Disruption Readiness: What Happens If You’re Suddenly Out?
Whether you’re running the business or leading a team, one unexpected event - an illness, loss, natural disaster or personal crisis - can throw everything off course.
Disruption readiness means having a smart, human-centered plan in place; not just IT backups, but strategies for handling sudden absence, leadership gaps, or client-facing chaos before they cost you time, money, or credibility.
Most businesses - regardless of size - have no plan in place when challenging events happen that impact them.
We help company leaders, solopreneurs and fractional executives create simple, strategic blueprints to protect business stability and respond with confidence when the unexpected happens.
If you couldn’t work for a week, would your business survive?
If a teammate vanished tomorrow, would you know what to do next - without guessing?
Emergency Leadership Plans: What If You (or Your Key Player) Can’t Show Up?
Most businesses have a plan for cyber threats or power failures but few are ready for personal loss, leadership absence, or other kinds of disruption.
If you or a team member had to step away suddenly, would your business keep running - or stall out?
The risks aren’t hypothetical. As a solo operator or leader of a team, you’re vulnerable when:
A trusted partner receives a devastating medical diagnosis
You face a personal emergency (loss, illness, caregiving, or burnout)
A key team member suddenly quits, collapses, or can’t deliver
A disaster disrupts your ability to lead, serve clients, or show up for your business
These events are deeply personal. But your response doesn’t have to be chaotic.
That’s why disruption planning for businesses of any size is no longer a “nice to have.”
Crisis Response and Business Continuity Consulting for Leaders
Compassionate Response Consulting was created by two seasoned consultants who help business leaders handle disruption with empathy, clarity, and strategy.
Together, we bring decades of experience guiding organizations through common and often inevitable life events like death, diagnosis, organizational change and disaster disruptions - both as insiders and independent consultants. We're solopreneurs ourselves, and we’ve navigated business continuity challenges firsthand.
Now, we help leaders do the same.
Whether you're facing a personal emergency, a team disruption, or an unexpected crisis, we help you:
Respond with confidence
Protect performance and trust
Support your people while staying in business
We deliver two proven offerings:
The Workplace Resilience Blueprint (for companies)
The Readiness Playbook for Unexpected Events (for solopreneurs and fractional leaders)
These tools help you lead through uncertainty without losing momentum or morale.
Michelle Arentz | Strategic Talent Rx
Maureen Desmond | Navigating Change & Loss
Our Process: Seamless, Personalized Business Continuity Support
We deliver a smooth and unified experience through Compassionate Response Consulting, built around your or your team’s unique needs. Whether you engage with one or both of us, you'll get:
Consistent strategic support
A shared, streamlined process
A personalized approach to help you or your leaders and business thrive even in difficult times
You can contact either of us to begin. Behind the scenes, we coordinate to ensure your engagement is cohesive and effective from start to finish.
What Comes Next: Ongoing Support for Sustainable Results
Whether you're a solo founder or leading a growing company, you don’t have to navigate what’s next alone.
For Solopreneurs & Fractional Leaders
You don’t need an will or a full-blown crisis team to protect your business. You need clarity, and a simple plan you can rely on.
The Readiness Playbook gives you exactly that.
Build a custom game plan for unexpected events like illness, loss, or urgent leave
Identify critical roles, decisions, and business continuity steps
Reduce stress for loved ones, partners, and clients if something happens
Keep everything organized and ready in one place, on your terms
Done in a day. Designed to guide your business through the unexpected without creating extra work or ongoing dependency.
For Companies & Executive Teams
Many leaders choose to extend their momentum after completing the Workplace Resilience Blueprint.
Ongoing support may include:
Leadership development for managers navigating growth or disruption
Team alignment & collaboration coaching
Culture strengthening across departments
Facilitated strategy sessions to ensure stability and traction
You’ll continue with Michelle or Maureen based on your organization’s evolving needs: grief support, people strategy, or both.
Crisis Readiness Plans for Business Leaders and Solopreneurs
Protect performance, leadership continuity, and client trust during life disruptions.
Whether you run a company or operate independently as a solopreneur or fractional leader, you need a disruption readiness strategy that protects your business when the unexpected happens.
Choose the option that fits your role:
For Company Leaders:
The Workplace Resilience Blueprint
A Leadership Guide to Navigating Change With Stability
Equip managers with clear, actionable response strategies
Reduce operational interruptions that impact productivity and performance
Strengthen trust and resilience across teams and departments
For Solopreneurs & Independent Leaders:
The Readiness Playbook for Unexpected Events
A Solopreneur’s Guide to Business Stability in Uncertain Times
Protect your business from personal or client-related disruptions
Create a continuity plan before a crisis hits
Maintain client trust, productivity, and revenue stability
Be ready—before you need to be.
This Is More Than an HR Policy. It’s a Business Continuity Strategy for Leadership and Teams
This is NOT:
Grief counseling or emotional hand-holding
A reactive, last-minute crisis response
Another EAP policy or generic HR template no one uses
A will or estate plan
A “nice-to-have” that gathers dust in a folder
This IS:
A proactive business continuity strategy to reduce the cost and chaos of disruption
A practical, repeatable framework for managers, teams, and solo leaders
A fast, easy-to-implement process that prepares your business before things go sideways and get costly
Think of it as your fire drill for workplace resilience.
Ready to Future-Proof Your Business Against Disruption?
Choose your path to business resilience and leadership continuity:
Build your plan for unexpected absences, loss, or life shifts that affect your business stability.
Still deciding? Start with the Solo Readiness Self-Check
A strategy session to protect business operations and lead through life’s inevitable disruptions.
Not sure you’re ready? Start with the Company Readiness Check
Need to talk? We’ll pinpoint where to start and what to fix first.
Two Experts. One Mission: Human-Centered Readiness for Business Disruption.
Michelle Arentz and Maureen Desmond bring together decades of experience in workforce strategy and grief-informed leadership consulting. As co-founders of Compassionate Response Consulting, we equip business leaders and solopreneurs with a practical, proven framework for handling the personal disruptions that derail professional momentum.
Together, we help leaders, managers, and independent professionals respond with confidence and clarity during times of:
Critical illness or caregiving
Organizational and personal loss
Sudden change or absence
Disaster disruptions that impact your ability to deliver
For businesses:
Train your managers to respond to disruption with empathy while protecting performance.
For solopreneurs and fractional leaders:
Create a personal readiness plan to preserve client trust, continuity, and revenue—no matter what life throws your way.
This isn’t just about HR policy. It’s about resilience.
Our readiness framework is fast to implement and prepares you before life hits the fan - ensuring you lead with strategy, stability, and heart.
“Retaining disengaged employees through compassionate practices saves an organization about $9,000 per employee annually, avoiding the much larger costs of replacing staff.”
— Gallup