One of the things I love the most about fostering quality best practices is our profound yet unsaid trait, which is our desire for #corporate and #social#responsibility. As concerns for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) increase, the world is now deeming this a pandemic. As business leaders, we are put in a position to make some very difficult decisions. For Kreative this hits home hard! As you develop your game plan, your thoughts and actions must be systematic in order to create a well-thought plans versus a knee-jerk reaction.
Here are 5 simple steps to consider…
Step 1 – Pause. Slow down. You’ve got this! These are uncertain times and I know your mind is spinning with all sorts of emotions. Take a breath! Whether you hold an #ISO certification or are #CMMI SVC/DEV ML 3 appraised OR not at all – take the time to update your Organizational risk register.
Are you asking, ‘How do I do this?’ Go to Step 2!Step 2 – Write it down! Keep it simple. Stay focused and write it down – think about ‘how relevant might this situation be to your organization’.
Let the mind slow down.
Take a few minutes to think about this risk as it relates to:
Impacts to your business, including your staff, customers, family and you.
Rate the probability of this as it relates to your business.
Consider mitigation strategies and see which is the ‘best choice’ given your situation.
Write it down and take the appropriate actions!
Step 3 – Assess your environment. I don’t know about you, but we had to ask ourselves some hard questions:
Are any one of our staff members or customers affected?
What sort of communication should we provide?
Are we prepared? Do we have the right back-up controls in place?
Is our solution appropriate/scalable/sufficient?
Can our employees work from home and still provide the same level of productivity and service?
How do we effectively manage our team and our customers’ expectations? If you are in the DMV area (keeping in mind this is a nationwide/global impact), many school-age children will transition to distant learning.
Will there be sufficient bandwidth in our WiFi for continuity? Yes, bandwidth!
The intention of this email is not to be a sell, but rather to guide you and serve as a helpful reminder (as your true partner) that you do have tools in place for the path ahead; please use them.
Step 4 – If it is not a risk, is it an issue? Is it an incident? What do I do? This answer depends on your business and your customers’ requirements. This may only be a risk (where you are proactively trying to develop contingency plans). For others, this may be a real issue and it must be resolved. In both of these cases, this, certainly was not planned.
Then, is it an incident? Will or did this cause service disruption to your customers? If you are our ISO 20000-1 or ISO27001 client, or a CMMI SVC ML 3 rated firm, consider your Business/Service #Continuity best practice that we helped you employ! Review your plan for your essential functions and resources. Are your procedures and their documented information current? If you are in a position to do so, take time to test those critical continuity functions and resources (to include the availability of your personnel). This will help you determine vulnerabilities and proactively develop solutions to resolve them if they exist.
Step 5 – Communication and Collaboration! Reach out to your customers and employees alike. If you are in a jam – be honest. Lay down the #facts and work together. If needed, please reach out to Kreative. Someone at Kreative can help you walk through the ‘what-ifs’ and prompt discussion for solutions that are right for you. We’re all in this together, so let’s help one another!
If we work together and leverage your processes, we will weather the storm and maintain full operational capability. As you know, Kreative’s heartbeat is in ‘processes’! So long as you use the process as intended, it will allow you tackle your decision making proactively. Here it is, friends. We are encountering a real-life global situation – let’s leverage the tools we have to get through this. Afterall, this is exactly what all of that contingency planning was for! You’ve got this!
You can contact us at info@kreativecorp.com.
Stay safe and remember, you’re ready for this!
