Winding down at FEMA EMI

We’ve come down to the wire with one day left on a week of training that’s been fabulous.  Again, we’ve worked with great people from all over this great country.  People who are eager to help their communities be more resilient to disasters by helping citizens become better prepared.  And how fitting is it to end on a high note on Memorial Day weekend.  A true American holiday!

Welcome to “CERT Program Manager”

Today we started our CERT Program Manager class which prepares participants to establish and sustain an active local CERT program.  In the beginning, we told students that managing a CERT program has a great many similarities to running a small business.  And while challenging, it can be very rewarding.

Today, our students began learning about the core components of a local CERT program and the effective practices for:

1. Developing local CERT program goals and a related strategic plan – I believe this is THE most critical component of the CERT program.  Unless we spend the requisite time doing a terrific job of defining our program Goal and the subsequent program Objectives, the other components we place on top will wobble and perhaps even fall.  I saw it in my corporate career and I see it today with programs like CERT.  With well thought out and documented objects, we are able to gain the support of our key “stakeholders” and ensure that we follow the road to success.

2. Promoting local CERT programs – throughout the entire program life-cycle we are always promoting.  Promoting our goal(s) and objectives, promoting our training, promoting the benefits of CERT and the capabilities (value) a team of trained volunteers brings to the community.

3. Orienting and managing and retaining CERT members – Without volunteers we simply don’t have a program.  It’s that simple.  Volunteers are the backbone of program.  If we provide outstanding training, provide useful opportunities for our volunteers to engage, treat them with respect, value them, and recognize their contribution, our programs will grow and flourish.

4. Recruiting, funding, managing, and retaining CERT trainers – Top-quality instructors are vital to the overall success of our programs, just as our volunteers are.  As we talk about with our students, our volunteers will make decisions about our programs based on the instructors they interact with in training.  If we have dynamic, energetic, knowledgeable instructors our volunteers will learn correctly and will come back for more.  As role models, coaches, and motivators our instructors have the opportunity to create an environment that encourages our volunteers to “get involved”.

5. Acquiring and managing program resources – Similar to any other business, to produce the goods and services (ie training, exercises, operational response) a CERT program is built around, Program Managers must obtain and manage resources, both people, materials, and financial.

Tomorrow, our students will wrap up learning about the remaining core components of a local CERT program and the effective practices for:

6. Delivering and managing effective training and exercises

7. Developing policies and procedures for operating a local CERT program

8. Evaluating and sustaining the program

Finally, after class today, I spent time walking around this gorgeous campus.  Let share with you some pictures from both our class and around campus.  I hope you’ll come back tomorrow and read how we closed out the week.

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Closing out a great training week in Austin, Texas

Wow, it is really great to be home.  One week ago I was back from a week in Holden, Massachusetts and this past week I was in Austin, Texas.  And now I’m home.  Time to rest, recover, and tackle that Honey-Do List!

We had a terrific week in Austin this past week.  We met a lot of really good people from across the great state of Texas – people that are interested in helping citizens become better prepared for disasters.  This week I wrote about the diversity in our class … we had a couple of students representing the Yselta Del Sur Pueblo Tribe in the El Paso area; we also had a few students with the TEXSAR organization (search and rescue), and in my most recent previous blog I shared with you information about “Austin Disaster Relief Network” which is a faith-based organization.  I also wanted to mention a young lady we had in class this week.  “Vicky” was originally from Mexico and now lives in the United States.  English is not her primary language.  Vicky was in our class to learn how to manage and teach programs that are focused on the Hispanic population in our country who also don’t speak English as a primary language.  One of the more interesting presentations we had this week was during Vicky’s teachback when she spoke completely in spanish … and we (those that don’t speak spanish) were able to grasp the basic concepts she was covering!

Beyond the diversity in our class, I think the other aspect that made this class a bit unique is that we had so many experienced CERT instructors in the class.  Because of their tenure in the CERT program, their high level of interest in developing sustainability of CERT programs given the continual reduction in federal funding.  As one of my co-instructors said, we have to understand the federal money should be viewed as “seed” money – money used to start programs.  Once a program is started, sustainment (commitment) comes at the local level through things like the normal budgeting process of departments or agencies, formation of 501c3’s, partnerships between the private and public sector shareholders, etc.

