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It’s almost Halloween, I can tell by all the typical signs around my house: bags of candy I’m trying hard not to open, pieces of kids costumes still in production on various tables and counters, and replays of old monster movies that I’m missing on cable this week.
The good news is that even though you cannot control threats you can control some of the impact from them in two ways. First, you can take action to mitigate (lessen) the impact of a threat on your operations, staff, or facilities (e.g. a UPS for your computers is mitigation). Second, you can prepare your company and employees by planning and training to effectively respond and recover from these incidents when they happen. By being proactive you decrease your company’s overall risk profile and decrease the perceived fear factor of the threat. It’s like turning Bram Stoker’s Dracula into modern, teenage, angst-filled vampires – still a problem but far more manageable and not likely to cause nightmares.
The different threats don’t scare me because I know there are things we can do to prepare and protect ourselves, our employees, and our businesses. The one thing that does scare me is when a business, church, or school doesn’t do anything to prepare for these threats. They may not be aware of the threats or worse, they know but decide to do nothing because they incorrectly think nothing bad will ever happen to them. No matter the reason, an organization that relies on luck for their preparedness strategy rather than action is who I fear for.
So here is your homework assignment: go back to the previous question above about the 3 things that scare you and pick just one threat. Now decide to do something to prepare for that threat. Find one action you can take to lessen the impact of that event and secondly document a procedure for your staff so they know what to do if it happens. For example, if a customer having a heart attack in your office or store is your feared threat, you could send a few of your staff to CPR training and purchase an AED and then document the emergency procedure and post it in your workplace as a reminder to everyone.
Back to Halloween, please be safe out there. Make sure your kids have reflective tape or lights on their costume so they are visible. If you’re driving, make an extra effort to slow down and be cautious of all our little candy-hyped goblins, wizards, princesses, and witches out there. Have fun and stay safe.
As always, Be Aware – Be Prepared – Be Safe.