Job Aid

Planning
for the
Unexpected

Job Aid. Planning for the Unexpected 1

Planning for the
Unexpected:
Plan of Action
Use this plan of action as a living document to keep track of how you can shift
your mindset to be prepared for the future and build a business continuity plan.
The more honest you are in this document, the better you can prioritize your
efforts and be ready for the unexpected.

Your Planning Objective

Please fill in your one-sentence objective:
I would like to provide counseling services.

How to Think Like a Futurist to Grow Your Business

Take some time to review how you are thinking about your business.
Imagine “what-if” scenarios to see how you would respond and keep
your business operating.

What If: What Would You Do? Why?

contact a utility assistance program to to keep business operations going
You have no access to help pay bill, tap into emergency fund,
electricity for one month. rent an office with access to electricity

work independently on a different billing ensures income generation

Your suppliers suddenly went platform with insurance that I license
out of business with no notice. independently

notify Patients immediately about how to continue business and be

You have an extended personal long I will be out of the office professional
emergency that shifts focus
away from your business.

Job Aid. Planning for the Unexpected 2

Reflection
What surprised you the most about your responses? How can shifting your focus
to the future positively impact your business? Is there an area of your business
that needs attention and why?
-getting on Blue Cross/Blue Shield
-marketing on sites such as psychology today, therapy for black girls

How to Build Your Business Continuity Plan

Developing your business continuity plan should be a thoughtful process resulting
in a plan that can be beneficial to you if an event occurs. Having a strategy helps
maximize the chance your business can recover while minimizing the loss of
property, life, and assets.

Assembling a Team
Question Key Decision-maker(s)
Jenine
Who leads general business operations
(e.g., infrastructure, maintenance, office, etc.)?

Jenine
Who makes key financial business decisions?

Jenine
Who leads strategic communications efforts?

Jenine
Who leads technical operations?

Jenine
Who makes key staffing decisions?

Job Aid. Planning for the Unexpected 3

Identifying Threats
Understanding the threats that could leave employees, customers, vendors,
property, and operations vulnerable is fundamental.

Question Yes No

Is your area prone to natural disasters (e.g., tornadoes, hurricanes, floods,

earthquakes, lightning strikes, wildfires, etc.)?
■

Is your business at risk for cyberattacks (e.g., denial of service, computer

viruses, worms, trojan horses, cyberwarfare, etc.)?
■

Would a disruption in staffing affect your business (e.g., long-term

disability, fatalities, worker-strike, health epidemic, etc.)?
■

Would a series of supply chain disruptions affect your business operations

(e.g., counterfeit parts, regulatory requirement violations and transportation ■
disruption, etc.)?

Would repeated human error affect your business operations (e.g., poor
training, poor maintenance, carelessness, misconduct, substance abuse, ■
fatigue, etc.)?

Would man-made or natural events like fires and explosions, industrial accidents,
chemical/hazardous material spills, communications and utility outages, system ■
disruptions and transportation accidents affect your business?

Job Aid. Planning for the Unexpected 4

Identifying Risks
It’s important to consider any potential risks that are a threat to your business
operations so you can have a plan in place. Review historical, geographical,
physical, organizational, and regulatory risks that may affect your business.

Have there been any risks associated with your community, neighborhood, or facility
before?”
sometimes storms knock out power for up to 30 minutes max.

What is your proximity to flood plains, major airports, etc.?

not close

What is it about the design or construction of your facility/office that might make
your business particularly susceptible to a certain event?
none

What is it about your employee, operational or technological infrastructure that

might make your business particularly susceptible to a certain event?
none

Is your business/industry required or mandated to prepare for any hazards?

yes, prepared for tele-health and hippa compliant

Conducting a Business Impact Analysis

Identify the people, places, providers, processes, and programs critical to the
survival of your business. Consider who and what is necessary to restore critical
operations. Then prioritize the need to restore each item after the event.

Critical for Business Operations

People Places Providers Processes Programs Priority

Jenine my home reliant, apple alma billing
program

Job Aid. Planning for the Unexpected 5

Adopting Controls for Prevention and Mitigation
Your prevention and mitigation plans should address, among other
things, emergency response, public relations, resource management,
and employee communications.

Controls Prevention & Mitigation Implementation

What is your emergency

response plan?

What is your public relations

message?

Do you have different messages

depending on the event?

What is your resource

management plan?

What is your employee

communications plan?

Do you have different

messages depending on
role, rank, or event?

Testing, Exercising, and Improving Your Plan

A business continuity plan is an evolving strategy that should adapt
to your company’s ever-changing needs. Test and update it regularly
– annually at a minimum – or any time-critical functions, facilities,
suppliers, or personnel changes.

Job Aid. Planning for the Unexpected 6

Reflection
What kind of exercises, discussions, live drills, or simulations will you use to train
your employees to be ready to execute the plan?

Job Aid. Planning for the Unexpected 7

Glossary
Use this glossary as a guide to review key terms and how they show up in the
real world.

Definition Practical Use

Future Thinking
A future-oriented mindset that challenges
our existing mental models through a
systematic method of exploring alternative
futures.
Source: Foresight Ministries
Future thinking is a mindset that can help
identify new ways to do business, make
improvements to existing processes, and
prepare you to be open to shifting to new
possibilities.

Recovery
A set of actions to help a business get The ability to recover depends on how
through difficult times. ready you are as a business and if you
have a tested plan.
Source: CHRON.

Resiliency
The ability an organization has to quickly
adapt to disruptions while maintaining
continuous business operations and
safeguarding people, assets, and
overall brand equity.
Source: SearchCIO
Resiliency begins with an understanding
that workflows must be preserved in order
for organizations to survive unexpected
events. An often-overlooked challenge of
business resilience planning is the human
element, whereby individuals in a chaotic
situation must be prepared and educated
on how to respond accordingly.

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 Definition
Exit Strategy
A contingency plan that is executed by
an investor, trader, venture capitalist, or
business owner to liquidate a position in
a financial asset or dispose of tangible
business assets once predetermined criteria
for either has been met or exceeded.
Source: Investopedia
Business Ecosystem
A purposeful business arrangement
between two or more entities (the
members) to create and share in collective
value for a common set of customers.
Source: EY
Business
Continuity Plan
A written document outlining how
a business will operate during an
emergency.
Source: The Society for Human Resource
Management
*The content provided is for informational purposes, and Verizon
is not responsible for your use or implementation of this content.
Practical Use
An exit strategy is an entrepreneur’s
strategic plan to sell their ownership in a
company to investors or another company.
If the business is not successful, an exit
strategy (or “exit plan”) enables the owner
to limit losses.
Business ecosystems exist to create
a higher level of value collectively than
the members can create individually,
considering time, capital, brand permission,
market access, and other real-world
constraints.
When business is disrupted, it can
cost money. Lost revenues plus extra
expenses mean reduced profits.
Insurance does not cover all costs and
cannot replace customers who defect
to the competition. A business continuity
plan to continue business is essential to
help you recover.
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