. Find out if your employees have a family preparedness plan. If they don't, encourage them to use free resources such as www.ready.gov where they can find detailed information on putting together a simple preparedness plan as a family.

Vendors, especially larger ones, will likely have experience in working with trading partners who have suffered a disruption. Some may have special "quick ship" procedures to help rapidly replace lost inventory. Others may be willing to provide special payment terms in the event of a disaster, especially of if the disruption is wide scale. If a vendor is critical to your operation and they aren't open to providing assistance in a crisis, consider finding a second source for this product or service as a back-up. Of course, the best time to open a dialog about the possibility of receiving some special consideration is well before you need it, so schedule a discussion on this topic with your trading partners soon.

Studies have shown that it is eight times as expensive to acquire a customer as it is to maintain your relationship with one. In the event of a prolonged disruption expect your customers to turn to one of 

your competitors for their needs. To reduce your risk of permanently losing them, find ways of maintaining contact with them during an outage. Share your progress with them by communicating by email or other means. Many options for staying in contact with customer exist, but it takes some time and effort to put these processes in place and craft a strategy that works for both you and them. Clear and regular communications is critical in restoring them as customers when you and/or they emerge from disruption. Talk to your large clients about what they need to operate their business and how you might help do your part. Find out the minimum service or amount of product that they require for their business obligations. Develop business continuity plans that allow you to meet these performance requirements for these critical relationships. In some cases, specialized insurance products such as extra expense coverage may allow you to purchase products from a competitor, re-label, and deliver it to your client without suffering a financial loss. Be creative thinking through your operations so that you have a plan to deploy when the time comes to act.

Lastly, think about ways in which you can provide support and relief to your community and take a leadership position for your immediate area of operation, your professional or social organization or town. Leadership matters and everyone remembers who stood up when the times got tough. Look into programs for leadership and emergency training through the Community Emergency Response Teams www.citizencorps.gov/cert/ or volunteering with your local American Red Cross, church or civic groups.

Thanksgiving is a time of reflection of the many bounties we are blessed with at home and in our communities. A special time to reflect on how the health and safety of our families and businesses depend upon a caring and thoughtful community. During the holidays, with the hullabaloo and increased seasonal work, we are reminded that these relationships really do matter and define who we are. Leadership is gratitude in action. Building your comprehensive recovery plan with your business 'family' is a powerful way of ensuring the safety and economic stability of your community so your entire community will be ready to resume. Have a safe and prosperous Thanksgiving holiday!