Recovery Plan. Are you prepared?
I was making revisions to the disaster recovery plan that we have here and it made me think, “Do we have a life continuity plan in place when hard times or even disaster hits?” In the course of my day I deal with many things as it relates to general operations of our facilities. My primary responsibility here at Metro United Way is to keep our operations going in all of our offices. In doing so, my thoughts are often brought to questions of safety and preparedness. Do we have a back-up plan to the back-up? Are we testing everything that should be tested and if not – why? Can our operations function, if we were to have a localized emergency or a more far reaching community disaster? All are valid questions when thinking about business continuity plans. But do we take the same thought when developing our “back-up” plan in life? There are personal goals that may align with your career goals that we need to take some time out of our schedules and start making the plans to implement.
What I have learned from working on a business continuity plan is that you can not always predict the emergency, nor the effects it may have for years to come. You can only plan for the worst, as you know it, and be prepared to make revisions to the plan. It has to remain organic; free to shift and change. I guess this is most fitting during this time of change and uncertainty. If you have a plan collecting dust in the far corners of your mind, it is time to pull it to the forefront and make some revisions.
