Straight Talk-Risk Management


Last week’s events at Mumbai had its own sets of questions and suppositions but some clear answers did emerge on the business front. Though the issue was mostly a security issue, it did have a corporate component to it.
A little known fact about the Mumbai incidents were the actions of the employees of the TATA run Taj Mahal Hotel. Despite the imminent threat to their lives, the hotel staff manned their post till being relieved by the commandos. They warned and hid all the American, British guests from the terrorists. The lobby manager answered every phone call from Guests, authorities as well as general enquirers. The cashier at the book store hid a lot of the people between the racks. These were ordinary people, just like you and I, just doing their job, what made them not flee was the training.
Now there are other organisations that have similar training the Red Cross for example who serve in the most hostile war torn areas in the world. Air France, who coach their crew to treat their customers like guests in their house. During the Entebbe crises in 1976 the crew refused to be evacuated preferring to serve their guests till all of them were rescued by the Israeli Defense Forces. Similar situation faced the New York fire fighters during September 11 who were facing a situation out of the ordinary but their training helped them to mitigate the challenges at that time.
Risk management for any firm has to start from the most valuable asset that an organisation has, its employees. Now I know that a lot of firms feel that these activities are cash consuming and it is difficult especially during tough times like these to justify such costs. Many management thinkers hate the term cost for such activities; and say these should be referred to as investments. Not only that these activities should be ingrained in the DNA of the organisation.
The difference between a good organisation and a great organisation are its people. Picture this as we end this editorial the New York fire fighters on September 11, going beyond their duty.
( Advanced Communication series talking on television Toastmasters International)
The link to the you tube video given below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQPm7QoH8ks