Emergency Management Solutions Newsletter

 

Helping Managers Lead Better in Crisis

June 2013

L. Canton Photo 2013
In This Issue
Hostile Interviews
Titanic: The Survivors' Story
Professional Development
Life Balance
From the Bookshelf
Speaker's Corner

Hostile Interviews

5 Hints for Safeguarding Your Reputation

         

In this age of confrontational media reporting it's not unusual to find yourself in a time of crisis on the receiving end of a hostile interview. How you manage that interview may well determine how well your organization's reputation survives the crisis.

 

In a recent blog posting, I wrote about the hostile interview and suggested some strategies for dealing with it. This article expands on the points I made.

 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE

 

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. 

Titanic: The Survivors' Story

Titanic: The Survivors' Story (1997)
Titanic: The Survivors' Story (1997)
This interesting film features interviews with the last Titanic survivors, many of whom are profiled in Andrew Wilson's book, Shadow of the Titanic.

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Greetings!  

Welcome to the June issue of Emergency Management Solutions
 
Apologies for the lateness; I've suggest upgraded my computer and we all know how that goes! I've also launched a new version of my website, so stop on by and let me know what you think.

 

Hostile interviews come with the job for emergency managers. You would think we would be pretty used to handling them. But as this month's featured article shows, we often don't do all that well because we don't treat them with the respect they deserve.

 

Remember that in addition to this monthly newsletter, you  can also follow my personal blog  Canton on Emergency Management or my new blog in Emergency Management Magazine  Managing Crisis.

 Regards,
  
Lucien Canton

Professional Development 

 

The Certified Emergency Manager designation requires that a candidate have education not just in emergency management subjects but an equal amount in management training. This is also a requirement for recertification.

 

There's a sound reason for this. Professional emergency managers are first and foremost program managers. Our true responsibility is the management of a program that lays the foundation for community resilience. To fulfill that responsibility requires that we have managerial skills equal to those of our peers in other disciplines.

 

So what do I mean by management training and why is it useful. Management education covers a wide range of topics. Some are very specific, such as managerial accounting. Others are more theoretical such as leadership and group dynamics. It's really up to you what you choose to study.

 

I would begin be looking at areas where you are having problems. Acquiring new skills is usually a good starting point. Many of us don't come into our jobs with the skills to manage a department budget, for example. After that, consider courses that expand your knowledge base, such as negotiation skills or human resource management.

 

Technical skills are essential in any job. But they will not always grant you access to senior managers or allow to be perceived as a peer by other department heads. For that, you need managerial training.

Life Balance  

 

A good friend who left the Bay Area over a year ago finally made it back for a brief visit this weekend. One of the reasons she gave for the visit was a need for closure. The circumstances of her departure had dictated that she pack and move within weeks of her decision to leave and she felt she had left things undone. Those of us who are her friends felt the same, so it was a great weekend for all of us.

 

Too often in life we are forced to leave things undone and we carry regrets. Sometimes we can't do anything about because of the circumstances. But other times we can and should seek closure. It may only need a visit, a message or a phone call or it might require a bit of work but it's worth it.

 

We also need to accept that in many cases we will never be able to reach closure on an issue. Sometimes we just need to move on.

 

So what baggage are you carrying that you can shed with a bit of closure? Why not do something about it today?

 
From the Bookshelf  

 


Shadow of the Titanic: The Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived
by Andrew Wilson
  
Modern psychology has come a long way in explaining the long-term effects of severe trauma. Terms like post-traumatic stress disorder and survivors guilt are well known and there is an understanding of the need for mental health counseling after a traumatic event.
 
But it has not always been this way. Andrew Wilson's book follows a number of survivors of the Titanic disaster and considers how their lives were changed forever by the experience. It is interesting to see the contrasting ways that the survivors dealt with the aftermath of the disaster - being coming reclusive. seeking publicity, suicide, affirming life. 
 
The book is by nature anecdotal and Wilson occasionally falls into the historians' trap of claiming to know what someone was thinking at the moment of death. However, it is a fascinating picture of how people dealt with what we later came to call PTSD and the impact of the continued public interest in the Titanic.
 
 Looking for more books? Check out
Speaker's Corner 
Looking for a Speaker?

 

Need a speaker for your next conference? I offer keynotes, seminars and workshops. You can find more details on my website or on my SpeakerMatch page.  
Lucien Canton Seminar Excerpts
Lucien Canton Seminar Excerpts
  
Speaking Engagements  

October 30: How Realistic is Your Plan? Why Our Planning Process Leads to Failure International Association of Emergency Managers Annual Conference, Reno NV 


November 12: Keeping it Real: Hints and Tips for Exercise Design Association of Contingency Planners, Oakland CA

�Lucien G. Canton June 2013