Well, we had a great time in Austin.  I hope I get the opportunity to return and work with the Texas Division of Emergency Management and the folks that were in our classes.  The following pictures reflect some of my final memories of our class and my trip to Austin, Texas.

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By the way, I came home to the latest issue of the www.drj.com.  I have an article titled “Training and Awareness in Business Continuity” now appearing in the Spring 2012 issue.  I hope you will take a few minutes to read the article and gain insight on how training and awareness efforts can strengthen our overall business continuity capabilities.

Looking ahead … plan on joining me again in a week when I’m off to Salt Lake City, Utah for another class of CERT Train-the-Trainer and Program Manager.  I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting Salt Lake City or Utah, but I’m really looking forward to being there.  Stay tuned.

Good bye Holden Massachusetts, Get ready Austin, Texas

What a great week we had with the folks in Massachusetts this past week.  The folks at Holden Public Safety provided us a terrific (new) facility and were very hospitable themselves.  And, the students in both the Program Manager and Train-the-Trainer courses were there because they were self-motivated and eager to learn.  They asked great questions and actively participated in the various activities we led them through.

This week I had the privilege of working with a fellow instructor that until now I had not worked with.  Again I’m very fortunate because not only do my students learn in class, but I do as well.  I learn from both them as well as my co-instructors.  This week was no exception.  This week, I worked with “Joe”.  Joe is a very kind and giving individual.  He takes his work very seriously and as such is always prepared and ready to go.  While I may have thought I was pretty good leading a class, I really admired his interpersonal skills with his students.  And his presentation style is very effective.  Joe is not a boastful or self-centered individual by any stretch of the imagination.  And to that end, I’m guessing I don’t think he realizes just how impactful he really was this past week.

As I’ve shared with you before in my various posts, I’m truly feel blessed to be doing what I do.  I have met so many nice people over the course of the past year while I’ve been teaching the CERT classes.  And I’ve been to so many interesting places.  I look forward to what lies ahead in future trips.  And because I’ll be sharing those trips with you as well, I hope you enjoy the opportunities as much as what I do.

So to close out our Massachusetts training, I’ll include some pictures and these very kind words from one of our students…

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Hello Tim,

Hope this finds you safe and sound in your home resting up from the class.  Just got home myself and enjoyed reading your blog and the pictures you have shared.  Can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed the class.  I still have a lot to learn but have a lot to pass on to new volunteers and a model of how best to do that.  I am motivated to participate in training our next CERT group.  I know they will teach me as much as I will teach them.  If I leave with one important concept—life is an ongoing, lifelong, exchange of experiences and overcoming of challenges to our survival—serious stuff.  Your class approached this serious concept of self-sufficiency with a perfect recipe of well- presented subject matter, spiced up with individual respect and sharing of life experiences with a wonderful dollop good natured humor tossed in.  Thank-you.

This week coming up, we’ll be in Austin, Texas.  I’m working with two other instructors that I’ve only worked with once before but enjoyed very much.  We’ve got a good size class so we should have great interaction.  But first stop, once my plane lands … Whataburger!

Hope y’all will follow me this coming week.

With Social Media – Can you hear me now?

As I’m putting the finishing touches on this edition of my blog, severe weather and tornadoes are slamming the Midwest again.  I encourage you to go back into some of my previous blogs and read “Tornado Safety” (February 29, 2012) as well as “Using Insurance to Ensure Business Continuity” (January 31, 2012).  If you are in an area that is experiencing severe weather, please pay attention to the weather reports and warnings and seek shelter if instructed to do so.  And if you aren’t in one of these areas, take advantage of the quite time to make sure your preparedness kit(s) and plans are updated (see below) because you don’t know what lies ahead.

MidAmerica Contingency Planning Forum (MCPF) 

This past week has been a highpoint not only for me but for the MidAmerica Contingency Planning Forum (MCPF).  The MCPF is a business continuity professional organization I co-founded here in St. Louis over 14 years ago.  This past week we finally brought our website up live (www.mcpf.us). The project was led by our Vice President and the Board rallied behind him.  It’s been a great team effort!  I invite you to take a look at our new site.  Over the next few months we’ll be using our website to add value for our members as well as to promote the organization.  Also, for those of you that have a profile on LinkedIn, the MCPF has a LinkedIn group page as well and I would encourage you to join our group and get active in the discussions.

