Boston Marathon Bombing: Are We Facing the “New Normal”?

By Kathryn Kavicky

On April 15^th, the 3:00 p.m. news out of Boston on Patriots Day snapped us into the new normal of reality. Our vulnerabilities were once again exposed and our abilities to survive the assault were again challenged. The Boston Marathon Bombing was the next wake-up call reminding us that we need to expect the unexpected.

Two of our authors – Jim Burtles, expert on emergency evacuation planning, and Vali Hawkins Mitchell, a certified traumatologist, speak out today with their uniquely focused take on the events in Boston.

In her work as a counselor and expert on dealing with trauma, Vali Hawkins Mitchell realistically but optimistically sees the unfolding of yesterday’s event as “a means to turn the disaster into something meaningful. The alternative is to let it take us to hell. Because there will be another one for someone tomorrow and we need to prepare to be present for them also.”

Writing from London, Jim Burtles says, “There are echoes in my mind of the World Trade Centre, which triggered me to devote my time, skill, energy, and experience into trying to solve the problems of preparing to get people to safety whenever disaster strikes.

“Here in the UK, my family was sharing a mood of sympathy for the aches and pains of my daughter who had just completed her first marathon run in the quiet and peaceful seaside town of Brighton.

“A few hours later we were shaken out of our own rather self-centered concerns when we heard the appalling news of what had just happened in Boston. Our hearts went out to the competitors. We went through some mixed and difficult emotions as we tried to empathise with the crowds around the finish line; their worst nightmares had just come true.

“Rapidly the news channels made us aware of the impact on the people of Boston who had been expecting to celebrate Patriots Day. We wondered how on earth they would cope with the trauma unfolding in their midst. For most of them it would be depressing and for some it would be almost unbearable.

“Everybody seems to agree that we can, and should, plan for such unexpected, unpleasant and dangerous events. Some even go so far as making plans but very few practice them. I was very pleased to notice how well the local emergency services responded to this incident. Clearly, these guys had planned, trained and practiced to ensure that they were able to protect their community under the most harrowing of circumstances.

“It reminded me of an impromptu staging of ‘Hamlet’, tragic but moving. Such an excellent performance indicates to me that they had done rather more than just memorize the script. They had been through many and varied rehearsals. They were the heroes of the day.

“Emergency planning techniques and procedures proved their worth, minimizing the human costs on this tragic occasion.”

Vali Hawkins Mitchell speaks of the importance of good management and trained volunteers in her recent book, describing a scene that is eerily similar to the finish line of Monday’s Boston Marathon: “After a catastrophic event,  it is often the quiet, centered, and calm voice during the event that a victim remembers. A calm voice of compassion that is resonating with reason and security is the loudest guiding force when madness is swirling noisily about, chaos is ripping apart the fabric of the known, and cacophony is jumbling up signals and signs that have before this moment made sense.”

For us, the most heartening thing about the “new normal” of these unexpected terrorist attacks is the way, in any city or town or village, strangers create instant community to provide “the calm voice of compassion” that is needed.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Ten Signs of a Good Emergency Evacuation Program: A Checklist

By Jim Burtles

A good emergency evacuation program takes responsibility for people from the time the alarm goes off or the emergency occurs until they are back at their desks, in their homes, or being cared for in an emergency shelter, hospital, or some other place of safety.

1. Single point of responsibility: Someone responsible and accountable for the safe evacuation of everybody who may be on the premises.
2. Trained marshals in all areas: People can rely upon well trained helpers to guide them and assist them to leave the premises in safety.
3. Well marked exit and escape routes:All exit routes, exits, and escape routes are clearly marked and indicated to suit the needs of the population.
4. Multiple safe assembly areas:A number of alternate safe assembly areas are easily accessible for everybody who may be on the premises.
5. Protected exit points: All exit points are protected by a stout canopy to protect evacuees from falling masonry and other debris as they leave the premises.
6. Visitor awareness program: All visitors to the premises are properly informed about evacuation procedures and planned drills or exercises.
7. Published regular exercise and testing program: A regular schedule of exercises, tests, and drills is in place to ensure all assistants are fully trained and that everyone is kept informed about and required to participate in the tests.
8. Effective personnel accounting procedure: Tried and tested procedures are in place to ensure that everybody is properly accounted for in an emergency.
9. Targeted emergency messaging systems: Messaging system ensures that all people on the premises are aware of an emergency situation and how they should respond.
10. Post-incident support in place: Support and assistance will be available to all those who may have been affected mentally, physically, or spiritually.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Jim Burtles, KLJ, CMLJ, FBCI, is a well known leader in Business Continuity Management spanning 35+ years and 24 countries. He is a founding fellow of the Business Continuity Institute; received the Freedom of the City of London Award in 1992; and was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by his peers in 2001. He is the author of EMERGENCY EVACUATION PLANNING FOR YOUR WORKPLACE: From Chaos to Life-Saving Solutions, to be published in May, 2013.

Vali J. Hawkins Mitchell, Ph.D., LMHC, holds a Doctorate in Health Education and Masters degree in Applied Psychology and is a Certified Traumatologist. She is considered a leading authority in the growing field of Emotional Continuity Management and a highly regarded public speaker, author, consultant, and educator. www.ImproVizion.com. She is the author of The Cost of Emotions in the Workplace: The Bottom Line Value of Emotional Continuity Management.

