Hard times always come. Whether natural disasters, economic downturns, or social disorder, we can expect at some point our families, businesses, and communities will face difficulties. Every individual must take the critical action necessary to prepare for whatever may come.
In challenging situations, business owners must play an additional role to support their own business, other businesses, and their community. Typically, small business is seen in the community as the single most trustworthy institution. This perception conveys a special responsibility on business owners. Their role as calm and compassionate leaders in the face of crisis will work to maintain order and suppress anxiety.
The In Trust Network seeks to encourage proactive planning in advance of crisis. Each of the actions outlined below, rooted in leadership and compassion, demonstrates your commitment to the unique role you play to safeguard your business and your community.
- Devise A Community Action Plan
- Identify three or four other business owners, church leaders, and engaged individuals who might help lead an effort to prepare for whatever crisis may come, and set up a zoom call with the In Trust Network. On the call, Marc or another In Trust leader will brief participants on the coming economic reset and things you can do to prepare now.
- Host an organizational meeting or lunch meeting among other business owners, church leaders, NGO’s and engaged individuals and discuss the need to be prepared for whatever crisis may come: economic downturn, natural disaster, or social unrest. Invite Marc or another In Trust Network leader to speak.
- Recruit a point person(s) to lead the effort to organize business owners and community leaders in churches, government, service groups, or other non-government organizations.
- Create Multi-Sector Partnerships: Before a crisis strikes, build strong partnerships with key stakeholders, including churches, businesses, NGOs, and law enforcement. Develop a clear protocol for how these groups will work together during a crisis to share resources, coordinate efforts, and communicate effectively with the public.
- Schedule a regular monthly meeting or lunch in order to hear from guest speakers on current events, economic data, and what it all means. These meetings should also be used to facilitate planning, recruitment, and review on the status of benchmarks and goals.
- Devise a plan with other business owners and community leaders ways everyone involved can share resources and provide mutual aid in the event of hardship.
- As appropriate, devise ways businesses can offer discounts, barter systems, or community support programs for essential services or products.
- Engage in knowledge-sharing, such as business strategies for survival and growth in the event tough economic conditions come.
- Decide how local relief efforts will be systemized, collaborating with emergency services and other community members to determine relief distribution in advance.
- Get buy-in from churches, businesses, and government that they will share resources or space to aid those most severely impacted.
- If financially possible, consider how payments might be deferred by businesses offering relief in other ways that can help them recover.
- Collaborate With Key Groups
- Faith-Based Organizations: Work with faith leaders in your community to devise a plan that leverages their influence and makes their organization a resources in the community. Religious institutions can be key in providing shelter, food distribution, counseling, and spiritual support. Plan to use faith-based institutions as sources for volunteers, and as community hubs for both material and emotional support during a crisis. For more detail, see the In Trust Network’s Emergency Action Steps for Faith Leaders.
- NGOs and Civic Organizations: NGOs are often experienced in disaster relief and community outreach. Business owners should facilitate coordination between these groups and other community leaders to maximize resource distribution and outreach efforts. Leverage their expertise in specialized areas such as food security, housing, and health services. For more detail, see the In Trust Network’s Emergency Action Steps for NGO’s.
- Law Enforcement: Law enforcement must be equipped to maintain order, protect vulnerable populations, and enforce curfews or emergency laws if needed. Your Community Action Plan should include details about how law enforcement will protect the security and safety of essential businesses and vulnerable infrastructure such as power, cell service, and distribution centers. In advance of any emergency, law enforcement should provide plans to handle social disorder, wide-spread looting, gang control, and crimes of opportunity. For more detail, see the In Trust Network’s Emergency Action Steps for Law Enforcement.
- Maintain and Protect Your Business
- Devise a plan for managing and maintaining liquidity. The In Trust Network partners with local and regional banks, and other sources of loans, that may be available to help finance the costs of preparing for crisis. For more information, drop an email to the In Trust Network inquiring about loans and financial services at loans@intrustnetwork.com.
- Flexible planning: Consider how you will reassess budgets, reduce overhead, renegotiate contracts with suppliers and landlords.
- Prepare contingencies: Determine ways you might pivot business strategies in the event of various emergencies to focus on essential or recession-resistant goods and services.
- Business continuity: Consider a business continuity plan that shifts to online services if physical locations are damaged by a natural disaster.
- Disaster preparedness: Implement disaster recovery and contingency plans as appropriate.
- Insurance and back-ups: Protect assets through insurance and digital backups of critical data.
- Employee morale: Keep employee morale high by including them and their families in planning through a variety of possible scenarios including natural disaster, economic downturn, and social disorder.
- Flexible work arrangements: Discuss with employees how work arrangements might be made more flexible in the event of an emergency.
- Make plans to keep your business safe: Know what security measures you will take to protect your business, employees, and customers.
- When is it safer to suspend operations: Depending on conditions, consider whether you should temporarily suspend operations or shift to safer, remote solutions.
- Communications plan.Devise a plan with your employees how you’ll communicate with one another in the event of a breakdown in power systems or cell and phone service.
- Continuity of service: Prepare various approaches to providing service and supplies to customers, and be prepared to disseminate that information as conditions allow.
- Disseminate information: Communicate clearly with employees and customers about business continuity plans.
- Partner with others: Organize with at least three or four other businesses in advance so you can share resources, foster trust, aid the community, provide mutual protection and tap into additional resources.
