Emergency Management Solutions Newsletter

Volume 10 No. 6                                                                              June 2018

In This Issue
Featured Video
Blog Highlights
The Leadership Challenge
Consulting Transitions
Featured Article
Professional Development
Life Balance
From the Bookshelf
Speaker's Corner
Join My Mailing List
Featured Video
Triangle Shirt Factory Fire
Triangle Shirt Factory Fire

We tend to think of focusing events as big affairs, but the Triangle Waist factory fire was a single building fire that had little physical impact outside the affected structure. Yet it significantly changed how we approach building safety and spurred the application of the many building safety features that we now take for granted. In less than 20 minutes, the fire gutted three floors of a ten story building used as a shirt waist factory, killing 146 workers, most of them young immigrant women. The outrage caused an unusual alliance between workers and politicians that saw the passage of over 60 pieces of safety legislation in the next year. 
Blog Highlights

Canton blog masthead
Visit My Blog

The following are excerpts from my blog
Canton on Emergency Management. Please visit my blog to see the rest of my articles.  


Misinformation can cause unnecessary anxiety, particularly when you confuse possibility with probability.

Visit my blog 

If you are having trouble accessing these articles, go directly to the blog by clicking either the logo or the green "Visit my blog" button.
EM Blog Masthead

Visit My Blog

The following are excerpts from my blog, Managing Crisis, published by Emergency Management Magazine. Please visit my blog to see the rest of my articles.


A recent PrepTalk by Dr. Dennis Mileti offers five suggestions for making your public warnings more effective by using the lessons from social science.

Visit my blog

If you are having trouble accessing these articles, go directly to the blog by clicking either the logo or the green "Visit my blog" button.
Leadership Coaching


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:
  1. Model the Way
  2. Inspire a Shared Vision
  3. Challenge the Process
  4. Enable Others to Act
  5. 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:
Click here to take The Leadership Challenge
 ____________________________________




The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations
by James M. Kouzes & Barry Posner







_______________________________

The Leadership Challenge is a registered trademark of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
 
Consulting Transitions
 
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 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.

Visit my blog
Quick Links
L. Canton Photo 2013  

Welcome to the June edition of Emergency Management Solutions.

It seems like just a short while ago that we were dealing with the destructive fires in the North Bay but over eight months have passed and a new fire season is upon us. The response to our most recent fire is good but it's early in the season and a lot of resources are available. That will change as the season progresses.

I suspect that the last year's fires will be viewed eventually as a focusing event that led to significant changes in how we do notifications, both in terms of technology and in procedures. However, we're still studying what went wrong and how best to correct it, a process that involves a lot of people, money, and political will. Meanwhile, the fires aren't waiting.


Regards,

Lucien Canton   
Featured Article
_ ________________________________________________

What's Your Story?

Thinking Like A Storyteller Can Make Your Presentation Shine 

One of the core competencies for emergency managers, in my opinion, is the ability to speak persuasively. This is particularly important when dealing with elected officials or executive leaders but presentations to the public can also have an impact on your credibility. The only way to get good at speaking in public is to practice and a good opportunity to practice is by speaking to your peers at conferences.

As both an attendee and a frequent speaker at conferences, I'm amazed at how bad some presentations can be. It doesn't have to be that way. Preparing a good presentation can be easier than developing a bad one.


_______________________ ________

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.

  Visit my blog
Professional Development
Keeping in Touch

I've written before about the importance of belonging to professional associations and of keeping in touch with your colleagues. I was reminded of this while attending a recent meeting of our state association, the California Emergency Services Association. The meeting moves around the region and my schedule frequently conflicts with the dates but a combination of lucky circumstances allowed me to attend the most recent meeting.

One of the reasons I enjoy emergency management so much is the wealth of talent that is brought to bear on problems. In this case, a good friend and colleague of many years offered a new approach to alert and warning that was so logical and well thought out that it seems as if it should have been obvious all along. I'll be sharing some of his thoughts in next month's featured article. Another group reported out on efforts to create a state standard for alerts and warnings with the intent of addressing some of the issues raised in the response to last year's wild fires. Their progress and insights were impressive.

If you're not a member of any professional organizations, you need to think about it. No matter how good you think you are, the synergy that takes place when you get a group of smart people together in one room is unbeatable.