Tags: Boston Marathon Bombing

The 2013 Continuity Insights Management Conference, April 22-24, 2013, is less than three weeks away, and the team at Continuity Insights is gearing up for an exciting lineup of thought leaders, original content and recognized vendors.

The conference lineup includes three plenary sessions:

• In “The New Crisis Of Cyber Warfare — Are You Under Attack?” presented by David Chalk, Entrepreneur, Technology Expert and Visionary, Chalk will give attendees a clear picture of the current state of cyber warfare, and empower them to take the steps necessary to prepare for, and recover from, a cyberattack.
• In “Shots Fired: Managing The Operational Risk Of An Active Shooter Incident,” presented by Steven M. Crimando, MA, BCETSETSETS, CHS-V, Principal, Behavioral Science Applications, Crimando will give a candid presentation about the evolution of the active shooter threat, and introduce a comprehensive approach to active shooter prevention, response and recovery.
• To round out the plenary lineup, “From EF3 To FOB (Freight On Board) In 33 Days: Resilience At Spirit AeroSystems,” presented by Scott Norlin, BCM Program Manager, Spirit AeroSystems and Damian Walch, Director, Enterprise Risk Services, Deloitte, Norlin and Walch will share the feel-good business continuity story of the year — detailing how a disaster that could have easily disrupted operations was handled efficiently.

In addition to plenary sessions, the conference’s breakout sessions will detail how companies and organizations can better handle IT risks, crisis management, social media, pandemics, day-to-day decision making, and more. The pre- and post-conference workshops will offer an in-depth look at topics including BCI best practices and how to ensure a successful BIA, among others.

Do you have a business continuity conundrum of your own?  If so, there’s good news: The popular “Ask The Experts” track is back, giving attendees the chance to present their problems, challenges and questions to the panel of experts, who will then provide real-world solutions.

After being on your toes, it’s important to kick up your heels. Therefore, the conference will also offer a number of relaxed events, including a welcome reception, a “Zoofari” celebration at the San Diego Zoo, a silent auction, and the Continuity Cares community service project (to be held at the San Diego Food Bank).

Please visit http://www.cimanagementconference.com/ for more information, including a detailed agenda. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Jonna Mayberry, Continuity Insights’ editor, at Jonnatha.Mayberry@advantagemedia.com!

Tags: Business Continuity, CIMC, Continuity Insights, Disaster Recovery, Events, Standards, Training

In Memoriam:

Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut, 14 December 2012

When tragedy hits, we want the world to stop.

But even the most senseless tragedy does not stop the world. Not for you. Not for me. Not for a bereaved community in Connecticut, where schoolchildren were slaughtered in their classrooms.

No, it doesn’t stop. I know this as a fact.

When a police officer knocked on my door one midnight to inform me of the death of my young daughter, my world stopped. But the next day, one of my dear friends had a medical crisis, and I needed to step up to support her family. And the next week, my favorite restaurant across from my condo had a fire, and I needed to run across the street to help friends out of harm’s way.

Crisis didn’t stop in the middle of my wrenching grief. And, though time has passed, my grief hasn’t ended. It has changed. Somewhere in my anguish, I knew that I had two choices: 1) to pack up a U-Haul and move my furniture into the tomb of my pain, or 2) to make it matter. To make it matter, I have to stand up to it every day. I have to re-evaluate my faith every day.  I have to stand up and suit up and show up every day.  I visit the grief constantly, but I do not reside in it. I can’t. It would end me.  And so I make it a proactive choice to do my best to teach this to others in the face of their most heinous moments because, any moment now, a next disaster will arrive somewhere. I hope it won’t be yours.

To make a heinous disaster meaningful is dreadfully hard work forever because it doesn’t fix the grief.  What it does is transmute the energy of sorrow into something more valuable than the pain – hope.  But it isn’t easy to get there. It is a marathon, not a sprint.

When the next tragedy happens, we re-grieve all our previous losses. We join in the collective of our own sorrows and those of others. And there will be, unfortunately, another event just around the corner. It is sadly inevitable. So I encourage you to prepare your hearts.  Prepare them not by closing them, but by opening them more.  It isn’t easy work. But the only other option is to crawl into the tomb with your losses, and then there is no hope left.

I wish I didn’t belong to the “special” club of parents who have lost children – that club in which 20 families in Connecticut now find themselves unwilling members. And I can’t forget that my Mom died three weeks after my daughter – not a good year for me! Not an easy club to belong to. But I do. I remember sitting across the table from parents who had lost a loved one in the World Trade Center attacks in 2001, people who cried out to me, “You don’t know what I’m feeling!”  I had to say, “Yes, I do. And would you like to know what I have done to survive?” Some did want to know.  Others were already ordering up their U-Hauls to move in with the pain.  I don’t blame them.  That tomb looks pretty inviting sometimes.  But if we go there, the “bad-guys” win. And I refuse!

Suit up and show up. That’s all we can do for each other.  It won’t feel like enough. My heart is re-broken after the school massacre last Friday. And nothing I can say will help, except to repeat: I know.  I know.

