It's a pleasure to read about companies being proactive in preparing for future crises. Well done, Cable & Wireless!
The challenge for businesses, government departments and private families, remains. Hurricane preparation is essential, but a proper crisis management plan takes a broader, integrated 'all risks' approach and avoids fixing on any particular crisis scenario. After all, history has repeatedly shown that crises rarely, if ever, unfold according to our plans!
Whilst it is critical that business in the Caymans know how, when and what to do in the face of the next hurricane, it's equally important that they not become complacent nor satisfied with just a hurricane plan. They should take their knowledge of hurricane impacts and mitigation techniques and continuously broaden them to see how lessons learned in Ivan can be applied to other types of crisis.
Tsunamis, for example, produce somewhat similar damages to hurricanes, but strike with far less warning. Are you ready to respond on a few minutes notice? What would you do differently? How would priorities change?
Avian flu or another pandemic disease will present in a very different way compared to a hurricane, but has the potential to be even more catastrophic over the long run than most hurricanes. What would you do differently in an environment where 30 to 40 percent of employees are sick or in quarantine? What about 30 to 40 per cent of customers? What if your business is closed outright or merely shunned as people adopt 'social distancing' strategies?
Still, it's great to see proactive thinking and honest-to-goodness action on crisis management. Something that is all too rare, even today.
G. Mark Towhey
CMC President
TOWHEY Consulting Group Inc.
