Planning is Everything

Success is most often tied to a good planning process.  Whether you are starting a new business, preparing for a big game, or working on a new project, taking the time to define success and the steps required to reach that goal is essential.  Your own emergency preparedness is no different.  Like any venture, preparedness requires the determination to meet goals.

Plans are nothing, planning is essential.
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

All too often, emergency plans are paid little attention and soon gather dust.  The most valuable outcome of any planning process is not the written document, but the process itself.  Like many areas of life, the path is the purpose of the journey, not the destination. 

Have a Good Planning Process

There are a wide variety of planning processes taught and used by successful organizations today and each can be applied to your emergency planning process.  Find one that suits you.  If you already use such a process, simply apply it to your preparedness goals and away you go. 

Focus on Capabilities

Your plan should focus on what tasks you may need to accomplish in an emergency and how you will accomplish each task.  Generally, these common tasks are necessary regardless of the cause of the emergency.  Common tasks include:

• Communicating with family, employees, etc.
• Being aware and alert to the situation
• Helping others by avoiding danger and providing first aid
  
• Staying well-fed, clean, and healthy
  
• Evacuation
• Taking shelter
• Protecting property, vital information, and investments

Practice, Practice, Practice
Think of your favorite sports franchise.  Success on game day requires a good game plan and lots of practice.  Just as no team would head out to the field without practicing the game plan, you can't expet to be successful following an emergency if you don't practice as well.

Once completed, the plan must be tested, refined through another planning process and tested again.  Never rest on your laurels.  Circumstances and conditions change and you must change with them. This means you run through that fire drill with the family, test the communication call-down list, or exercise some emergency procedure at work.  Just like any successful team, you must practice until you get it right.

You Can Do This

The most successful plan will start with the basics, or what I often term the "small and simple things."  Your first time around the planning cycle, don't bite off more than is necessary.  Pick a few emergency tasks and get those under your belt, then expand to the more difficult ones.  Remember to pick the low hanging fruit first.  If you get hung up, don't worry.  You can do this.

Where Can I Turn for Help?

There are many resources for help in your emergency plan.  In addition to people, families or business that already have a good preparedness plan, you can turn to any of the following:

• www.ready.gov
• Your local emergency management agency (normally a county office)
• Local chapter of the American Red Cross

In future posts, we will share with you tools we have used in our own planning process to help you along the way.  Good luck and keep practicing!