And I will stand up again today to try to make the day worthy of my survival.
 

        By Vali Hawkins Mitchell

        Edited by Kristen Noakes-Fry

Tags: Newtown, Sandy Hook

No no no no no no no. Things like this are supposed to happen somewhere else. Not in my backyard.

As I sit in my office flipping the remote between the local and national news channel, with five browser windows open watching real-time updates, this time it’s Sandy Hook, Connecticut – not Columbine, not Virginia Tech, not someplace far away.

My best friends live down the street from that elementary school (they’re okay). It’s barely a ten-minute drive from my house. “Second worst school shooting in American history.” “Worse than Columbine.”

As I write this on a Friday afternoon, I hear on the TV news that close to 30 people died, including 18 children. I can’t say I should be surprised if or when I learn that I know somebody who was affected, but of course I will be.

What happened this morning is beyond horrendous. Innocent children and adults slaughtered.

Strange thoughts, totally inappropriate, pop up. Will it hurt property values? Amazing how the human brain works sometimes, probably some kind of an internal protective mechanism. I’ll go with that.

Less strange thoughts: what could I do about this? What should I be doing right now? If I knew any of the families affected maybe I could support them, but I’m guessing right now they’re overwhelmed with immediate support and, besides, no names have been released; later on, when the urgency has subsided and I know who they are, then I will offer anything I can.

Take a breath. Realize that 30+ years of my career has been about dealing with stuff that happens which nobody wants to have happen. I get paid for dealing with and preventing ugly stuff for businesses, but the underlying process has a lot in common. Reboot back into professional mode.

What I’ve observed so far from various sources is that the school, police and emergency services appear to have been prepared, had plans and procedures tested and in place, and (at least from what was apparent via the news venues) appeared to have performed as well as they could given the circumstances.

This is important: planning, preparation, exercise, coordination are vital. We may not know for a while – if ever – how many more souls would have been lost if those precautions were less effective – or, conversely, how many lives might have been saved if those precautions were better.

Whether your domain consists of a school, hospital, military base, supermarket, office building, nursing home, apartment building, mall, corporation, small business, family home, or wherever; whether you’re in a position of responsibility, a tenant, customer, student, employee, CEO, parent, or chance visitor; whether you want it to or not; sometimes, really really bad things happen. And, when they do, planning, preparation, situational awareness, testing, and all that other stuff we don’t think about or don’t make time for could make all the difference in the world.

Whether the context is school or campus safety, emergency building evacuation, business continuity, disaster recovery, terrorism, pandemic planning, or whatever little or big scary monsters under the bed you need to worry about, my advise is simple. Start with the basics – threats, vulnerabilities and common-sense contingencies. Think about ways to mitigate the worst risks. If you don’t have at least reasonable contingency plans in place, just look at today’s headlines. Then, check out those monsters under your bed.

I offer my heartfelt condolences to the families and the people of Newtown, Connecticut.

Tags: Newtown, Sandy Hook, school shooting

In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, many organizations are facing unimaginable challenges. For those directly impacted by this event and those who were near-misses, Rothstein Associates is offering, on a strictly limited basis, a complimentary one-hour telephone consultation with Philip Jan Rothstein, FBCI, one of the founders of the business continuity industry.

Whether your business continuity program worked impeccably, or it was robust and still overwhelmed, or you coulda-woulda-shoulda had a business continuity program and Sandy was your wake-up call, this is your chance to pick the brains of an industry veteran whose business continuity guidance has been critical to hundreds of enterprises for over three decades.

The two objectives of the consultation are

1. to assist you in focusing your business continuity efforts where they are most likely to pay off; and,
2. to make you aware of resources, opportunities or options which may benefit your business continuity program.

To qualify for your consultation, please forward the following information:

• Overview of your enterprise.
• Current situation and experience with respect to Sandy.
• Overview of your business continuity program.
• Critical issues and concerns.
• Your specific objectives for the consultation.
• Contact information.

Consultations will be selected based on need and potential benefit; we do not promise to offer consultations to all responders.

Contact Philip Jan Rothstein, FBCI, for your Complimentary one hour Post Hurricane Business Continuity Consultation, pjr@rothstein.com.

Rothstein Associates Inc., a leading management consultancy since 1985, is among the very first organizations to focus on guiding executive management on the issues around business continuity. Our publishing division has published around 80% of the books on business continuity in the past decade, representing the collective knowledge of the key thought leaders of the industry.

All information will be treated in confidence. A non-disclosure agreement ( NDA) will be required before consultation.

Tags: Business Continuity, management consulting, Sandy

A Global Grand Master and Pioneer – Who Helped Shape the Modern Discipline of Crisis Communication – Has Distilled a Career s Worth of Knowledge and Practical Advice…

…to tell your CEO and advisers what they must do to preserve, protect, defend, and recover their brands, reputations, even careers… and to illuminate the critical management areas in any crisis where those challenges will occur – managing victims, the media, legal affairs, leadership, and the operational crisis response itself.

 

• Jim Lukaszewski was listed in Corporate Legal Times as one of 28 Experts to Call When All Hell Breaks Loose and in PR Week as one of 22 crunch-time counselors who should be on the speed dial in a crisis. Normally, you would pay thousands of dollars for the guidance and hard-won insights Jim now shares in his new book.

