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| What To Do In An Earthquake |
Ever wonder how our multiple messages on disaster preparedness are perceived by the public? This video by College Humor shows in hysterical detail how we just might be confusing people with too many messages. It reminds us that the best messages are those that are simple and easily remembered in a crisis. There's also a bit of zinger at the end about the attention span of some members of the public. |
The following are excerpts from my blog
Canton on Emergency Management. Please visit my blog to see the rest of my articles.
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What Is The Leadership Challenge?
Is leadership a learned behavior or an innate personality trait? While there are certainly naturally charismatic individuals who are considered "born leaders", leadership is a measurable set of behaviors that can be learned and taught. This is the conclusion arrived at by researchers Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner after years of rigorous research. Starting in 1982, Kouzes and Posner set out to understand what happened when leaders performed at their personal best. They conducted hundreds of interviews and reviewed hundreds of cases studies and survey questionnaires. What emerged were five fundamental practices common to extraordinary leadership achievements:
- Model the Way
- Inspire a Shared Vision
- Challenge the Process
- Enable Others to Act
- Encourage the Heart
The Leadership Challenge begins with a 360-degree assessment of thirty leadership behaviors associated with the five practices, the Leadership Practices Inventory. The results are used to identify opportunities for improving as a leader by increasing the frequency of specific behaviors. Based on over thirty years of research, the Leadership Challenge is an effective and practical tool for leadership development.
To find out more about the
Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership
, consider taking
The Leadership Challenge
. Just click on the icon below for more information:
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| Click here to take The Leadership Challenge |
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The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations
by James M. Kouzes & Barry Posner
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Free Resource Guide for Solo Consultants
For solo consultants, true wealth is discretionary time. Don't waste yours on simple tasks that can be handled by technology. This free resource guide reveals the four essential online tools I use to manage my solo consulting practice and save hours of valuable time. And the best part is - they're free!
Interested in exploring the world of consulting? My new membership site might be just the resource you need to get started. You'll have access to blogs designed to answer very specific questions, a resource library of templates and articles, the opportunity to network with peers, and discounts on coaching and training programs. Download the free guide or click on the logo above to go straight to the site.
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Welcome to the September issue of Emergency Management Solutions.
Apologies for the late arrival of this month's newsletter. It's been a busy month between business travel and work on several projects.
But I'm not the only one having a busy month. September has been filled with crisis, from the bombings and stabbings in the east, floods, wildfires in California, hurricanes in the Atlantic - the list seems endless. It's a constant reminder that the work we do is critically important to the communities we serve and that disaster often strikes without warning. I wish I could believe that this was just a horrible month and the worst is behind us but I know only too well the types of risks the winter season holds.
Stay ready!
Regards,
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Why Do We Live In Fear?
A risk free society is an unrealistic goal
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On a bright summer morning, four heavily armed men entered a school house in rural Pennsylvania. The men were members of separatist organization seeking independence from the government. On entering, they immediately shot the teacher, who, as he lay dying, begged them to spare the children. His pleas fell on deaf ears. The men brutally butchered the children with knives and axes, killing nine of the twelve children in the classroom. The crime was so heinous that even the leaders of the separatist organization disavowed their actions, calling them cowards.
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CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE
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If you are having trouble viewing my featured article, try clicking on the link at the top of the page. You can always find my articles in the white paper section of my blog site,
Canton on Emergency Management.
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Change Your Perspective
My daughter is in the hospitality management field. One of her previous positions was that of a manager for a popular restaurant in a fairly well to do community. Service was paramount in such an environment and one of the things her company did to help insure could services was to periodically evaluate each restaurant using assessors posing as customers. The feedback from these assessors was then used to provide coaching, training, or discipline as appropriate to staff. It also helped to identify systemic problems that kept employees from doing their jobs well.
When was the last time you considered your program from the perspective of your customers? By customers, I don't mean the general public whom we ultimately serve but rather the other departments and agencies with whom we interact regularly.
The classic example is our emergency plans. All too often, I'm asked to evaluate plans that are technically correct but absolutely useless. The focus of these types of plans are on meeting requirements rather than on the end user. The writers have forgotten the ultimate customer: the poor soul that has to use that plan under crisis conditions.
There are many other examples that I could name. How much time do your customers waste at meetings that have no agenda and no expected outcomes? How often do you call meetings when a conference call would do? How often do you generate short suspense dates because you were too busy to issue guidance in a timely fashion? Sound familiar?
You can improve your relationships with supporting agencies and work more efficiently if you adjust your thinking to view things from the perspective of your customer. It works for restaurants so why not you?
Professional Development Opportunities
Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals
Las Vegas, Nevada
October 5-6, 2016
This conference will explore issues of importance in emergency
healthcare. Topics include emergency preparedness
for healthcare facilities, workplace violence in among
healthcare professionals, hospitals helping communities
through a disaster, measuring healthcare emergency programs,
cybersecurity, and long-term care facility evacuation
Savannah, GA
October 14-19, 2016
The IAEM Annual Conference provides a forum to discuss current trends and topics, share information about the latest tools and technology in emergency management and homeland security, and advance the work of IAEM.
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Never Stop Learning
"Confidence is based on the belief we can help others to learn; arrogance is based on the belief we have nothing left to learn ourselves; and smugness on the belief we don't need to learn."
Alan Weiss
Are you one of those people who think they have seen it all? You know the type: the person who says that they've been doing things the same way for 40 years. In my martial arts training we know that practicing the wrong way every day doesn't make you better. You're still doing it wrong. Time alone doesn't make you good at something; you have to work at it to get it right.
We need to be open to new ideas and to new ways of doing things. Technology and social media have changed public expectations and how we communicate. We can't just ignore these changes; we need to embrace them. More, we need to be in the forefront of change, passing our experience to a new generation.
One of the things that I truly love about emergency management is that it forces me to be constantly learning new things. It's such a broad ranging profession that no one can be an expert in everything, a fact I am painfully reminded of every time I put in a few hours on my book revision project. What is even more fun is that I can couple this with my love of history and apply the lessons of history to emergency management.
So be open to learning new things. Read a book, take an online course, watch a webinar. Never get arrogant or smug. It's not who you are.
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Doomsday: End Of The World Scenarios
by Richard Moran
Author Richard Moran provides ten scenarios that can bring about the end of the world, ranging from weapons of mass destruction to killer bees. Moran quotes reputable scientific sources for his conclusions but I suspect that they're taken out of context and exaggerated to a certain extent.
The problem is that Moran gives the impression that any of these events could happen "at any minute" and one at least will happen in our lifetime. Since the book was written in 2003, it's interesting to note that several of the timelines for doomsday have already past.
Nevertheless, several of the scenarios are certainly credible and the book does provide food for thought and can at least point you to possible resources. It could also be fun to turn some of them into no-win exercise scenarios, sort of an emergency management
Kobayashi Maru.
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Interested in more books on emergency management and related topics?
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Emergency Management: Concepts and Strategies for Effective Programs
by Lucien G. Canton
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Need a speaker for your next conference? I offer keynotes, seminars and workshops.
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Three Reasons Why I'm the Right Speaker for Your Conference
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Speaking Engagements
Now Taking Bookings for 2017
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