Page 26 - MidJersey Business - July-August 2014

Your Business

BEST PRACTICES AND OUTSIDE-THE-BOX SOLUTIONS

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Management

THERE’S NO ‘I’ IN TEAM

Don’t go it alone in a corporate crisis. |
by Lucien Canton
D

uring the Midwest loods in 1993, White Star being without water for more than a month, White Star never
Textile Services in Des Moines, Iowa, was faced missed a single day of customer service.

with an ironic situation. The encroaching lood The story of White Star points out the importance of having a
waters shut down all six pumps at the local water team approach to crisis. Success in a crisis hinges on leadership and

plant and there wasn’t even enough water to decision-making but those decisions are best when informed by
lush toilets, let alone process 100,000 pounds
trusted advisors and implemented by capable people. To be an efec-

of laundry each week. The situation was expected to continue for tive leader, one needs the support of a good crisis management team.
some time. White Star implemented a plan to truck laundry to

two sister plants in other towns but it wasn’t suicient. The com- BUILDING THE TEAM
pany desperately needed water.
Building a crisis management team is not all that complicated if

White Star employees rose to the challenge. A maintenance you build on day-to-day problem solving. A major mistake is to
worker who lived on a farm on high ground had a well and al- develop a team that only meets during a crisis. A much better ap-

lowed the company to draw 2,000 gallons of water to keep the proach is to use the people you rely on each day, who are used to

boiler running. Some employees worked overtime to keep up working with each other and, most importantly, trust each other.
with the demand, while others kept track of which roads were There are four questions you should ask when developing your

open or closed and helped expedite customer deliveries. Despite
crisis management team.

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