• He has written the book on crisis communication. It aggregates Jim s four decades of crisis communication wisdom in a format that is easy to commit to memory — so it s ready to use when, and hopefully before, you face a crisis. Jim s common-sense, field-tested approach helps guide executives in how to behave, what to say and do, and how to lead their organizations through a crisis situation especially during those first critical minutes.

• His book fills the holes left by most crises texts: it explains how to manage victims, manage management, energize attorneys to cooperate and participate in the crises response process, and understand, and therefore reduce, the influence of the media (both traditional and social), activists, and antagonists. He focuses on a key element rarely dealt with in crisis management how NOT to create victims (who may publicly complain and sue), by managing people with compassion, fairness and honesty. In a crisis, Jim recommends five approaches: be positive; be compassionate; be transparent; apologize sincerely, and with meaning; and settle quickly. These simple tenets are the most complex to execute because they run counter to many management cultures.
• He shares a bounty of practical tools, tips, charts, checklists, forms, and templates. For example, since he advises you to make all your statements positive, Jim lists scores of positive words and phrases; categorizes numerous crises by risk; lists the causes of victimization; and describes media behavior/attitudes and details the social and digital media tactics you need to manage them. And, since a recent study shows that only 60% of the companies surveyed had a crisis management plan, Jim offers ammunition to motivate management to prepare for crises.
• The book is designed for CEO s, boards, and senior executives in HR, risk management, and emergency response management.

About the Author

James E. Lukaszewski, ABC, APR, Fellow PRSA, is President of the Lukaszewski Group Division of Risdall Public Relations. Jim s broad-based experience includes media-initiated investigations, product recalls, plant closings, criminal and civil litigation, and takeovers that often involve conflict, controversy, community action or activist opposition. He helps executives and leaders look at problems from a variety of sensible, constructive, principled perspectives. His popular PRSA and IABC seminars/webinars have been attended by thousands. The story of his career appears in Living Legends of American Public Relations (2008). His name was listed in Corporate Legal Times as one of 28 Experts to Call When All Hell Breaks Loose, and in PR Week as one of 22 crunch-time counselors who should be on the speed dial in a crisis. Googling James E. Lukaszewski yields almost 34,000 entries.

 

REVIEW

Reviewed by Ken Koprowski, M.A., Crisis Communications Consultant

How many times in recent history have we witnessed a remarkable and damaging phenomenon: the CEO of a major corporation, under pressure, blurting out insensitive, thoughtless quips that undermine the best efforts of the organization to make amends in a crisis. According to Jim Lukaszewski – one of the field’s most influential innovators and practitioners – the lack of focused planning causes confusion, delay, hesitation, even management timidity in most crisis response situations. He insists that unless crisis communication is well planned, specific, and tested, it will fail to help, often causing more harm than good.

Jim Lukaszewski effectively counsels countless CEOs, executives, and management and communication leadership teams in public and private companies.  Much of this wisdom can be found in Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication: What Your CEO Needs to Know About Reputation Risk and Crisis Management. This is an effective book because Jim’s common-sense approach guides people to respond and communicate effectively, cutting through the fog and confusion typical of the onset of a crisis.

Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication supplements discussion topics by including comprehensive “how-to” lists and templates. For example, to help readers implement Jim’s productive advice to always use positive, declarative language and to eradicate the use of negative words, he lists scores of positive words and phrases and translates frequently used, negative examples into positive equivalents. He categorizes scores of crises by risk. He lists the causes of victimization. Importantly, in three highly-detailed and actionable chapters, Lukaszewski describes media behavior and attitudes and details social and digital media tactics. Then he offers a step-by-step guide to crisis readiness – how to prepare and train your organization before a crisis.

To all of the CEOs and executives for whom what you say and do in the first moments of a crisis is an instant test of your leadership, this book will prepare you to step up to the challenge of crisis communication.

To all the managers and communication leaders of public and private organizations, this book will prepare you to have more influence, give better advice, and become a more trusted strategic adviser during a crisis.

To all the communication professors and their students, this book contains the valuable insight and advice you need to learn how to be prepared for and to meet crisis communication challenges of the future, set forth in engaging, memorable, and inspiring style.

 Pre-Publication offer – December, 2012

ISBN # 978-1-931332-57-6. 300 pages (approx.), $49.95.

Tags: 9781931332576, crisis communication, crisis management, Lukaszewski, reputation risk

A Global Grand Master and Pioneer – Who Helped Shape the Modern Discipline of Crisis Communication – Has Distilled a Career s Worth of Knowledge and Practical Advice…

…to tell your CEO and advisers what they must do to preserve, protect, defend, and recover their brands, reputations, even careers… and to illuminate the critical management areas in any crisis where those challenges will occur – managing victims, the media, legal affairs, leadership, and the operational crisis response itself.

 

• Jim Lukaszewski was listed in Corporate Legal Times as one of 28 Experts to Call When All Hell Breaks Loose and in PR Week as one of 22 crunch-time counselors who should be on the speed dial in a crisis. Normally, you would pay thousands of dollars for the guidance and hard-won insights Jim now shares in his new book.

