When it comes to distributing your business continuity plans and crisis communication, there a few things you should contemplate:
- Go mobile. Remember that 4.4 billion people will be using mobile apps by 2018. Think about how your employees are communicating. If they’re using smart phones, smart watches, tablets, text messaging, etc. then you need to harness these communication methods when distributing, updating and communicating your business continuity and corporate emergency plan.
- Be pushy. In the event of a crisis, you need to push notifications to your team. Determine how you will send these push notifications - ensuring they will be read and followed.
- Simple communication is key. Think of how they communicate now - email, text, Skype, Slack, phone - however they communicate with you on a day-to-day is how they’ll communicate during a time of crisis.
- Don’t be last minute. As soon as your business continuity plan is ready and tested, distribute it to your team. There is nothing worse than last minute information and instructions - these are typically ignored and overlooked. Give your team the information they need well in advance.
- If it’s not tested, don’t distribute it. Your employees need to trust the plan. They will only trust a plan that has been tested. Get them involved in this testing. Don’t forget to test your communication and distribution methods.
- Be specific and personal. Make sure you distribute the right plant to the right person. Your office administrator needs to know different information than your delivery team.
- Keep it simple. Just like your business continuity plan needs to be simple and straightforward - so too does your distribution method. Do your research and use the apps that can make distribution easy to do. If it’s complicated, your plan won’t be updated or distributed.
- Be flexible. Remember that your plan will change and need to be updated. You need to make sure that you can communicate these updates quickly and easily. You also need to ensure that you can update your plan with the same tool that you use to distribute it.
- Make it secure. You’ve got a lot of important information in your business continuity plan. Make sure that your distribution method is secure and protected. Don’t take chances with your business continuity plan.
- Communicate clearly. This is the essence of all business operations - keep the communication lines open and clear. Make it clear how employees can access your business continuity plan. Get them involved in customizing the app and testing it on their mobile devices.
We want to hear from you! Do you have some suggestions to add to our list? Let us know below in the comments section.