Millersville University

This week I had the chance to be the featured presenter on a webinar that was hosted by Millersville University.  The Center for Disaster Research and Education at Millersville University sponsors a virtual seminar series for the University and larger community. The Center houses a minor program in Environmental Hazards and Emergency Management and a master’s program in Emergency Management.  The seminars are mainly for the students and faculty in these programs in addition to the larger University community.  The sessions are live sessions online which then are later made available as podcasts.

One of my former students attends Millersville and is a graduate assistant there.  She invited me to speak on a subject of my choice (sometimes that can be dangerous).  My presentation was titled “Business Continuity and Preparedness through Social Media”.  I thought I’d share some of my presentation with you in this blog.  If you want to see a copy of the PowerPoint slides, visit my LinkedIn profile where I posted a copy on Slide Share.

It’s All Communication

From the beginning of time we have been communicating … or at least trying to.  Forget the men vs women issue; that’s an entirely separate blog!   In its earliest forms, communication was in the form of cave drawings.  As “technology” began to develop ancient civilizations began writing on parchment in the form of scrolls.  Jumping ahead in time the telegraph came into being and then the telephone which in turn brought about facsimile (fax) machines.  And let’s not forget about pagers and cell phones and certainly not the Citizens Band (CB) radios … “Breaker- Breaker good buddy”

Now, add to our “modern” communications the birth and growth of personal computers which in turn brought us e-mail and instant messaging (IM).  According to “Email Statistics Report” – THE RADICATI GROUP, 2011-2015, In 2011, the typical corporate email user sends and receives about 105 email messages per day.  Furthermore, the report mentions that the number of worldwide email accounts is expected to increase at an average annual growth rate of 7% over the next four years.  As far as IM is concerned, in 2011, the number of worldwide IM accounts was estimated to be nearly 2.6 billion and expected to realize an average annual growth rate of 11%.

Social Media

So what is “Social Media”?  Basically, it’s communication that uses both web-based and mobile technologies (ie smart phones).  It’s communication that has a one-to-many relationship in that one person can send out a “message” to many people and subsequently engage in two-way dialogue.  A great analogy I read once said, think of regular media as a one-way street where you can read a newspaper or listen to a report on television, but you have very limited ability to give your thoughts on the matter.  Social media, on the other hand, is a two-way street that gives you the ability to communicate too.

In 2011, the total number of worldwide social networking accounts, including both consumer and corporate accounts, was nearly 2.4 billion (Facebook alone has an estimated 845 million monthly active users) and this figure (2.4B) is expected to grow to nearly 3.9 billion by year-end 2015.  Let’s face it … Social Media is here to stay.

Using Social Media in Disasters

Let’s look at some examples of how social media has been used in past disasters:

• Japan earthquake/tsunami – Ushahidi was used to create the largest crisis map to date with over 8,000 reports received via social media about shelters, food stores, cell phone charging centers and road closures.
• Joplin tornado – a hospital administrator tasked one woman — who had little more than a Facebook account — to track down 1,100 hospital employees who were missing.  A few days later, all 1,100 had been located through the Internet.The Red Cross tweets Location of shelters and how to care for pets during the emergency
• Dramatic scenes of the US Airways plane that crashed into the Hudson River were first seen on Twitter
• When a gunman opened fire in a Soldier Readiness Center, Twitter was able to provide news and updates to the public as well as soldiers around the world!

The Challenge

In a recent Computerworld article  it was noted that in a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Request For Information (RFI) the bureau claimed that “social media” networks have been trumping police, firefighters and news media when it comes to communicating news of developing incidents and protests.  They also stated “Social media is rivaling 911 services in crisis response and reporting,”

In a crisis, social media can provide huge quantities of data about an unfolding event. To be useful, the data has to be analyzed, in near real time, and that analysis has to be accurate and presented to the right people (decision makers) who can act on it quickly. Social media analytics, text analytics and sentiment analysis are all very applicable to help with this analysis.

