Communications are at the heart of successfully responding to emergencies.  It’s likely that you have more methods available than you have considered.  Your communication tools will serve you better if you take the time to test and practice them with a “Communications Flex”.

A simple CommFlex could be sending out a request for response over normally used channels: phone, e-mail, social media, or anything else familiar to your normal routine.  Ask people to confirm, so you can learn response times and rates.  This insight can help you make informed planning decisions as well as showing you what to improve.

In an advanced exercise, you could update contact information, practice phone trees, test whether your message is understood, or use less familiar communication channels.

The more diverse and the more you understand your tools, the better!

Tip: Don’t forget that some of the older ways of communicating are some of the most resilient. See if you have anyone on your team who is a HAM radio operator, and bring them into your CommFlex. Two radio associations you can refer to for more information: