This is just a fact.
I'm not ashamed to admit I almost never eat fast food. The last time I had Wendy's was 2015 and I can't say when before that. Last time I had Burger King was 2019 and before that it was probably 1995. I never heard of Chic-fil-A before I joined the military and since 2013, I have had it less than 10 times. I'm a lounge person in airports so eat there instead. I bring food with me on long car trips because I'd rather get to where I'm going instead of stopping to sit and eat. So what's my point?
When I do order at Chic-fil-A, you don't want to be in line behind me (and probably not the person taking my order, either). I do not order with authority. I'm often confused reading the menu to see what the options are so I'm generally not ready since I am unfamiliar with their offerings. And when I feel confident enough to say what I want, when that statement is met with a question, it throws me off. It's pretty apparent I'm inexperienced, and that self-awareness makes it an even worse experience for me. I always wind up apologizing to the cashier. All of this is 100% true.
Don't even get me started on the self-ordering kiosks. Avoid me there, too.
If I were a regular, the whole thing would be different. I'd be confident. I'd already be familiar with the menu. If I were asked a question, I'd be used to it and handle it with aplomb!
That's how you should want to meet disasters and disruptions (including the minor, everyday ones). You get there by training and exercising. (shameless plug: register for my event this week to practice!). It doesn't have to be some new bizzare offering: familiarization is key to a successful playbook when keeping your business alive. I like to point out that firefighters do their job every day but you only really hear about it when it is a 5-alarm conflagration. But they respond to alarms every day. It's business as usual, or becomes business as usual because they have trained on it and are experienced in it.
Familiarization makes the 5-alarm fire easier to deal with. It would make my ordering at Chic-fil-A less anxiety laden and easier. There are bigger stakes in fighting fires and saving your business than there are in my getting the right sized order with the sauce I want and side (trust me, it's not that easy, especially when I'm not trying to spend more money than necessary -- are the combos really worth it? Are they really giving me what I want? Am I ordering in a way that could be less expensive with substitutions asked for in the right place?).
This has been an analogy of a true story that may seem incredibly silly, but imagine instead of getting your lunch order, we're talking about keeping your business running. And your employees employed. And the community enriched by your continued presence. The ideas and principles are still the same, with significantly different consequences.
Not very silly at all, is it? Seems almost like it's both a goal and imperative.
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