COSE Update - September 2008 - (Page 18)

Picking up the Pieces continued september is national Preparedness Month  ready.gov/business take action you can hope for the best all you want, but if you decide to plan for the worst (which we encourage you to do), here are the top resources we found designed to help you not only get your plan on paper, but also communicate that plan to employees, vendors and customers. Web sites: ready.gov disasterlinks.net incaseofemergencyblog.com contingencyplanning.com disaster-resource.com pandemicflu.org Key Northeast Ohio Resources: American Red Cross of Greater Cleveland Chapter’s Business Emergency Planning Association (BEPA) (216) 431-3010 redcross-cleveland.org/bepa/aboutbepa.asp Contingency Planners of Ohio (330) 887-6438 cpohio.org Cuyahoga County Emergency Management Agency (216) 443-3155 http://lepc.cuyahogacounty.us/05242005.htm Office of Homeland Security city of cleveland, Department of public safety (216) 664-4131 city.cleveland.oh.us/government/departments /pubsafety/index.asp Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security Policy Research university of akron (330) 328-5789 uakron.edu/centers/cem/ Center for Emergency Preparedness cleveland state university (216) 875-9860 csuohio.edu/ce/certificates/cep_certs.html (a comprehensive, seven-day course designed to give you the tools to help avoid and deal with business interruptions.) 18 • cose update • september 2008 Helen’s voice mail and e-mail were rolled over to Rodriguez. The agency immediately changed its answering message to direct callers interested in “agency news” to Rodriguez’s line. “We didn’t want any communication to go into a black hole, especially if it had to do with people needing something,” she says. The agency helped Jones’ family plan a memorial service and a fund in her name. Meanwhile, in an acting-president role, Rodriguez is charged with regular duties such as heading up the annual fundraiser and planning next year’s budget, while still managing a crisis that simply will take time to heal. “The transition is going as smoothly and professionally as possible,” Rodriguez says, emphasizing the need for any business to engage in “deliberate, proactive planning.” “If I were gone for a month without warning, what would need to be done and who would do it?” she asks, posing a question to any size business, whether public, private or nonprofit. “This has been the toughest professional experience I’ve ever had,” Rodriguez relates. “You don’t let yourself stop and think too much about how you feel, though I never felt like I had to be stoic. I cried with everyone else. I felt like I needed to convey a sense of strength and hope and confidence, but I didn’t do that by jumping up and down with a smile on my face.” She did that by opening her door. By answering questions. By encouraging employees to talk, to seek EAP services. “We have such a mission-driven staff,” Rodriguez says. “We recognize that our staff will be doing their work with a heavy heart, but there was never a question that we would not do the work.” ● lessons learned 1. Get a PR Plan: if you don’t have in-house personnel to script messages or create formal media announcements when a business interruption occurs, keep a pr professional on retainer, or at the very least develop a relationship with someone you can call in a pinch. “We met with our executive team and began thinking about who we needed to contact and drafting a press release,” says Debbie rodriguez, acting president and ceo of recovery resources. “as unbelievable as it sounds, those are things we had to do right away.” 2. Define Roles: aside from succession planning, engage senior staff in conversations about the future and their roles in the business. Who will take over in case of emergency? What jobs must be done on a daily basis, and on a long-term basis? “helen and i had those discussion before,” rodriguez says, noting that her joining recovery resources three years ago coincided with helen’s gradual succession plan. “she and i were slated to meet the week she died for my three-year review and she had asked me to put some thought into what the agency structure would look like if i were heading up the agency.” such exercises are valuable for developing a senior leadership team. http://ready.gov/business http://ready.gov http://disasterlinks.net http://incaseofemergencyblog.com http://contingencyplanning.com http://disaster-resource.com http://pandemicflu.org http://redcross-cleveland.org/bepa/aboutbepa.asp http://cpohio.org http://lepc.cuyahogacounty.us/05242005.htm http://city.cleveland.oh.us/government/departments/pubsafety/index.asp http://uakron.edu/centers/cem/ http://csuohio.edu/ce/certificates/cep_certs.html

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of COSE Update - September 2008

COSE Update - September 2008 Contents Memo Upfront Vision Tech Business Interrupted The “Bigness” of Small Business What’s the Plan? People Telecom Advocacy Communications Health Pipeline Connect Arts My Cause Plugged In

COSE Update - September 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.