For any business owner, the thought of a crisis or problem is the last thing you want to consider. However, ignoring problems never helped to solve them, and established contingency plans should be considered a must.
If you aren’t sure how to develop your own, don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. Listed below are the key steps you need to take to build an effective contingency plan.
Identify All of Your Potential Risks
This first step involves assessing your current situation to build an effective contingency plan. You need to know what is likely to cause you problems.
If a power cut would completely grind your business to a halt, you need the best portable power station on hand, ready to get you going again. If only certain staff members have undergone training to handle crucial functions, you need to diversify the skill set of your time. Whatever it is, identify the potential problems of your industry and organisation.
Evaluate Risks Based on Their Likelihood
Once you have identified the potential risks within your field, it’s time to prioritise them from most to least damaging. Some crises are more significant than others, and perhaps more alarmingly, sometimes multiple things go wrong at once.
You need to know which problems need solving first to get back on your feet ASAP. You should design this list with two key metrics in mind: the severity of the risk and the likelihood of it happening.
Draw Up Contingency Plans for Each Risk
Now you have identified the potential risks and assessed their severity, it’s time to come up with solutions. These will vary enormously from business to business, so it’s best to modify the actionable steps for your particular organisation.
There are some key considerations all companies should take into account, however. These include:
- Who will be responsible for deploying the contingency plan when needed?
- How will other employees hear of the plan, and how should they respond?
- What are the key responsibilities of all relevant employees?
These three questions should underpin your response no matter which industry you work in or the specific risk you face.
Educate All Employees on These Plans
The final step you should take is arguably one of the most important: communicate your contingency plans to your employees.
For any contingency plan to work, staff across the board and at all levels must understand the protocol. Any break in the chain of command could render your plan useless, and those mistakes can prove costly very quickly. Ensure everyone understands their role, even if all they need to do is evacuate promptly.
Stay Prepared!
The best plans require continuous monitoring, so you can ensure they remain relevant to your business practices. Don’t make the mistake of creating contingency plans and thinking that’s the job done. You should review them every few months to ensure they are still applicable and that all staff are still aware of them. You can’t prevent all disasters, but preparation can make managing the fallout easier.