How much data?  According to WordPress, its system powers over 68 million blogs worldwide, with 500,000 new posts and 400,000 new comments generated on an average day.  Facebook reported it has more than 800 million active users, who upload more than 250 million photos daily.  YouTube stated that 100 million people “like,” share or comment on something on the site every week.  Twitter’s chief executive officer revealed that the social network had over 100 million active users worldwide, and the company said it was processing 250 million Tweets a day.

Social media is constantly changing and constantly moving.  So how do we stay ahead of the game, instead of always being behind it?  Part of the challenge lies in the nature of social media itself.  As a self-generated means of communication, social media is an excellent resource for real-time information on disasters. But the sheer volume of news and events created immediately after an event poses a huge challenge for emergency responders trying to monitor the aftermath.  The instantaneous nature of social media had built up enormous expectations for a speedy response.  The real strength of social media, it seems, lies in both preparation for these events; like warnings and information, including evacuation notices, weather updates and lists of resources, and after the event such as where to get help.

Considerations

• Organizations should have a Social Media policy in place that clearly defines acceptable social media practices.
• Organizations should only use social media tools that can contribute to the success of their social media campaigns.
• They should only use tools they have the time to plan and execute the use of.
• Organizations should have a plan for their messages and make those messages clear and coherent.
• Delegate social media tasks only to people in the organization who are aware of the organization’s communication strategies.
• Social media should not be treated as a “low-level task”.  It should be viewed as a strategic communications tool
• Social media is more than a “new” place to communicate during a disaster/emergency, it really is “THE” place to communicate

Let me close by saying I’ll be back on the road again.  Watch soon for new blogs from Worcester, Massachusetts and then Austin, Texas.   In the meantime continue getting prepared ….

Getting Prepared In a Year

Well, let’s continue on with our preparedness activities.  Here’s what you can do now to add to your preparedness kit – and we’ll focus on first-aid.

The following should be in your first-aid kit:

• Aspirin and/or acetaminophen
• Compresses
• Rolls of gauze and/or bandages
• First-aid tape
• Adhesive bandages – assorted sizes
• Also, extra hearing aid batteries (if needed)

Things To Do:

Check with your child’s day care or school to find out about their disaster plans.

Good-bye Topeka … Hello Dale Carnegie

Martians are landing on earth! – “War of the Worlds”; H. G. Wells

“Human sacrifice, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria” – Dr. Peter Venkman; Ghostbusters

Happy April Fool’s Day!

No joke, we finished our trip to Topeka, Kansas two days ago.  We had a terrific class and an outstanding (unique) facility to teach in.  I was extremely pleased to see how much support the State of Kansas provides local communities with regards to Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and how dedicated the members of these teams are to helping their communities.  On our last day, the class presented me and my co-instructor with a beautiful 35^th Infantry Division Association Challenge Coin as a remembrance of our time together.

The 35th Infantry Division  (“Santa Fe”) has been a formation of the National Guard since World War I.  It is headquartered at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and its personnel come from Illinois, Kansas and Missouri.

Along with a picture of the Challenge Coin, I’m including other pictures that I took from the Kansas National Guard Museum.

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How to Win Friends and Influence People

On the drive to Kansas, and partially on the way home, I took advantage of my time and listened to the audiobook “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.  The book was first published in 1936 and has undergone several revisions.  It has sold 15 million copies, and has been translated into almost every language on earth.  In the end, the book contains timeless principles on how to make people like you, and how to win others to your way of thinking. I’m embarrassed to say, that in all of my reading, this was a book that I had not read as of yet.  Am I glad I listened to this on my drive to Kansas.  For anyone who wants to be more effective in relating, communicating and leading people, this book is a must read.  And for those in the business continuity/emergency management fields, remember much of what we do is through relationships with others.