• He has written the book on crisis communication. It aggregates Jim s four decades of crisis communication wisdom in a format that is easy to commit to memory — so it s ready to use when, and hopefully before, you face a crisis. Jim s common-sense, field-tested approach helps guide executives in how to behave, what to say and do, and how to lead their organizations through a crisis situation especially during those first critical minutes.

• His book fills the holes left by most crises texts: it explains how to manage victims, manage management, energize attorneys to cooperate and participate in the crises response process, and understand, and therefore reduce, the influence of the media (both traditional and social), activists, and antagonists. He focuses on a key element rarely dealt with in crisis management how NOT to create victims (who may publicly complain and sue), by managing people with compassion, fairness and honesty. In a crisis, Jim recommends five approaches: be positive; be compassionate; be transparent; apologize sincerely, and with meaning; and settle quickly. These simple tenets are the most complex to execute because they run counter to many management cultures.
• He shares a bounty of practical tools, tips, charts, checklists, forms, and templates. For example, since he advises you to make all your statements positive, Jim lists scores of positive words and phrases; categorizes numerous crises by risk; lists the causes of victimization; and describes media behavior/attitudes and details the social and digital media tactics you need to manage them. And, since a recent study shows that only 60% of the companies surveyed had a crisis management plan, Jim offers ammunition to motivate management to prepare for crises.
• The book is designed for CEO s, boards, and senior executives in HR, risk management, and emergency response management.

About the Author

James E. Lukaszewski, ABC, APR, Fellow PRSA, is President of the Lukaszewski Group Division of Risdall Public Relations. Jim s broad-based experience includes media-initiated investigations, product recalls, plant closings, criminal and civil litigation, and takeovers that often involve conflict, controversy, community action or activist opposition. He helps executives and leaders look at problems from a variety of sensible, constructive, principled perspectives. His popular PRSA and IABC seminars/webinars have been attended by thousands. The story of his career appears in Living Legends of American Public Relations (2008). His name was listed in Corporate Legal Times as one of 28 Experts to Call When All Hell Breaks Loose, and in PR Week as one of 22 crunch-time counselors who should be on the speed dial in a crisis. Googling James E. Lukaszewski yields almost 34,000 entries.

 

REVIEW

Reviewed by Ken Koprowski, M.A., Crisis Communications Consultant

How many times in recent history have we witnessed a remarkable and damaging phenomenon: the CEO of a major corporation, under pressure, blurting out insensitive, thoughtless quips that undermine the best efforts of the organization to make amends in a crisis. According to Jim Lukaszewski – one of the field’s most influential innovators and practitioners – the lack of focused planning causes confusion, delay, hesitation, even management timidity in most crisis response situations. He insists that unless crisis communication is well planned, specific, and tested, it will fail to help, often causing more harm than good.

Jim Lukaszewski effectively counsels countless CEOs, executives, and management and communication leadership teams in public and private companies.  Much of this wisdom can be found in Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication: What Your CEO Needs to Know About Reputation Risk and Crisis Management. This is an effective book because Jim’s common-sense approach guides people to respond and communicate effectively, cutting through the fog and confusion typical of the onset of a crisis.

Lukaszewski on Crisis Communications supplements discussion topics by including comprehensive “how-to” lists and templates. For example, to help readers implement Jim’s productive advice to always use positive, declarative language and to eradicate the use of negative words, he lists scores of positive words and phrases and translates frequently used, negative examples into positive equivalents. He categorizes scores of crises by risk. He lists the causes of victimization. Importantly, in three highly-detailed and actionable chapters, Lukaszewski describes media behavior and attitudes and details social and digital media tactics. Then he offers a step-by-step guide to crisis readiness – how to prepare and train your organization before a crisis.

To all of the CEOs and executives for whom what you say and do in the first moments of a crisis is an instant test of your leadership, this book will prepare you to step up to the challenge of crisis communication.

To all the managers and communication leaders of public and private organizations, this book will prepare you to have more influence, give better advice, and become a more trusted strategic adviser during a crisis.

To all the communication professors and their students, this book contains the valuable insight and advice you need to learn how to be prepared for and to meet crisis communication challenges of the future, set forth in engaging, memorable, and inspiring style.

Tags: 9781931332576, crisis communication, crisis management, Lukaszewski, reputation risk

Emotional Tornados in Your Workplace
Can Be Just as Destructive as the Natural Kind!

If your company employs human beings, there are emotions at work. Emotions are part your company’s culture and need to be as astutely managed as any other potential disruption to your business.The old paradigm of separating humans from humanity during work hours is not only antiquated thinking, it’s high risk behavior.

Emotional management should not be the sole domain of a few employees. Everyone can be awake and aware of the concepts and tools in this new book to effectively manage and channel workplace emotions. Of course, just as there are gamblers in tornado alley who ignore the warning sirens, you get to decide how much risk your company can absorb.

