Lessons Learned Wishlist 2020 Edition

On NYE, I shared things that I, as a disaster response and crisis comms expert, hoped that leaders and companies had learned in 2020. This seemed like a good thing to share here. (Note, I am not even going to go into the COVID response itself or the gov’t response to it. That is an entire post unto itself.). In no particular order, here we go:

1.    Listen to your experts. For example- When you have a disaster response expert in your company telling you things are about to get bad…listen to them. If scientists are warning the world about something, don’t assume it won’t impact you.

2.    Resilience is key. Build for resilience not to respond to a situation that has already happened. Don’t build your plans for the next COVID; build them to adapt to whatever happens next.

3.    Learn about Black Swans. There will never another year like 2020, but there will be another year. Learn what a black swan event is and how to prepare for it.

4.    Find your empathy. No matter how well you, as a business, build your disaster plans, remember that your employees are people and are impacted. Care about their well being…it goes a long way.

5.    AARs can save your @$$. Do an After Action Report just as you are getting to the end of a major event. Don’t wait a month, don’t wait a year. Do it right away while it is fresh. Document what worked, what didn’t, then figure out how to fix things for the future. (Examples available for this one on request)

6.    During is too late. After the disaster has happened or the crisis has started, it is too late to start thinking about how to respond to a crisis.

7.   It can happen to us.  Stop thinking that disaster/crisis as just things that happen somewhere that gets earthquakes or hurricanes. They happen everywhere and at any time.

8.    Put down your blasted ego and ask for help. (How many times have I been told that something was under control or I was worrying too much, only a month later to be told I was right and to be brought in to do damage control. Oof)

9.    No system stands alone. No matter how much you would like to think you are a bastion who needs no one…that’s not how it works. Redundancy is your friend—lack of redundancy (with systems or people) in crisis planning all but guarantees failure.

10. Failure brings me to my last point. Be prepared to redefine success for your business. Yeah, we all had goals at the beginning of 2020, but a lot of flaming poo happened. Be ready to defining success differently while you deal with a crisis.

So there you have it. Happy New Year, everyone!