I have used my fun ‘walk down the hall awareness assessment’ to gauge the level of awareness in my organization and to meet people. It may not be the most scientific exercise, but you can instantly get both qualitative and quantitative feedback. In addition, you will be branding yourself with every person you speak with.
*If you do not know the person you are speaking with, you should introduce yourself with a 10 second elevator pitch. Otherwise, I promise you will get some ‘who the heck are you’ stares.
- Walk down the hall and ask 3 or more people what they would do in an active shooter situation (they get 3 seconds to answer this one)
- Walk down the hall and ask 3 or more people where the nearest evacuation exit is located (they get 3 seconds to answer this one)
- Walk down the hall and ask 3 or more people where the rally points are located (they get 3 seconds to answer this one)
- Walk down the hall and ask 3 or more people if they know what business continuity or business resilience is
- Walk down the hall and ask 3 or more people where their business continuity plan is located
- Walk down the hall and ask 3 or more people what their role is during a disruptive event
- Please add your own question
- Please add your own question
- Please add your own question
- Please add your own question
I enjoy gamifying this exercise. When someone answers all of the questions (or 9 out of 10) correctly… BINGO they win a prize! When word gets around that you are roaming the halls and they can win lunch or an Amazon gift card, people will prep and they will hope you stop them in the hall. They might even start following you to be a contestant!
The more people that play, the more word will get around. Most importantly, awareness will improve and that is the goal. This is definitely a positive feedback loop!
I would suggest doing this exercise at least once a week if you have the resources. Over time you can gauge if your training and awareness initiatives are effective or if they need adjustments. Analyze the results to determine where you must focus going forward. For instance, if no one can identify where the exits or rally points are located, you know you have life threatening emergency response issues that need to be worked on immediately.
I suggest you hand people a little cheat sheet and your business card after they answer the questions to increase their awareness.
As your program matures change the questions to continually raise the maturity level of your program and to keep it interesting.
Have fun!