Yesterday evening I finished watching the documentary which was aired on Channel 4 earlier in the week providing video footage of the unravelling events of the September the 11th bombings eight years ago. I found myself both gripped and horrified by the images I was seeing, just as I did 9 years ago as I watched it all happen live.
The mix of reactions of the people caught up in the Manhattan area was a great insight into how people respond to a major disaster. After all, the best laid plans for emergency situations are put under greatest pressure when people don’t do what you expect them to. The number of people heading into the falling dust or entering unstable buildings left me wanting to scream ‘get away, get as far away as possible’ and yet they hung around watching and waiting, only being moved when someone in authority took control and started to get them to move back from the scene.
It really highlighted to me how important communication is in such as situation – communication between emergency services and communication with the public. Clear and conscise instructions from a trusted authority is more likely to get people to do what you want them to, than chinese whisper types of conversations ‘encouraging’ people to take a certain action.
Taking this view I wondered how corporates changed their plans and attitudes on disaster recovery and business continuity following a potential crisis and discovered the following:
Paul Argenti, a management professor who worked with corporates such as Morgan Stanley, Dell and Verizon after the disaster, advised that new business continuity plans should incorporate: ‘Maintaining high levels of visibility so that employees are certain of top management’s command of the situation and concern; establish contingency communication channels and work sites; strive to keep employees focused on the business itself, because a sense of usefulness enhances morale and good morale enhances usefulness; and ensure that employees have absorbed the firm’s values, which will guide them as they cope with the unpredictable.’
It makes sense and yet again it takes a major disaster for companies to have it hit home that plans need to be robust and that they need to take into consideration the human factor during crisis situations.
My heart goes out to all the families and victims of the 9/11 bombings today as we remember those who perished on that ‘dark day’.
Karen Jones
Tags: 9/11, business continuity, disaster recovery, terrorist
