3-29-10 Tornado!

As I type this, the tornado sirens are going off. Yes, I live smack in the middle of tornado alley. And no, there is not a tornado on the way. Every Monday at noon (weather permitting, of course), the tornado sirens sound off all over our community (and in many of the businesses as well). Why? Well, what good is an emergency system that doesn’t work when you need it? So, each week, we test our system to ensure that it works properly.

So what the heck does a tornado siren have to do with the executive? Emergency preparedness is something that every executive should give some thought to. I realize in my last post about disaster preparedness, I didn’t do a very good job of tying it to the model for executive skills and traits (3-1-10 Earthquakes and Such). And, if you will remember from the executive skills and traits model, within the execution function, there are several relevant skills….. Manage change and ambiguity; Manage fragmentation and rapid pace; Delegation (1-13-10 Execution Skills -- Now go DO something!).

Certainly, in a disaster, you will be managing at a very rapid pace. As the disaster unfolds, you will feel as though you need to be many places at once. And while you can accomplish a lot on your own, you definitely need to have done some prior delegation so that others on your team are effectively executing their part of the plan.

The information you will be getting is going to undoubtedly be fragmented and oftentimes, will be ambiguous. You can’t wait to have perfect data in a disaster. But you can take a moment to do an internal evaluation of the pieces of data. Tuck away those datum that your gut or your brain tells you aren’t relevant for the moment. And then act on the data that you believe is relevant.

Ultimately, in a disaster mode, you are managing change. If you have done your preparations, the change won’t be easy, but it can be manageable.

Of course, many of the other executive skills and traits will come into play as your particular disaster unfolds. You will be called on to communicate both internally and externally. Your people skills will be tested. And your strategy skills, if you have taken the time to put together a disaster recovery strategy, will certainly be demonstrated.

One final word on disaster preparedness and recovery. As I said in my previous post on the subject, you WILL have to deal will a disaster sooner or later. In addition to having a plan or strategy, you have to practice. Remember those fire drills in school? Well, yes, they were important. So important, that you should have translated that practice to your business.

And to answer your question….. Yes, I’ve lived all my life in Kansas. And no, I’ve never seen a tornado on the ground. But, yes, I’ve dealt with the aftermath of one at work. It isn’t fun. But it is survivable.

Cheers!