The Importance of Lists

Imagine you’re injured and emergency personnel arrive on the scene. They rush to your side as you moan in pain.

“Where do you hurt?” a paramedic says.

“My leg’s bleeding,” you say, beginning to feel faint.

He carefully lifts your pants cuff and peeks at the area you indicate. He barks orders, “I need scissors, bandages, and meds.”

You start feeling nauseous, and your skin begins to feel clammy.

“You got the pack?” a voice questions somewhere from your left.

“I thought you had it?” a woman says.

“Didn’t John get it?’

This is the last voice you hear before the light of day fades beyond your eyelids.

If you were in a dangerous condition, would you want emergency workers confused about who has supplies that might save your life?

This week I’m focused on things I learned through taking a Wilderness and Remote Area First Aid certification class. Why?

Because so many things imperative to saving lives, are also important to saving jobs.

One invaluable tool is a pre-planned list. By imagining worst-case scenarios, you can create a checklist of items necessary to save the day. For the first aid training, we would include things like, gloves, scissors, bandages, Benadryl, lighters, and even an Epi-pen. But what would you put on your business emergency preparedness list?

It depends on what kind of company you work for, but in an office setting, I’d imagine items like toner and ink cartridges for printers and copiers. Copy paper, ink pens, file folders, forms you use on a regular basis, or anything else necessary to keep things organized and running efficiently. There’s nothing worse than printing a big project, only to realize half-way through that your pages are coming out blank. You’ve run out of ink, and of course, there’s no backup on site to replace it.

What if you work construction? Nails, an extra hammer, hard hats, extra boards. Let’s face it, nails bend, hammers break, hard hats chip, and boards warp. Having a solid backup plan saves time and money.

In a restaurant, customers aren’t very happy if you run out of food, serving utensils, or napkins. Checklists save the day, and often save us from a loss of guests.

The importance of lists cannot be underestimated. A foolish person waits until you run out of something before replenishing stock. A company looks disorganized and unprofessional when they don’t stay ahead of their needs. In some businesses, preparedness doesn’t just save customers, it saves lives. Lists are the invisible defender against great losses.

If you don’t have an Emergency Preparedness List, I suggest you create one right away. Protect yourself and your company from wasting precious time and money while you hunt for something you need. Make sure you know what you have and where to find it quickly. Who knows? Your job may someday depend on it.

Have you imagined different emergency scenarios and made a list of necessary items and steps to take quick and effective action?

Anita FreshFaith @ Work

Anita Agers-Brooks is a Business Coach, Certified Personality Trainer, Communications Specialist, national speaker, and author. She lives in Missouri with her family.

Contact her via www.freshstartfreshfaith.org or anita.freshfaith@gmail.com