Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Getting Management Buy-In

If you were working in an organization that had no contingency plan or any kind or, at best, only an outdated plan, how could you convince senior management that it is necessary to make a plan or to update the plan you have? This is a problem in many organizations in spite of the plentiful evidence in today's world that such plans are necessary. This week's articles offer help in getting management buy-in.

You need to help management see the value business continuity planning brings to the organization. (Item #1) The first step in your BC strategy is getting management buy-in. (Item #2) Buy-in is enhanced by showing how the bottom line is affected by the BC plan. (Item #3)

Why isn't executive buy-in enough? (Item #4) Here's a unique approach to getting buy-in… and it would work outside law firms also. (Item #5) Management involvement could be as important – or even more so - than buy-in. (Item #6)

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Crisis Communications


No organization - big, small, for-profit, not-for-profit, public, or private - is crisis-proof. Regardless of whether you believe it, there is a crisis in your future… perhaps tomorrow, possibly next week or next year, or perhaps not for several years... but it is lurking there. The only real uncertainty is whether you will be ready for it and can prevent it from becoming a full-scale disaster. This issue should help you prepare.

When an emergency occurs, the need to communicate is immediate; here is direction for developing a crisis communications plan. (Item #1) An emergency communications plan must be able to do these eight things. (Item #2) One key way to ensure superior business continuity is to have a clear, well designed plan in place for keeping communications going, not just when an event occurs, but during its duration. (Item #3)

The first step is to establish your crisis communications team and define their roles. (Item #4) Remember, where there is an information vacuum, staff will fill it -- even if they have to make stuff up. (Item #5) If you are new to the new rules of crisis communications, here is a cheat-sheet of sorts, in an attempt to keep the underprepared on the right path. (Item #6)