Maintain order after a crisis

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

Source: “Crisis Leadership Now,” Laurence Barton