Dr. Vali Hawkins Mitchell, a leading authority in the growing field of Emotional Continuity Management, makes a compelling business case that the human emotion factor has a calculable, direct impact on the fiscal bottom line. She describes an event involving two rowdy employees who became violent over a work-related decision and how its effects led to her provocative new insights into the cost of mismanaged emotions in the workplace:

Walking the halls, I saw, felt, and heard the disruptive effect of these two workers on 600 people. It was like experiencing the rubble of any other disaster. There was no physical wreckage, but the full range of emotions was exactly like that of any natural disaster. Everything was exposed and raw as if a common energy had stripped away the veneer of civilized behaviors. No infrastructure kept people safe in the presence of these out of control employees. People took sides, hid, ran, quit, overworked, underworked, ate too much, drank more, complained more, went silent, changed jobs, exited. They reacted as if all their system had been tossed into the air and was never going to land again. From that experience, I became sensitized to the differences between small gusts of emotions with no power and those with catastrophic force.

Small variations in behavior can be early warning signs of trouble. Dr. Vali explains her own Emotional Tornado V Chart based on the Fujita scale, a method to observe, predict, prepare, plan, and write policy to manage workplace the full range of workplace emotions. She details how to control the employee spinning after emotionally-charged events, such as the effects of an abusive manager, layoffs, employee illnesses or stressful family situations, suicides, and headlined homicides. She gives special emphasis to managing office bullies and workplace emotions before, during and after an emergency or disaster.

Dr. Vali offers these critical steps to all levels of management:

1. Understand that emotions are going to happen, have measurable costs, can be managed in a compassionate manner that supports people and the bottom line, and don t go away just because they are suppressed, ignored, or devalued. In fact, they will distort and become even more lethal.
2. Achieve realistic buy-in at the top – the CEO, owner, senior leadership – and briefly teach them key tools. With such awareness in place, emotions rising in the system can be reflected back into it in a healthy form with tools that increase loyalty and productivity. Managers will know that if a tornado breaks out, supports are already in place.
3. Teach everyone, from the bottom up, tools to manage emotions. The primary key to emotional continuity management is that everyone is on the same team using the exact same tools, creating comradeship as well as intelligent procedures and policies.

 

 

—————————————————————————————

Review

“At the Business Continuity Institute, we have always defined our mission in terms of promoting the art and science of Business Continuity Management (BCM), and I have often been challenged about what we precisely mean by that phrase. The science part is easy – techniques and methods for ensuring operational continuity will suffice. However, the art side has been altogether more difficult to explain, but, now that we have this new book by Dr. Vali Hawkins Mitchell, I suspect that the art of BCM will no longer be hard to explain.

“I can now point questioners to The Cost of Emotions in the Workplace: The Bottom-Line Value of Emotional Continuity Management, confident that they will understand precisely what we mean. I wonder how many BCM professionals have ever considered an emotional tornado or an emotional terrorist as a major risk to their organization? Do they know how to read the warning signs that human emotions could spin out of control to cause a catastrophe? Well, they should, and after reading what Dr. Vali says in this book, they certainly will in the future.

“Traditionally, in the world of BCM we talk about risks and threats to our organizations, such as computer failures, natural disasters, supply chain disruption, or a pandemic. This book examines the risk and threats that people can pose to a business, such as brand and reputational damage, litigation, employee turnover, and even criminal behavior. Although people are always considered in BCM plans, they are often treated as a recoverable resource numbers to be counted and skills to be replaced. However, actual human behavior in BCM is rarely thought about in the planning, response, or recovery phases, and where it is mentioned it is usually at the bottom of the priority list.

“Maybe after reading this book, and learning more about the fiscal risk and hidden costs of emotions, organizations will be persuaded to look more closely at this commonly overlooked subject and begin to see the benefit of emotional continuity management. Many organizations take a macho approach to management, and for those companies, the subject matter of this book might be regarded as irrelevant to the bottom line or getting the job done in an emergency. This book effectively debunks that point of view, systematically producing evidence and arguing a compelling case. Dr. Vali connects human emotions directly to cost and increased risk, which should definitely take human emotions much higher up the board agenda.

“Emotional continuity is not a soft subject; rather, it is about emotional readiness and paying attention to the way business and humans interact. In this book, the chapter on Emotional Continuity Management for Disasters is particularly fascinating for BCM professionals, as it talks about how to plan for the emotional consequences of disasters. Clearly, direct comparisons can be drawn between good practice in traditional BCM and good practice in Emotional Business Continuity Management. Thus, emotional continuity management is definitely high on the list of new topics for BCM practitioners to master.

“You will find Dr. Vali’s book to be both an excellent read and a great catalyst for generating new ideas about how these concepts could be incorporated in your mission statement. If you are open-minded about BCM, I suggest you read this book now and start applying its principles well before the next major incident impacts your organization.”

– Lyndon Bird FBCI, Technical Director, Business Continuity Institute

About the Author

Vali Hawkins Mitchell, Ph.D., LMHC, holds a Doctorate in Health Education and Masters degree in Applied Psychology. As a Certified Traumatologist, her critical insights on the real human factors of disaster and emergency planning have been shaped by her experiences with major events such as the World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina, Samoan earthquakes, Indonesian tsunami, and Pacific Northwest Wildfires. She is considered a leading authority in the growing field of Emotional Continuity Management and a highly regarded public speaker and trainer, author, consultant, and educator.

November, 2012. 300 Pages, $39.95

Tags: ECM, emotional continuity management, Vali Hawkins Mitchell

HURRICANE SEASON IS HERE. ARE YOU READY?

