What if the CEO of your company died tomorrow in a plane crash? What if workers were injured or killed on the job as the result of an accident?
These are the really tough questions. Running a business is a demanding, but a devastating crisis puts the day-to-day grind in perspective. It’s tough to even discuss these issues, but Keith Post and Steve Little of KPost Company in Dallas decided it would be tougher if they never discussed them.
KPost Company used both of the scenarios above as practice sessions to determine if its management team and employees were prepared to handle a crisis. They then crafted a detailed game plan that covers everyone’s role in the company should a devastating crisis occur. It even specifies who backs up people who are unable to fill their roles, and even who covers for the backup if that person is unavailable as well.
At this year’s Best of Success conference in Denver, Steve Little moderated a panel discussion in which KPost employees shared their experiences handling these drills and offered advice on how businesses should prepare for crisis situations. We videotaped the segment, and it will be available in webinar format on Dec. 11. Click here to register for the live event, which will feature a live Q&A session after the video. It can also be viewed on demand any time.
“It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when you’ll have a crisis,” Little said in the presentation. He summed it all up this way: “You have to have a plan, you have to execute the plan, and the plan has to be written down.”
Post had the uneasy task of sitting in on a discussion that centered on how the company would react if he died in a plane crash. Employees soon realized they would have to craft a message and get the word out to employees, as well as bankers, vendors, clients and other business partners. But the first question asked at the meeting was, “Who’ll call his wife?”
Yes, these are the hard questions.