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

• Don’t criticize, condemn or complain. – People rarely blame themselves for anything, so if you criticize them not only are they unlikely to change, but also they may resent toward you.  If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive.
• Give honest and sincere appreciation. – People will go long way – sometimes even become insane – just to get the appreciation they need. So be a person who gives honest and sincere appreciation to others. That’s the big secret of dealing with people. If you do that, you can’t keep people from liking you.  The biggest desire of human nature is the desire to be important.  And that’s the big secret of dealing with people.
• Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six Ways to Make People Like You

• Become genuinely interested in other people. – As Carnegie himself said “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
• Smile – The way to make a good first impression is so simple that we sometimes forget it: smile. When you smile, people will feel that you are glad to meet them. They will feel accepted and get a good first impression about you.
• Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language – People put tremendous importance on their names. Therefore it will be much easier for you to win their hearts if you approach them by using their names. Unfortunately, we often forget names.
• Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves – It may seem counterintuitive, but being a good conversationalist isn’t about how good you talk. It’s about how good you LISTEN. Encourage others to talk about themselves and be a good listener. People will feel appreciated and they will regard you as a nice person to talk with.
• Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
• Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely – To make people like you, make them feel important and do it sincerely. The desire to feel important is perhaps the deepest need someone has, so if you give it, you will win their hearts.

Win People to Your Way of Thinking

• The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it – You can only lose if you argue because – no matter what the outcome of the argumentation is – you won’t win their heart. So the way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
• Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong.” – A sure way of making enemies is by saying that they are wrong. People don’t like that, regardless of whether they are actually wrong or not. Such statements hurt their self-esteem. So learn to respect other people’s opinion, even when you disagree.
• If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
• Begin in a friendly way.
• Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately – If you want to win other people to your way of thinking, it’s important to make them agree with you from the beginning. The way to do that is by asking questions that they will inevitably answer with “yes”. Every time they say “yes” they will become more receptive toward you. At the end, there is a good chance that they will accept the idea they previously rejected. This is a technique used by Socrates to convince his opponents.
• Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
• Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
• Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view – There must be a reason why people say or act the way they do. Find that reason and talk from their point of view. If you understand them, they will in turn understand you.
• Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
• Appeal to the nobler motives.
• Dramatize your ideas.
• Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

A leader’s job often includes changing your people’s attitudes and behavior.  Some suggestions to accomplish this:

• Begin with praise and honest appreciation – As a leader, we sometimes need to correct the people we lead. But how can we do that without offending them? The answer is by praising and giving honest appreciation first. When we do that, they will become much more receptive to the correction we give.
• Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
• Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
• Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
• Let the other person save face.
• Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.” – The best way to develop good traits in others is not by punishing them for incorrect actions but by rewarding them for correct actions. Praise every improvement they make, even the slightest one, and they will go to the right direction.
• Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to – A good way to get others do things the way you want it is by giving them a fine reputation to live up to. For instance, if you want someone to be diligent then treat her as a diligent person and say so to her. Most likely she won’t disappoint you.
• Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
• Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Getting Prepared In a Year

OK, hopefully you have been keeping up with our preparedness journey this year.  We are ready to make our next stop along the way.  Here’s what you can do now to add to your preparedness kit:

When you are at the grocery store, I want you to pick-up the following items:

• one gallon of water (per person, and don’t forget your pets too)
• A canned meat (i.e. tuna, chicken, ravioli, chili, beef stew, Spam, corned beef, etc.)
• A canned fruit (i.e. peaches, pears, mandarin oranges, applesauce, etc.)
• one can vegetables (i.e. green beans, kernel corn, peas, beets, kidney beans, carrots, etc.)
• two rolls of toilet paper
• an extra toothbrush
• a travel-size toothpaste
• (if needed) any special foods for special diets

Things To Do:

• Have a fire drill at home.

Wrapping up on an experience of a life time in Hawaii

Wow, I can’t believe that in one short month, we’ve gone from having a brief phone conversation about the possibility of conducting training in Hawaii, to actually having conducted the training, and now I’m home again.  The past 31 days has been a blur of activity.  What an amazing time line we worked through.  And it wouldn’t have happened without the energetic and committed team of players we had in place (Hawaii State Civil Defense, FEMA EMI, the instructors, and the students).  I feel very blessed to have had this opportunity.

Last Thursday evening several of us participated in a late evening “strategy” session where we discussed concerns and issues in emergency preparedness for the State of Hawaii and its’ citizens.  Out of those insightful discussions came the following points.

