- Respond to customers/victims personally and rapidly.
- Inform your employees, contractors and vendors what is expected of them.
- Launch your off-site IT recovery before system failures force you to do so.
- Authorize your financial department to continue salary and benefits throughout the disaster.
- Ensure that contradictions to policy and rumors are kept to a minimum.
- Engage a qualified psychological counselor or Employee Assistance program to offer on-site groups and individual counseling.
- Offer updates to key organizational leaders, investors and regulators three times a day about progress made and pending issues.
- Validate that your vendors and key suppliers will deliver what they have promised to accelerate your timely recovery.
- Conduct scenario testing before you declare the disaster is over and you "resume" business.
- Conduct a detailed post-crisis assessment of recovery, success, system failures and opportunities to improve.
Source: "Crisis Leadership Now," Laurence Barton
