Preparing for the Unexpected

Recently, The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS) published a newsletter containing some interesting perspectives on Covid-19 from it's various global chapters and/or representatives. Join me, as I review and talk about some of the perspectives and thoughts submitted by representatives from South Africa, South Korea, China, Canada, and other locations.

Say the wrong word or forget to say anything during a time of a crisis can destroy your reputation and that of your organization. It can take many years to get that reputation back on track and that cost of not managing a crisis effectively can have a great impact on your customers, your organization’s finances and even your career.

We speak with global crisis leadership expert and author of The Art of Crisis Leadership, Rob Weinhold.

Rob will help us understand how we can recognize a crisis and understand the anatomy of a crisis. Once we understand the anatomy of a crisis we can then begin to lead our organizations – and ourselves – through difficult times. We’ll also learn about ‘muscle memory’ and how we can develop this to help our organizations and ourselves become stronger and more resilient when a crisis does occur. Crisis Leadership is an art after all.

Leadership; its something we all want when times are tough. Few realize it's something that everyone can aspire to. We speak with researchers, leadership experts, and authors Leonard J. Marcus and Eric J. McNulty about their book 'You're IT! Crisis, Change, and How to Lead When it Matter Most'. We'll learn how we to find the leader within others and ourselves and what it takes to be a good solid leader - and how leadership isn't just associated with a job title. If you want to be a stronger leader, including times of crisis, this is an episode not to be missed.

This is the 2nd episode in an ongoing monthly discussion about Covid-19 with internationally recognized industry expert, Regina Phelps. In this episode we'll talk to Regina about the 3 kinds of possible pandemic wave scenarios and continue out talk about what organization's need to consider as part of their Workplace Re-Entry Plan. It's information every organization needs to know, so don't miss this very informative episode.

There are many websites and social media sites that provide information during emergencies and not all of it correct. We talk with OSINT (Open-source Intelligence) and Risk Intelligence expert, Dan Davydoff about how OSINT can help BCM and Emergency Management professionals strengthen their Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery capabilities and how we can integrated OSINT into the Emergency Management Life Cycle. A very interesting topic not to be missed.

Climate change is proving to be quite the challenge for today's BCM professionals, and for the most part many aren't aware of how to deal with the challenges climate change poses. We speak with internationally recognized industry expert, James Green about how we need to start incorporating Climate Change into our BCM plans and programs, using some very fundamental methods. James will give us quite a few tips on how we can incorporate Climate Change concerns into our risk assessment and BCM programs. We'll even learn how to get our Executives on board with Climate Change concerns to help us create stronger and more resilient organizations. James will also touch on Covid-19 and how it's changing our views and actions with regards to our risk exposure.

Disasters are disaster because they impact society; the way we mitigate, prepare, respond, and recover from negative situations, including the Covid-19 pandemic. We speak with globally recognized sociologist, researcher and author, Professor Kathleen Tierney, as we discuss her book Disasters: A Sociological Approach with a slant to the Covid-19 pandemic. Prof, Tierney will talk to us about the social aspects of risks, preparedness and recovery. We'll also chat about how Covid-19 is challenging different societies with their response, as there is no 'blanket' approach to the pandemic. Prof. Tierney will also talk to us about how our responses, including those related to Covid-19, differ from the perceptions that many falsely believe. Disasters impact society and Prof. Tierney opens our eyes about how we need to look beyond our usual disaster fears and address disasters using a sociological approach.

No Business Continuity Management (BCM) professional can know everything about business operations, as there's just so much to know. However, a BCM professional can learn allot about an organizations operations by speaking with a Business Analyst (BA), whether they be Business or Technical in focus.

We speak with experienced BA expert Bill Baxter who will speak to us about the roll of the BA and what we can learn from them to help us understand business - and technical - operations.

When building our continuity plans we need the input of skilled and knowledgeable resources to make our plans strong, viable and usable, and the Business Analyst is one of the key roles to help get the right plans in place.

This is the first episode in an ongoing monthly discussion about Covid-19 with internationally recognized industry expert, Regina Phelps. In this episode we'll talk to Regina about the Seven Phases of Pandemic Planning, which we can all use to help get our organization's on track to prepare for, respond to, and recovery from the current pandemic situation. We'll also talk about the first 5 steps of Re-Entry Planning that organizations need to consider when they want to get their operations back to some semblance of 'regular' activity once the Covid-19 Pandemic is over. There's actually 10 Step to Re-Entry Planning, so this episode will be the 1st of a 2 part discussion. It's a highly informative episode no one should miss.

Each year, California is hit by wildfires, impacting communities, organizations and people. October 2019 was no exception and by all appearances, seemed to be one of the worst years on record. We talk once again to Julia Halsne, who is responsible for the Business Continuity Program and East Bay Municipal Utility District's (EBMUD) Business Continuity Program. Julia will share with us how EBMUD prepared for the ongoing wildfire season and the lessons learned before, during and after the disaster. Julia will also share with us a plan they devised ahead of time that helped EBMUD face the oncoming wildfire season; the Mitigation Plan. Lots of lessons to be learned and a show not to be missed.