YOU WILL BE WITH THIS NEW PLANNING TEMPLATE!

If your business faces a serious flood or hurricane threat, this “master of disaster” toolkit helps you quickly develop a clear, comprehensive, and actionable plan…

• Protect in place or relocate employees to alternate locations to conduct mission-critical operations — and communicate with them before, during and after a flood or hurricane.
• Reduce any downtime that affects cash flow, customer satisfaction, or supply chain partnerships.
• Minimize damage to facilities, files, IT systems, and other equipment.

 Template for Hurricane and Flood Business Continuity Planning:

Enhancing Your Organization’s Resilience

2nd Edition

 By Douglas M. Henderson

 ISBN 978-1-931332-60-6, ©2012, $49

TO ORDER: JUST CLICK THROUGH THE EMAIL HEADER AND CLICK ON “ADD TO CART”

This practical package contains 190 pages and 5 files teeming with extensively field-tested and editable templates, forms, and checklists you can customize for your organization, including:

• Standard Business Continuity Plan (BCP) language that enables you to easily review, edit and customize text.
• Author’s Notes and easy-to-follow Update Instructions that guide you in selecting what to include and why.
• Planning templates written in easy-to-edit Microsoft Word.
• Step-by-step guidance through all phases of developing a comprehensive Hurricane and Flood BCP:

• Hurricane & Flood BCP features 12 defined steps (before, during and after disaster periods) and a detailed analysis of applicable strategies and procedures necessary to execute a successful business recovery.
• Facilities Department Plan features execution steps and extensive checklists of supplies and services, plus building preparation and recovery steps.
• Human Resources Plan provides detailed procedures for maintaining communications with employees at multiple remote locations and restoring the workforce after a disaster.
• Information Technology Disaster Recovery Plan maintains critical technology and communication support services from remote locations.
• Employee Preparation and Response Plan provides critical personal preparation information and pre-positioning in remote locations.

 ——————————————————

Just open the easy-to-use Microsoft Word template and follow it page-by-page, editing and customizing it to reflect the specific needs of your organization. Instructions on how to fill in your company’s information are color-coded.

Author Doug Henderson is a business continuity/emergency management consultant, and, as a long-time Florida resident, has created hurricane plans for businesses facing Florida’s infamous Hurricane Season. Doug distills his extensive experience to share tools and tips to spare you the costly mistakes that can result from trial and error.

In a short time, you’ll create your comprehensive, tailored hurricane and flood plan, fully customized to your own business. You’ll feel confident, too, that your plan complies with current industry standards and best practices. The template also gives you a no-fuss method to update your plan or expand it to meet new business needs.

  ——————————————————

Douglas M. Henderson FSA, CBCP, is President of Disaster Management, Inc. and has 20+years of consulting experience in all areas of Business Continuity and Emergency Response Management. Doug’s clients include Discovery Channel Latin America, Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA), University of Miami, and many other organizations of all sizes. He is co-author of two books: the newly published college textbook (co-authored with Kurt J. Engemann) Business Continuity and Risk Management: Essentials of Organizational Resilience and Is Your Business Ready for the Next Disaster? Doug has also developed a number of BC templates, including Continuity of Operations Plan for Colleges and Universities; Quick and Easy Business Continuity Plan for Your Small Business; and Template for Business Impact Analysis.

Tags: 1-931332-60-6, 1931332606, 978-1-931332-60-6, 9781931332606, disaster preparedness, Douglas Henderson, flood, hurricane, template, Template for Hurricane and Flood Business Continuity

NOW SHIPPING!

Andrew Hiles Takes You on a Tour of Key Global Business Continuity Standards  – Recommends Which to Use and Why!

Based on his 35 years of BC consulting in 60 countries, Andrew Hiles has winnowed 200+ international Business Continuity standards, guidelines, laws, and regulations into an up-to-the-minute distillation of only those most relevant. In a quick-reference format, he summarizes each; evaluates its relevance, importance, usability, pros, and cons; and gives guidance on how and why to choose those best for your organization and locale. He includes the newly approved ISO 22301, explaining its likely effect in replacing some, but not all, standards. This section alone makes the new 3^rd edition of his classic text, Hiles on Business Continuity: Global Best Practices, THE de facto source for BC standards!

“There is no one writing about Business Continuity today who is better informed and clearer thinking than Andrew Hiles.”

—Lyndon Bird, FBCI, Technical Director, Business Continuity Institute

With this new third edition of Andrew Hiles’ classic book on global best practices for Business Continuity Planning (BCP), you’re putting one of the planet’s most highly regarded consultants on your team. Wherever you are in your planning, Hiles is right with you, step by step, reviewing and refining content and processes as you bring your results into line with the benchmark of world-class standards and practices.

Andrew Hiles, FBCI, was founding director and first Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute. For 35 years he’s traveled to 60 countries, consulting to major private and government organizations, training the next generation of BC practitioners. Learn how to develop a BCP from scratch, or improve the one you have, using Hiles’ global perspectives… which include case studies, global standards, and hard-won insights into what works and why.

 NOW SHIPPING!

(Just click on email header then click “Add to Cart” to order).