FEMA Revisions: IS 100/IS 700

FEMA released two revised online NIMS courses during the week of 25 June:

IS-100.c, An Introduction to the Incident Command System, ICS 100
This course introduces the Incident Command System (ICS) and provides the foundation for higher level ICS training. The course describes the history, features and principles, and organizational structure of the Incident Command System. It also explains the relationship between ICS and the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

IS-700.b, An Introduction to the National Incident Management System
This course provides an overview of NIMS. NIMS defines the comprehensive approach guiding the whole community - all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), and the private sector - to work together seamlessly to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the effects of incidents. The course provides learners with a basic understanding of NIMS concepts, principles, and components.

IS-100.c and IS-700.b are updated versions of the IS-100.b and IS-700.a courses. If you have successfully completed a previous version of these courses there is no FEMA requirement to take the revised versions of the courses. 

Professional Development Opportunities

July 8 - 11, 2018
Broomfield, CO

Since 1975, the Natural Hazards Center has hosted the Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop in Colorado. Today, the Workshop is attended by over 500 federal, state, and local emergency officials; representatives of nonprofit and humanitarian organizations; hazards researchers; disaster consultants; and others dedicated to reducing risk and alleviating the harm from disasters.

International Association of Emergency Managers Annual Conference
Oct 19 - 25 
Grand Rapids MI

The goal of the IAEM Annual Conference is to improve knowledge, competency level and collaborative skills. IAEM accomplishes this by attracting relevant high-profile
speakers to address current topics and practical solutions.
Life Balance
Moral Codes

In his final movie, The Shootist, John Wayne portrays an aging gunfighter who is dying from cancer (ironically, Wayne was himself dying of cancer while the movie was shot). During a shooting lesson with a young admirer, the gunfighter shares the principles that have guided his life:

I won't be wronged.
I won't be insulted.
I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people and I require the same from them.

As personal codes go, it's not too bad. It's close to the classic "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." However, I'm sure we could get into a fun debate about what happens if you take the gunfighter's code to absurdity.

However, I'm not interested in the content of the code but in the fact that Wayne's character can very clearly articulate the simple rules by which he lives. He has distilled the wisdom he has gained over a long, hard life into a simple set of rules that he is able to pass on to a younger generation. 

We all have moral codes that motivate our actions but how many of us can state them clearly?  I've mentioned elsewhere that my friend and colleague, the late Ken Chin, and I had a test for deciding if we should take an action that could have been viewed as questionable. We developed three questions that we applied to any situation where we were unsure if the action we were thinking about was appropriate and shared them with the people we trained.
  • Is it specifically prohibited by the rules?
  • Is it ethical?
  • Is it in the best interest of the people we serve?
However, our test, while useful, isn't quite the same as the gunfighter's "rules to live by." Like most people, I'd be hard pressed to distill my moral code into a series of sentences. It might be worth the effort, though, as I'm reaching that age where younger people, like the gunfighter's admirer, expect me to be a fount of wisdom.
From the Bookshelf
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America
By David von Drehle

Drehle's book is one of the most gripping stories of disaster I have read. The first four chapters set the context and are largely devoted to the rise of the women's labor movement in New York. Be patient; this will become relevant in the aftermath of the fire.

The two chapters devoted to the fire are graphic and detailed, providing the level of information that is relevant to emergency managers. The remaining three chapters deal with the aftermath of the fire, covering the trials of the owners and the political furor that led to significant safety laws.

The book is well written and holds the reader's attention. Drehle not only tells the facts of the fire but gives a voice to the many victims by sharing their stories. Well worth the read!


 


Emergency Management: Concepts and Strategies for Effective Programs
by Lucien G. Canton



Speaker's Corner

Need a speaker for your next conference? I offer keynotes, seminars and workshops.
 
Why Should You Choose Me As Your Speaker?
Three Reasons Why I'm the Right Speaker for Your Conference 
 
You can find more details and sample videos on my website or on my SpeakerMatch page.   
  
Speaking Engagements 

It's the End of the World! What Do We Do Now?
International Association of Emergency Managers Annual Conference
Oct 24, 2018
Grand Rapids MI

©Lucien G. Canton 2018. All rights reserved.

 

You may reprint and excerpt this newsletter provided that you include my copyright, the source,
the author, and "reprinted with permission."

ISSN: 2334-590X