Why Plans Don’t Prepare You | Appendix | Leadership Tools for Immediate Readiness
Start With Action
Readiness isn’t about a perfectly prepared leader with a flawless plan, but a leader who is taking consistent action, communicating effectively with their team and taking steps to build resilience to handle what comes their way. These simple tools will provide you with the practical steps to take to get yourself ready to lead today and tackle whatever challenges tomorrow brings. Whether you lead a family, a business, a non-profit, a school or a community group, readiness begins with awareness followed by action.
Readiness begins with awareness and transitions to action. For all leaders – of families, for profit businesses, for non-profits, of schools, of community groups – being prepared means moving past knowing what to do and actually doing it.
These simple and low cost tools can be put into place quickly to help jump start your organization’s readiness to face challenges that will inevitably come your way.
Leadership Readiness Tools That Build Confidence
Confidence in leadership comes from having prepared as much as possible for the unexpected. So, we start with an assessment of where you are today and work from there.
Ask yourself:
- What are my most significant risks?
- What critical functions must continue during disruption?
- Who depends on me?
- How will communication occur if normal systems fail?
These questions will help you make better decisions before the heat is put on and bring you lots of confidence.
Identifying key responsibilities for yourself and others is another very useful leadership readiness tool. It gives everyone a sense of security and enhances confidence in a leader when they know what is expected of them in a crisis.
Operational Resilience Tools for Continuity Planning
Operational Resilience is something that cannot be ‘developed’ in the middle of a crisis. It is developed via systems, habits and processes developed prior to a disruption.
Consider implementing the following continuity planning tools:
Maintain current emergency contact information.
Protect critical documents and records.
Establish alternate communication methods.
Identify essential operations and services.
Create backup procedures for key functions.
Every step you take will bring you closer to your goal and get you back on track if you get sidetracked.
These tools for planning also clarify things and enable better decisions under pressure.
Communication Tools for Leadership During Disruption
Communicating is the biggest leadership tool for immediate readiness.
People can tolerate uncertainty far better than silence.
As with planning tools, the tools for communication remain one of the most powerful leadership tools for immediate readiness. Leaders need to establish their communication protocols prior to a disruption as people can tolerate uncertainty far better than silence.
Consider:
- Who needs information?
- How will messages be delivered?
- What communication platforms will be used?
- Who is responsible for sharing updates?
Communicating clearly with others helps to establish trust which in turn helps to keep things stable when things are unclear.
Building Readiness One Step at a Time
It is typical for individuals to postpone their preparedness because they mistakenly feel that they must complete everything at once in order to become ready.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The more you start doing the steps the more ready you will become to lead. The more you complete the steps the better you will become at leading, even in unclear situations.
These Leadership Tools for Immediate Readiness are not meant to help you create the perfect emergency plan, business continuity program, communications plan or other preparedness initiative. Rather, they will help you begin your preparedness journey immediately. The more you act, the more ready you will become to lead through uncertainty.
The purpose is to help you begin.
Every emergency plan, every continuity program, every communication strategy and every initiative to increase resilience of a person, team or organization all start with one decision. The decision to act.
The decision to act.
Because preparedness is not a destination.
It is a leadership practice.
And leadership begins long before disruption arrives.
Previous Chapter: Your Next Move
Go back to the main series page: Introduction
Till next time
Stay Informed & Stay Safe
Daniel Kilburn
Founder · Emergency Action Planning
P.S. If there is one lesson I hope you take away from this book, it is that readiness does not happen by accident.
It happens because leaders choose to act before circumstances force them to act.
The tools in this appendix are intentionally simple. More importantly, they are designed to help you take immediate action toward greater preparedness, stronger continuity, and increased resilience.
Start with one step.
Then take the next.
Because preparedness is not about predicting the future.
It is about building the capability to lead through it.
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