The Tornado and My Rapid Reset

How prepared are you and your organization to flexibly, and rapidly reset the way work is done in response to an unexpected event (e.g. weather, cyber-attack, transit strike)?

I experienced a dramatic and unexpected work+life fit reset on Halloween when an EF1 tornado roared through our New Jersey town in the middle of the night. No one was hurt (thankfully) but our house took a direct hit.

It’s moments like this when being able to flexibly reset the way my work and life fit together on a moment’s notice is priceless.

One week later, all of the pieces were essentially put back together, and I could re-focus on other priorities.  Most importantly, I didn’t lose a week of work waiting around for various tree removal and home repair contractors to show up.  I didn’t have to take PTO.  But I was prepared.

I had my contingency plan in place for how, when and where I could work should some type of unexpected event happen.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would a tornado in New Jersey…hey, you never know.  You never do.

Are you prepared for how, when and/or where you could work in response to the unexpected work+life fit reset?  What I find is that most people and employers do not have a contingency plan in place to quickly adapt the way work can be done.  You can wait until the unexpected strikes.

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