What Kind of Preparedness is Enough?

​I was asked a very good question at the JCI Finland Leadership Academy.

What is enough in terms of preparedness, especially when there is a lot of other things to do, and resources are limited?

The level of required preparedness varies from one industry to another, but every organization should be prepared in crisis management, crisis communication and situational awareness. Crisis management is the most important element and communication is the most visible element. 

Crisis manager should know what she or he is doing and who should be involved when the crisis hits. Crisis management team (CMT) should be established in advance even though it hasn’t trained together before.

At minimum management, communication and situational awareness measures are needed in every crisis. A well prepared crisis manager is able to hand out all necessary assignments to the members of the CMT, even though the members haven’t been training at all. All the assignments should be handed out according to the normal lines of duty as much as possible. But remember that all crisis efforts require certain amount of improvisation. 

The personal know-how and attitude of the crisis manager and the members of the CMT are the most important factors which will impact the outcome of the crisis. Personal knowledge should be gathered and it doesn’t have to be based on any one organization. All the crises can dealt with similar tools and principles. If you can handle crisis efforts in one organization, you can do it in another organization as well.
 
Crisis efforts should be practiced and personal knowledge should be gathered. Training doesn’t have to be massive. Small rehearsals can also be beneficial. Too many think that crisis training is something you do once every two years. But the personnel and the times change all the time! You don’t train sports once a year and expect good results.

Gestion offers crisis training and online courses for individual skills. If you are not sure how to start preparedness work or training, contact petri.launiainen@gestion.fi tai puh. +358415331371.