We must make citizen preparedness a priority

For the past several years, homeland security investments have been focused primarily on public safety and first responders.  While much of that investment was necessary and appropriate in the past, haven’t we reached a point where we should be shifting our focus from public safety and first responders to the citizens of our communities?  Shouldn’t we be making greater investments that help our citizens become better prepared (“resilient”)?  We thought so.  And not just in Hawaii, but across the United States.

The importance of networking

If history repeats itself, many of those attending our training this past week will return home very excited and anxious to begin using their new-found knowledge.  Unfortunately, reality will catch up to them and distractions will start to pop up threatening future forward movement.  In an effort to channel our interest and energy and use it to continue forward momentum, it was suggested that those in class should continue to meet on a regular (recurring) basis to network and support each other.  In an effort to accomplish this, they have agreed to meet periodically on a conference call to support each other and address strategic ideas to grow and enhance community preparedness.   Working together, they will reinforce their own learning and discover other ways in which to help their communities become better prepared.

National Guard support

On our final day together, we had the great fortune to have Col. Joe Logan join us for lunch.  Col. Logan serves as the Chief of Staff for the Hawaii National Guard at the Joint Forces Headquarters – Hawaii.  During his comments to our class Col. Logan expressed his appreciation for the work each of the students does across the state (islands) in helping citizens prepare for emergencies.  He mentioned that the National Guard was pleased to be a part of the training this week and to play host for us at the wonderful National Guard RTI facility.

A look back

Now that I can look back at this great experience, I’m happy to know I have so many new friends in both Hawaii and Samoa.  The students in our class were so gracious to us.  Throughout the week they were very attentive, they asked great questions, shared terrific experiences, and were always willing to participate.  An instructor’s ideal class.

This week I also learned.  During our “teach backs” (student presentations) I learned several new instructional techniques from my students that proved to be very effective ways of demonstrating to a class.  I thank my students for sharing their insights and knowledge.

I was surprised to learn that Hawaii has 11 of the world’s 13 climate zones within the state (islands).  Yes, it does snow in the higher elevations of Hawaii!  I also learned that there is only 1 firefighter/EMT for every 450 people, there is only 1 police officer for every 430 people, and there is only 1 ambulance for every 12,000 people.  Additionally, here in the continental United States, we can leverage “mutual aid” where when a community’s first responders are overwhelmed, they can call for help from a nearby community.  But when you live on an island and the nearest help is hours away by boat or airplane, then what?  Given the numerous and variety of risks the islands face, these figures strongly support why the citizens of Hawaii must take personal preparedness seriously.

As we closed our class down we (instructors) were each presented with parting gifts.  I was given a bag of Alaea Sea salts.  Alaea salt is an unrefined Hawaiian sea salt.  The salt is expensive and hard to find outside the Hawaiian islands.  It gets its pinkish-brown color from Hawaiian clay, called ‘alaea, which is rich in iron oxide.  Customarily, Alaea sea salt was used by Hawaiians to cleanse, purify and bless tools, canoes, homes and temples.  Alaea is also used in several traditional Hawaiian dishes such as Kalua Pig (delicious!), Hawaiian Jerky and Poke.

Finally, I’ll leave you with pictures from our CERT training In Hawaii.

Mahalo!

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Hawaiian CERT – Day Two

Aloha, and welcome to Day Two of our trip to the beautiful State of Hawaii and specifically the Island of Oahu.  Weather continues to be very nice as we start our first day of training.

Today, and continuing over the next two days, we’ll be teaching the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA;  www.fema.gov ) L428 CERT Train-the-Trainer course.  We have 36 interested and eager students with very diverse backgrounds.

We started the class with a brief welcome By Ms. Lorinda Wong-Lau who is the Anti-Terrorism Planner for the State of Hawaii – Civil Defense Division.  In her comments, she encouraged the attendees to learn, network, and look for how this training could be brought to communities and citizens across the state to make the state more resilient.

Additionally, we had the opportunity to have Ms. Rachel Jacky, Director National CERT Program call in to the class and provide some welcoming comments and insight for our students.  Her insightful comments reflected on the collaborative relationship FEMA is building between FEMA and state and local jurisdictions when it comes to citizen preparedness and what a vital role local programs play to the success of community preparedness.

