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Preparing And Responding When Natural Disasters Hit Your Small Business

by Elli St.George Godfrey on November 6th, 2012
3 Comments



Witnessing the devastation of Hurricane Sandy has been sobering with the damage ranging from West Virginia to Maine. But natural disasters can happen anywhere. Planning ahead by setting up any emergency arrangements (charging up electronic devices, food, water, sandbags, etc.) is important for the duration of the severe event. However,  the recovery period is where you see if your risk disaster recovery plan will keep your small business from elimination.

Disaster recovery

Using a disaster recovery plan

Hurricane Sandy: Discovery Recovery Improv Tales - You’ve designed a disaster recovery plan but the did it work? Here are stories of how two companies had to do a quick “rewrite” during their actual recovery from Hurricane Sandy. Charles Babcock, InformationWeek

Stay Protected In the Event Of a Disaster - Setting up business insurance policies ahead of time can aid when it is time to recover from a naural disaster. Business Insurance News

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning: The Basics - Not entirely sure where to begin setting up a specific plan for your small business? This post includes a detailed explanation of the process, what you need to include and how to test it before a disaster affects you. Derek Slater, CSO Security and Risk

Leadership during a natural disaster

In New Jersey, Good Crisis Management Has Mitigated Sandy’s Impact - Good leadership tips using President Obama and Governor Christie as examples regarding how to manage the recovery for your business. Lauren Stiller Rikleen, HBR Blog Network

How Seamless Defied Sandy, Kept The Hot Meals Coming And Inspired Twitter Love - Interesting lessons from Seamless CEO Jonathan Zabusky. Christina Chaey, Fast Company

Keep communicating

B2B Businesses: Going Social During Natural Disasters - Advice about how social media can be a tool for small businesses who are B2B and want to keep in touch with their customers.  B2B Online Marketing blog

The Aftermath — Business Communication Rules For Recovery From Hurricane Sandy - Knowing when, where and how to express your concern about your employees, vendors, customers and friends is about skill and timing. There are some important emotionally intelligent tips in this post. Davia Temin, Forbes

Innovation and other rebuilding afterwards

How To Disaster-Proof Your Business - This post offers a list of possible things you might need to protect yourself and your business from a natural or other disaster. TheInc staff compiled a list of 12 products and services that range from a parachute to an indoor power generator. Inc.com

Why Sandy Could Be Good For Small Business - Despite the counter-intuitive title, this post outlines how the slower pace makes time for reflection and planning. There is space for a different level of connection with employees, family and friends which is not often present. Gene Marks,  Inc.com

Hurricane Sandy, A Drenching Reminder That Tough Times Inspire Remarkable Innovation - An interesting reflection on a talk given by Dr. Vijay Govindarajan about how innovations are created under adverse conditions all over the world. There are some interesting questions you can use to check your beliefs about what is and is not possible. Kaihan Krippendorff of Fast Company.

With the uncertainty of climate change and the fact that natural disasters can affect any one of us, it is important to prepare ahead of time with a disaster recovery plan. Sometimes the event is more severe than we anticipated so you do what you can with what you have.  Your entrepreneurial mindset is a great strength!

For all small businesses who are affected by Hurricane Sandy, I hope you have a quick recovery so you can get back to doing what you do best! 

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Images:  ”New York. November 1st 2012 / Shutterstock.com“



Category: Business plans, Business Resources, Leadership

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Elli St.George Godfrey guides small business owners as they expand in their own community or internationally using her 3 Keys Coaching process helps clients not only navigate growth stages. With each stage of the 3 Keys coaching process, we tackle strategic planning, goal setting, managing change, organizational development and managing the stress and feelings of overwhelm that often plague small to mid-size business owners and executives. This results in clients feeling confident in identifying and developing strategies to be more effective leaders, plan more creatively, increase revenues and overcome the fears and obstacles that interfere with building thriving small to mid-sized businesses. I am also Chief Community Manager of Kaizen Biz and Host of Twitter chat, #KaizenBiz (a chat that uses the concept of "kaizen" for continual improvement in how we think and act in business). Please visit www.abilitysuccessgrowth.com/about/ to learn more and I look forward to meeting you in a complimentary coaching session. http://www.abilitysuccessgrowth.com

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  • http://www.theexecutivesuite.com/blog/ Warren Rutherford

    Elli – quite timely and informative summation post. Yes, disasters can happen anywhere, and good, sound preparation prior to, during, and post disaster are essential for business success. Hope our readers bookmark and then print (yes, print in case of power loss:() to keep handy – just in case.

  • ElliStGeorgeGodfrey

    Thanks, Warren. Like any other part of our business planning, preparation is important. And part of the preparation is the emotional side too. That’s where a communication plan will support people going through a trying experience.

  • Elish Bul

    Well done Elli
    thanks for reminding us on the ways to prepare – It makes me wonder if Civic and Civil defence campaigns in major cities should include a concerted effort to educate us all on the online support and techniques we can use in Social media to deal with Crises next time

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