Order #DR880, $99.00.

Includes extensive DOWNLOADS of sample plans and reports, tools, templates, checklists, questionnaires, answers to self assessment questions, plus editable BC Coordinator job description and MORE! (registration required).

ADVANCE  REVIEWS

“There is no one writing about Business Continuity today who is better informed and clearer thinking than Andrew Hiles. In this 3^rd edition he provides an up-to-the-minute review, including the latest thinking about Standards as well as valuable insights on how legislation and regulation might impact BCM practitioners. The chapters on Risk Evaluation and Emergency Response form an impressive body of knowledge about those areas that surpass many specialist publications on those topics.

“Andrew was instrumental in the formation of the Business Continuity Institute and is certainly one of our most celebrated members. In recent years his writings have given great leadership to our profession and even convinced many students to think of BCM as a valuable and credible long-term career option.”

- Lyndon Bird, FBCI, Technical Director, The Business Continuity Institute

“Andrew has done his usual, great job in updating his book to cover the new, revisionary thinking and new ideas taking place in the field. He includes checklists, action plans, road maps, self assessment and discussion questions, and details real-life examples to help readers better understand the problems and issues that can occur in developing, testing and maintaining a plan.”

- Melvyn Musson, FBCI, CBCP,  Retired Senior Business Continuity Manager, Edward Jones

“Andrew Hiles’ updated version of his superlative earlier book puts BCP in an international context that allows readers to benefit from experiences and expertise from around the world. This is the whole package—soup to nuts—and even the most experienced practitioner will find it an indispensable addition to the references used in the BCP effort. In fact, it will reduce the number of such books needed.”

-Mayer Nudell, CSC, Adjunct Professor of Security Management, Webster University

College Instructors: See http://www.rothstein.com/textbooks/hiles-on-bcm/ for more details and course adoption information.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS CONTINUITY

CHAPTER 2: SHOULD  I  USE  A BC STANDARD?

2.1 What are the Main BC-related Standards?

2.2 Other recently released  standards

2.3 Comparison of Standards

2.4 Considerations on Using Standards

CHAPTER 3: PROJECT START-UP AND MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER 4: RISK EVALUATION AND CONTROL

4.1 The Need for Risk Assessment (RA) through  4.5  Risk Management for Finance and the Finance Sector – Compliance Issues

4.6 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Compliance

4.7 Health Care

4.8 Risk Assessment in Other Industries

4.9 Risk Assessment: Statutory Requirement and Duty of Care

4.10 Example of Risk Assessment Guidelines: The Turnbull Report

4.11 King III: Corporate Governance & Risk, South Africa

4.12 Risk and Compliance in Australia

4.13 Critical Component Failure Analysis

4.14 Operational Risk Management

4.15 An Output Approach to Risk

CHAPTER 5: BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS

5.1 Why Should I Conduct a BIA?  through  5.4 BIA Data Collection Methods

5.5 Critical Success Factors: Definitions

5.6 Key Performance Indicators

5.7 Desk Review of Documentation

5.8 Questionnaires

5.9 Interviews

5.10 Workshops

5.11 BIA — Justification for BCM

5.12 A Tiered Approach to BC Planning: Relationship of BC and Service Level Agreements

CHAPTER 6: DEVELOPING CONTINUITY STRATEGIES

6.1 Why Do I Need A Continuity Strategy? Through  6.3& 6.4 Focus on Deliverables and Backups

6.5 Business Continuity Strategy: Options

6.6 Option Comparison

6.7 Contractual Arrangements for Recovery Services

6.7 Lateral and Creative Thinking

6.8 The Role of Insurance

6.9 Using Consultants

CHAPTER 7: EMERGENCY RESPONSE & OPERATIONS

7.1 Emergency Response Defined

7.2 Coordination with Emergency Services

7.3 Coordination with Public Authorities

7.4 US Department of Homeland Security

7.5 Emergency Preparedness Canada

7.6 Emergency Management Australia

7.7 UK National Arrangements for Responding to a Disaster

7.8 Salvage and Restoration

7.9 Public Relations & Crisis Communication

7.10 Crisis Communication

CHAPTER 8: DEVELOPING & IMPLEMENTING THE BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN

8.1 Developing the Plan  and  8.2 Format of Plan

8.3 Interim Plans

8.4 Software Tools for Plan Development

CHAPTER 9: AUDITING, MAINTAINING & EXERCISING THE BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN

INDEX

ISBN 978-1-931332-55-X.    258  pp., 8.5” x 11” Paperback PLUS EXTENSIVE DOWNLOAD SUPPLEMENTS, $99.00.

Tags: Andrew Hiles, BCM, BCP, book, Business Continuity, Hiles

Now Shipping!

Build or Benchmark a World-Class Business Continuity Management Program Guided by This Global Master Planner!

“There is no one writing about Business Continuity today who is better informed and clearer thinking than Andrew Hiles.”

—Lyndon Bird, FBCI, Technical Director, Business Continuity Institute

Continue reading NEW BOOK: Hiles on Business Continuity: Global Best Practices (Third Edition) by Thought Leader Andrew Hiles.

Tags: Andrew Hiles, BCM, BCP, book, Business Continuity, Hiles