Can You Take a Punch

Today we have a guest blog from Dan Weedin:

I vividly recall being a member of the junior high football team. I was a skinny kid that probably looked pretty funny in my football gear. I was definitely NOT a fighter. I wasn’t ever looking for a tussle from anyone that was filling out their uniform and growing a beard at 14 years old.

One practice on a crisp autumn afternoon, we had a drill where the ball carrier was going to run through a gauntlet of teammates and practice holding on to the football at all costs. My turn as ball carrier came up and this was the first time I had tried the drill. As I made my way through the gauntlet with ball firmly tucked under my arm, I swiveled to the left to see if I could make my way out. WHAM! The next thing I know, I’m lying on my back and the absence of air (or the ability to even inhale) was palpable. My good buddy Eric had come out of nowhere and basically “blew me up” with a collision to my chest. It was my first experience of having the wind knocked out of me. After a few seconds (that seemed like hours) elapsed, Eric was helping me up so I could resume practice. To this day, I have no idea if I held on to the football or not!

I was blindsided by Eric because I had a huge “blind spot” in my process of running. What blind spots do you have in your business?

Football teams at all levels – from junior high to professional – run drills and practice in part to figure out their “blind spots.” They learn through drills to anticipate perils and to be resilient in the event of crises. For my part, I never more ran without my head on an allegorical swivel, to assure that I kept my breath where it was supposed to be!

As a CEO or chief executive in your company, you’d better have your head on a swivel, too. Just like Eric didn’t announce his impending presence to me, neither will a disaster send a calling card. You will have unexpected “collisions,” and without having identified, analyzed, and prepared for them, you may just find yourself flat on your back. You must then hope that someone is there to help you up!

The best way to avoid this is to take control yourself of the strategic work related to crisis planning, business continuation, and resiliency. This isn’t something that should be delegated away. The buck ultimately stops with you. So while you can delegate implementation, you can never relinquish the duty of being the strategic leader of your team. Only you can eliminate your blind spots. And the best way to do that is through planning, preparation, and practice.

It’s all about that action, boss!

DAN WEEDIN

Dan Weedin, CIC, CRM
The Crisis ConquerorP.O. Box 1571 / Poulsbo, WA 98370
http://www.TheCrisisConqueror.com
dan@danweedin.com
360-697-1058

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Inducted to the Million Dollar Consultant™ Hall of Fame – 2012
http://weedin360.com/2012/11/15/the-official-announcement

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The Blind Spot

Today we have a guest blog from Dave Weedin:

Many of the newer cars out on the market today have blind spot detectors. These are preventative devices that help keep you as a driver more aware and prepared for your surroundings.  The problem is that just because you check your blind spots every once and a while, doesn't meet some unexpected danger won’t come out of nowhere. You are still required to be a masterful driver with keen senses and lacking distractions.

Your business has blind spots and all too often CEOs and CFOs think that their “blind spot detectors” are adequate to catch most all crises. On top of that, they believe they are really good “drivers” and can get out of any situation through cunning, experience, and a can-do attitude.

While this may be mostly true, getting out of that crisis situation is best done when thoroughly ready and prepared. The end results are hundreds of thousands of dollars saved of revenue, time, lost opportunity, productivity, and employee moral. This month is National Preparedness Month, which is a great reminder for assessing your current situation to determine if you’re as resilient as you think you are.

Here is my 5-step process that you can quickly implement:

1.  Allocate time to strategize and identify potential perils and hazards that could stop your business dead in its tracks; severely impede its operations; or damage your reputation.
2. Determine your tolerance for risk and triage the perils that have the highest frequency and severity concerns.
3.  Set up both preventive and contingent activities. Example for a fire: Contingent is a sprinkler system. Preventive is a visit from the fire marshal. Most business owners are light on preventive.
4.  Buy insurance and make sure it is programmed correctly. The key is a strong and knowledgeable broker or agent. Insurance should never be a price issue.
5. Monitor your plan with regular audits and planned practices (e.g. fire and evacuation drills).

Bottom line – the biggest enemies of readiness and preparedness are apathy (“That’s why I buy insurance”), complacency (“It’s never happened to me yet”), and arrogance (“I can deal with anything that happens”). If you’re not taking the time to commit to a sound prevention plan, then you are suffering from one of these maladies. But if you dedicate your time, resources, and finances to investing in crisis planning, you will end up saving yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars that never had to be used because the crisis never occurred.

Dan Weedin:

Dan Weedin helps turn his clients business risk into rewards. He is able to take the abstract concepts of risk and crisis management to help business owners prepare and respond more effectively and with less time and cost to crisis. Since he doesn’t work for an insurance company or agency, he is able to act as an unbiased advocate for his clients. You can lear ore about Dan and how he can help your business on his web site at www.DanWeedin.com.

Nightmare in Happy Valley: Lessons from the Penn State Debacle

Today we have a guest blog from Dan Weedin:

The nightmare in Happy Valley last week involving the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State cost legendary football coach Joe Paterno and the university president their jobs. It’s severely tarnished reputations; incited riots on campus; initiated civil lawsuits; and will hurt the university in recruiting students to its campus. The collateral damage may be devastating to that institution and take years to overcome.

What can you as an executive learn from this story?

• Crisis happens. If you’re in business, you are bound to deal with some level of crisis.
• Planned response trumps chickens running. Crisis has the effect of catching the unprepared running around like those proverbial chickens without heads. Communication is critical.
•  You need to practice. Football coaches don’t “wing” their 2-minute drills. Neither should you!

Most boards of directors and executives overlook planning and preparing their crisis response. The three biggest enemies are apathy, complacency, and denial (courtesy of personal safety guru, Larry Kaminer). All too often, the bad event must occur to precipitate response. In this case, it was a matter of bad behavior. This opens up huge doors titled “legal” and “reputation damage.” So what can you do?

• Get training. If you really want to get fit, you hire a trainer because they will maximize your performance and get you stronger faster. No matter how savvy you think you are, you will never reach the same level of execution and preparedness because you simply don’t have the same knowledge base.
• Carry Employment Practices Liability. This is an important risk transfer technique that may save your bacon.
• Have a crisis plan. Decisions made in real-time often stink and have long-term ramifications because the shrapnel from the explosions just keeps hitting people.

The world often provides us with warnings through the misfortunes of others. The Penn State tragedy is a nightmare for the victims and the university. Shrapnel from the “explosion” has hit many innocent people and it was avoidable. Take responsibility of your business and build your response to crisis before you find it burning all around you. You, your organization, and its people will be thankful you did.

© 2011 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

DAN WEEDIN

Dan Weedin helps turn his clients business risk into rewards. He is able to take the abstract concepts of risk and crisis management to help business owners prepare and respond more effectively and with less time and cost to crisis. Since he doesn’t work for an insurance company or agency, he is able to act as an unbiased advocate for his clients. You can lear ore about Dan and how he can help your business on his web site at www.DanWeedin.com.