When you’re preparing for something important, what do you do? There’s probably some sort of plan, right? Even if it’s not written down or in a tidy to-do list, you probably have some sort of idea how you want your preparations, training or rundown to go.

Are you cool as a cucumber in a crisis?

But somehow, it always seems like life has a way of throwing a wrench in those plans. (Maybe it’s just me. But likely, you can relate as well.) My second half-marathon is in five days, and I’ve had a nasty cold for the past week. I was finally recovered from a minor hip injury, and my body said, “nope … you’re going to be congested and coughing for a week before the race.”

This is just one big metaphor for life — yes, even our professional lives. It doesn’t matter what kind of preparations you make. You should always be flexible and allow for changes to affect your schedule. Planning a conference? You probably double- and triple-check to be sure everything will run smoothly. But then the day arrives and maybe the caterers inexplicably go to the wrong address. Or maybe a freak snowstorm prevents people from attending. Or maybe an important shipment won’t arrive until after the conference.

It all comes down to being flexible and keeping your cool in tough situations. How you react to adversity says a lot about you.

What do you think? How do you react when the going gets tough?

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You may have heard about the intense flooding Georgia — specifically Atlanta, where MemberClicks is based — experienced yesterday. For those who haven’t, Gov. Sonny Perdue declared 17 counties states of emergency and dozens of school districts are closed today. A few interstates are still closed today and children were stranded at schools last night, but at least the rain has stopped.

Those of us in Atlanta knew it was going to rain — hard — for a week or so, but it seemed most people were completely unprepared for such an emergency. (The picture above is from Monday afternoon, and is a major highway connector in downtown Atlanta.)

It really made me wonder … what can associations learn from the flood? I am in no way trying to belittle the tragedies caused by the recent flooding, but are there lessons in this situation?

Are you prepared for the worst possible scenario? What if you lose funding? What if your members want to break free and start their own organization, as Lisa Junker wrote about in a case study in the most recent issue of Associations Now? What if there actually is a weather-related crisis (such as a huge storm during your annual meeting that impairs people’s ability to travel)?

Personally, I’d rather make like a Boy Scout and “always be prepared” than have to fly by the seat of my pants. Every organization should have some sort of contingency plan in place.

I ran a simple search for “emergency” on ASAE and The Center’s Acronym blog and found a few great posts about emergency preparedness. (Of course, Hurricane Gustav was a year or so ago, but there are great takeaways.)

- Emergency Preparedness: How Prepared Are You? is a fairly recent post about the swine flu pandemic.
- Hurricane Gustav Prompts Businesses and Organizations to Launch Emergency Recovery Plans
- Responding to Cyclone Nargis

What are some unexpected crises your association has had to deal with? How did your staff handle it?