Preparedness As Corporate Citizenship

Charles

Chris Terzich of Wells Fargo's Business Continuity Planning works vigorously on internal preparedness. He's a busy guy—how can you ensure the safety of team members and customers while supporting continuity of business?

Terzich's approach is simple and effective, built on three components: a single set of procedures for everyone, management teams in key facilities, and a team of experts to guide managers through incidents.

The first component is as simple as the flip chart with response instructions for any emergency. The second coordinates building-by-building teams, and the third develops experts to assist with multiple issues that managers will face in hazard situations.

"It is important for all companies to have a comprehensive incident management program," Terzich writes, "but internal processes like those described above are only part of the equation." Internal programs alone cannot protect the nation's infrastructure, which is about 85% privately owned. Meaning, "the importance of partnership between the public and private sectors to improve the resiliency and preparedness of this infrastructure in the face of terrorist attacks or other hazards."

Terzich calls this "Looking Out Your Front Door," or, working to strengthen community ties. Between several groups of people—like, say, firefighters, an office building and the school around the corner—the community reacts calmly and intelligently in crisis. Neighborhood by neighborhood.

This is a standard feature in Wells Fargo's attitude toward corporate citizenship. Last week, the online news and resource site for employees, Wells Fargo Teamworks, reported the company's half-million dollar commitment to the Greater Los Angeles Red Cross . The money was for a disaster readiness campaign, to help the region prepare for the next "Big One."  You know, the earthquake that everybody knows  is coming, the one that will drop my kooky State into the Pacific .

The announcement of the cooperation between Wells Fargo and the Red Cross was announced by Edmund Lelo, an executive in L.A. and Vice Chairman of the Red Cross board there. Lelo stressed his experience as a beneficiary of Red Cross help: he grew up in Kenya, and his neighbors there often got relief during floods that affect the area.

"The Red Cross worked so hard in Kenya, and we've seen it in action in hurricane-stricken New Orleans and Florida, even in our neighborhoods when fire forces a family from its home," Lelo told Teamworks. "We have the great opportunity in Los Angeles of knowing disaster will eventually strike, so now is the time to get ready. Now is the time to rally our businesses to support a cause that will affect every single person in the region."