Preparing Your Company’s Emergency Response: 3 Pointers For Leaders

Business Preparing Your Company’s Emergency Response: 3 Pointers For Leaders Lucinda M. Baier Forbes Books Author Forbes Books AUTHOR POST Expertise and opinions of authors published by ForbesBooks. Imprint operated under license.

| Paid Program Aug 31, 2022, 09:08am EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin getty Emergencies present themselves in several ways: weather-related disasters, health crises, social unrest, significant financial downturns, and more. The question becomes, how prepared is your organization to face any of them? More specifically, how prepared are your leaders to respond in the face of these unknown challenges? Just like anticipation for any major event, preparation is key. Having a well-thought-out emergency response plan that leadership understands is critical for successful execution when it matters most.

In addition to the following strategies, communication is vitally important to any emergency response effort. In the case of Brookdale during the COVID-19 pandemic, we increased the frequency and focused on the clarity of our communications with residents and their loved ones, as well as with our associates. At the local level, communities regularly and routinely provided updates to residents, families, and industry partners.

Communicating both protocols and expectations was particularly important as we moved from building upon our strong infection control protocols to the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines among our residents and associates. Communication will be a key component of your plan regardless of the emergency. Consider the following three emergency response strategies for your leadership to implement: 1.

Your company can be a leader in your industry when it comes to emergency response. It’s true! You can help your company take a leadership role and establish credibility within your industry through your actions including creating a central hub for the latest information and resources related to a crisis or emergency. Brookdale managed to achieve this in large part due to significant corporate and regional management support.

We have the expertise, processes, and deep specialized support thanks to our scale. Resources such as company-owned portable generators, strong vendor relations covering multiple aspects of a variety of potential disasters, and a cross-functional group of corporate and regional leaders who can quickly make decisions to support the teams directly serving our residents all make Brookdale an industry leader in disaster response. Community leaders also played a crucial role to tailor the emergency response to meet the needs of residents, maximizing local resources, and implementing a successful response based on the specific situation.

2. Follow expert guidelines and continually assess what more you can do. Following government experts and guidelines are always a top priority when it comes to emergency response.

It’s also important to recognize opportunities as early as possible and be prepared to respond promptly based on the needs of your particular industry. For Brookdale and the senior living community, the government guidelines that were issued in response to COVID-19 were not only a recommendation, but they were also essential to the health of our associates and residents. And thanks to our leadership team’s foresight, we were already making preparations well before official guidelines were issued.

Our leadership team dedicated to emergency response took immediate action to address protection for our residents and associates and to strengthen our existing infectious disease protocols. We mobilized our leadership team and resources to solve the problem for our communities. It’s not always enough to solely follow expert guidelines; sometimes it will take extra steps to achieve the recommended action or there may be additional considerations for your given circumstances.

MORE FOR YOU Pfizer Tests Pill That Could Prevent Covid Infection Liz Cheney Needles Trump For Bashing Bush: ‘I Like Republican Presidents Who Win Re-Election’ Covid Pandemic Slashes Life Expectancy — Here’s Where It Fell The Most 3. Create a dedicated emergency team for active response. It’s one thing for everyone in an organization to be aware and on board with what should happen when an emergency occurs; but what happens when the emergency occurs? To help your organization continue operating amidst a crisis, you may need a command center that acts as a war room and hub for emergency resources.

This team should collaborate with local team leaders to create and implement a successful response to meet the needs of that specific locale and situation. Consider the following example. On February 26, 2020, the CDC confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in the United States suspected of local transmission.

This patient had not traveled to an area with a known outbreak and was not aware they had come into contact with any COVID-19 case. This was an important development because it meant COVID-19 was no longer an issue in a faraway land; it was an issue within the United States, and transmission was close to our communities. Around this time, we decided we needed dedicated cross-functional leadership to address this emerging health crisis, and we created our Emergency Command Center (ECC).

Having an expert emergency response team in place enabled our corporate and field teams to help better protect our residents and each other, while still creatively connecting and enriching lives. Establishing the ECC also enabled our leadership team to ensure we remained true to the culture, mission, and cornerstones that kept us strong. We also recognized the fight against a pandemic was unprecedented, so we identified additional, outside consultants to assist.

To be proactive in helping to protect our residents and associates, we developed new platforms for analysis, decision-making, and execution in addition to our normal channels of information, regulatory direction, and communication. We felt a duty to share the lessons we learned throughout our emergency response to COVID-19, and we are grateful to have navigated the pandemic as successfully as we did. The importance of having established emergency response policies, procedures, and infrastructures can’t be emphasized enough; especially in the face of unprecedented global events.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn . Lucinda M. Baier Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.