Coronavirus On My Mind
Coronavirus/COVID-19 is a stark and immediate reminder that planning and preparedness is essential to the health and stability of our organizations. In Minnesota, we may have a plan or protocol in place for a polar vortex or blizzard. We can use these to help inform our planning, decisions, and communications around coronavirus and COVID-19. If you don’t yet have a plan in place for how you are managing decisions and communications around coronavirus, get started today.
Get a coronavirus plan in place.
Write a basic yet thoughtful plan for how you and your organization will manage during a coronavirus outbreak.
Get educated on the facts around coronavirus in Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Health’s website is an excellent resource.
Gather your people to develop a plan. Do it by zoom or another platform if gathering in person is not feasible.
Do some research on how other organizations are handling the coronavirus outbreak.
Identify a set of three higher level priorities for your organization. Choose three specific actions for each of the priorities. Keep the plan simple and realistic.
Examples of what to include in your plan: disruption in service and program delivery, clarification of paid leave policies and procedures, communication methods and frequency, guidance for staff on working from home, reduced hours, closures, and more.
Dig deeper on racism, xenophobia, and individualism.
Consider how racism and xenophobia has ramped up, particularly against Asian people and communities. Listen to this podcast or read the narrative from NPR’s Code Switch. Better yet, listen to the experiences of Asian people and communities here in Minnesota. Include specific steps in your organization’s plan for how you will acknowledge racism and xenophobia within yourselves and your organization and take specific actions to combat it.
The principles of public health and collective good and not well understand nor practiced within the United States. The roots of our country, and many of our institutions and organizations, are based in individualism. Include elements in your plan that follow science, prioritize vulnerable people, and reduce blame.
Determine how decisions will get made.
Making decisions under stressful conditions is difficult for any organization. Figure out now:
how you’ll make decisions
who will make decisions
how decisions will be communicated
how decisions will be put into actions
how decisions will be revisited and adjusted when needed
Communicate!
Share the plan and decisions with everyone in your organization.
Share in various methods and modes so you’re sure to reach everyone. Consider who is mostly likely to be left out and design communications to reach them. Don’t assume every client can read the sign on the door. Don’t assume every staff person attends the staff meeting. Don’t assume every volunteer listens to voice mail. Don’t assume every board member checks their email.
Err on the side of overcommunication.
Be prepared to adjust.
When conditions are changing rapidly, organizations must be prepared to shift when something isn’t working, when new information is available, or when something needs to happen much more quickly than originally planned.
Include a specific element in your plan about how you’ll make adjustments and how the changes will be communicated.
Document your plan and process.
Make sure that you’ve documented your plan and your process for developing and implementing the plan. Spend time evaluating what went well and what didn’t go so well and use this to inform your future planning.