The Nightmare Scenario

As oil continues to spew into the Gulf of Mexico, I become less angry and more saddened. But this isn’t a rant about BP or our dependence on foreign oil – you can find plenty of those in the blogosphere. In any web as tangled as the mess in the Gulf, bad guys are not hard to find or to criticize.

What got me thinking is a storyline about BP’s long history of questionable safety practices and the man hired after the disastrous Texas City BP refinery explosion in 2005: Tony Hayward. Among Hayward’s initiatives was a push to improve BP’s safety performance. The zingers are just too easy here so when you’ve finished thinking up a few, take a moment to think about your own organization’s vulnerabilities.

What’s your nightmare scenario? You know, that nagging situation that pops up from time to time only to be tabled because there’s no easy solution. Your situation may not be currently putting your employees or customers at risk, but in the long run it may be expensive to ignore it.

Remember that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Develop a plan to communicate with affected audiences – and remember that communication is a two-way process, with as much value generated by what is heard as by what is said. The first step to a brilliant solution may be as simple as making sure that everyone starts out on the same page.

Training and communication plans are a great way to tap your internal resources and widen understanding of issues that have the potential to become your nightmares. In the best case they may be avoided, but if your nightmare scenario does emerge, the outcome will be better if all parties are informed and prepared.