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Featured Video
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Cocoanut Grove Survivors Tell Their Stories
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The Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston on November 28, 1942, ranks as the deadliest night club fire in history and the second deadliest single-building fire in US history. The fire killed 492 people and injured hundreds more. The fire led to improved medical treatment for burn victims and to the development of more stringent life safety codes. Among many code requirements that we know take for granted were the banning of artificial decorations and inward swinging exits doors and the requirement that exit doors be clearly marked. In this short video, three survivors of the fire tell their stories about the fire.
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Blog Highlights
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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Assess Your Leadership Behaviors
Each of the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership has six behaviors associated with them. By measuring the frequency of these thirty behaviors we can identify those areas where a leader can improve by increasing the frequency of those key behaviors. This is the purpose of the Leadership Practices Inventory, a 360 assessment that incorporates the leader's self-assessment and the assessments of coworkers, supervisors, and subordinates.
The LPI is not a measure of leadership. Instead, it measures the frequency of behaviors common to successful leaders. The results of the LPI are used to create an improvement plan to help increase the frequency of those behaviors.
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!
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Newsletter Archive
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Welcome to the November issue of Emergency Management Solutions.
The start of the holidays is usually considered a time when things slow down a bit, a time to pause and consider the blessings of family and friends and to keep alive old traditions. Not so for emergency managers, though. We're already dealing with winter storms and anticipating the impact of what promises to be an extremely strong El Nino year. Add to that the civil disturbances and shootings of the past few weeks and we're already off to a busy season.
Many of us will not be with our families for the holidays. It's the price we pay for the work we do.
Regards,
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Featured Article
Is Your Strategic Plan Realistic?
Strategy must be tied to outcomes
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When queried about the department's lack of a strategic plan, the chief of a major metropolitan fire department pointed out the many new initiatives that the department was implementing as evidence that a strategic plan wasn't really necessary. The chief added that, while they had the funding to hire a consultant to develop a strategic plan, it was unlikely that the department would have the funds to implement it.
The chief's comments highlight a common problem with strategic plans: they are frequently not tied to actual outcomes and, as a result, are not taken seriously. Many strategic plans represent where the department would like to be in an ideal world rather than a realistic appraisal of where the department is and where it would like to be in a given time period.
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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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Professional Development
What's On Your Wishlist?
If you're like me, you've probably got family and friends hammering on you for a holiday wishlist. "You're so hard to shop for," is the complaint I usually hear. Each year I promise to give them a list and each year I forget until it's too late. The one year I did give them a list I had a truly great holiday, so this year I'm on it.
What's this got to do with professional development? Now is the time to haul out the list of all those books you've been wanting to add to your professional library. You can find some suggestions in my store: An Emergency Manager's Reading List.
You might also consider a subscription to a professional journal such as the Journal of Emergency Management or the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
And of course, there are always the fun toys that we can't live without: new software, electronics, cameras, etc.
So give the family a break and boost your professional development at the same time.
Upcoming Educational Opportunities
December 10, 2015, 1 PM CST
American Planning Association
Cost and Registration: Free, register online before event
This webinar will feature professional experiences in implementing mitigation goals from the perspective of two different communities-one in North Carolina and one in Colorado. Participants will learn how to individualize mitigation efforts for their communities for a range of natural hazards. Continuing Education Credits are available.
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Ignore Those Jerks
One of the funny things about life is the importance we give to those whose opinions really don't matter. We obsess over the one person who voices disapproval while ignoring the many who give their approval. We really need to turn this around.
As someone who contributes to three blogs and publishes a newsletter, it's a constant challenge to remember that for everyone who leaves a rude comment or makes a personal attack, there are several hundred who read my work and enjoyed it. Blogs reflect your opinion and carry a certain amount of personal investment. It's natural to feel a bit defensive about them. When a colleague offers an opposing point of view or corrects an error of fact, it creates a dialogue that is interesting to both me and many other readers. Opening your rebuttal with a personal attack and offering nothing of substance only demonstrates to everyone that you are jerk.
But for some reason, you remember those jerks. I still remember a colleague who took violent objection to one of my articles and demanded to be removed from my mailing list. When I went to do so, I found he hadn't even read the article. But I remember that rather than the fact that several hundred people read the article and that several chose to comment favorably on it.
So now I make it a point not to respond to any negative comments I receive and have learned to ignore them (well, mostly). There are more important things to do than responding to negativity. Consider where you can implement this in your own life and give it a try. It's not easy but it does make life a little bit better.
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From the Bookshelf
Case Studies in Disaster Response and Emergency Management
by Nicolas A. Valcik and Paule E. Tracy
Having trouble coming up with a scenario for your next exercise? This book details over 50 actual events, some well known and some obscure, ranging from natural disasters to industrial accidents to terror attacks that can give yous some ideas. The scenarios are not limited to the United States but consider historical events from around the world.
Each case study is divided into stages, allowing them to be used as either discussion based or operational exercises. While each case study suggests a role for the players, they are generic enough to be easily adapted to local conditions. Each case study concludes with a brief statement of key issues and items of note.
One minor quibble is that you will need to do your own research on the incidents themselves - the case studies follow the sequence of the events but do not summarize the events themselves. Also, the focus is largely on response but extending the case studies to consider recovery issues could be easily done.
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Interested in more books on emergency management and related topics?
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Looking for a Speaker?
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 2016
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