Expectations

I always like to identify student expectations early on in the class and ask the students when they introduce themselves if they would please identify what their expectations are for attending the class.  The three most widely expressed expectations included:

• Sustainment of programs
• Gaining more knowledge
• Developing their Instructor skills

Lunchtime Speaker

During our “working lunch” today we had the pleasure of hearing one of our own students provide an overview of his emergency management programs for the City and County of Honolulu.

Emergency Management Reserve Corps (EMRC) was started as a Volunteer Cadre in July 1941 pre-Pearl  Harbor with the intent of preparing to responding to natural and human-caused disasters.  Today, members of the EMRC serve in various capacities within the Department of Emergency Management (DEM).  Members are “On Call” 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and provide the following functions:

• Assist HPD in warning/evacuation and traffic control operations
• Assist Ocean Safety in beach closures
• Assist NWS as SKYWARN
• Observe and report hazardous conditions
• Assist with damage assessment
• Provide fixed/mobile communications

From an administrative perspective, the EMRC members are considered “employees” while activated.  As such, they are covered under §128-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) which in turn provides for both medical coverage via workmen’s compensation and reimbursed Mileage and Meals.

The EMRC has 130 volunteers in six geographical districts.  Functionally, each EMRC geographical district  includes an Operation Support Section, a RACES section, and includes a coordinator & staff.  Team members meet monthly and those meetings include both training & administrative matters.  Examples of functional training that’s provided include: Traffic Control, Damage Assessment, Hazardous Materials Familiarization, Radio-telephone Procedures, First Aid/CPR, Incident Command System (ICS), Weather Spotter Training, and CERT.

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a volunteer cadre that was first formed in 1995 with the expectation of having trained citizens who could respond to natural and human-caused disasters.  Oahu CERT’s, like their counterparts throughout the United States, are community/Business/Neighborhood based teams.  In Oahu, CERT’s are self-activating after catastrophic events.  Their duties include:

• Assist their neighborhoods after a catastrophic event
• Assist NWS as SKYWARN
• Observe and report hazardous conditions to EMRC
• Assist with damage assessment
• Provide fixed/mobile communications

From an administrative perspective, Oahu CERT’s are members of the host organization and are covered under the HRS Good Samaritan Law.  There are approximately 1300 CERT trained community members that make up 12 Community Teams, five hotel teams (remember tourism is big in Hawaii), and two University of Hawaii Campus teams.  Organizationally, Oahu CERT has one CERT Coordinator and a CERT Steering Committee.  Training is supported by 14 volunteer instructors and classes are held approximately 15 times a year.  Challenges that Oahu CERT face (like many other CERT teams) include:

1. Having only one person administer the program (limited resources)
2. Lack of paid instructors
3. Funding is dwindling
4. Community mindset – like other communities throughout the United States, community members may believe, all their needs will be taken care of after a disaster.
5. 10 – 15 Classes held a year – in some cases one might say that’s not enough, in others, one might say that’s too much as we don’t have enough resources to support that many (or more).

Looking forward, the good folks in Oahu are looking strategically at how to reach out to (and include):

• Neighborhood Board Involvement
• Community Disaster Committees
• Boy Scouts of America
• High School JROTC
• Business and other Organizations

Working with Access and Functional Needs populations

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, the organizers of this class wanted to create an “EMI-like” experience that builds “esprit de corps’ among the students.  Beyond having us all stay at the RTI, they also arranged to have a working dinner each evening that provided a meal and a guest speaker.  For our first evening together we met and heard Ms. Debbe Jackson from the State of Hawaii Disability & Communication Access Board.  Ms. Jackson spoke to our group about communicating with the Access and Functional Needs populations.

Warm Hawaiian appreciation

The wonderful kukui nut necklace and book "Life in the Pacific of the 1700's"

Well, I want to close my blog today by going back to how we started the day.

As my fellow instructor and I were being introduced at the beginning of class, we were each presented with a Kukui Nut necklace and a book titled “Life in the Pacific of the 1700’s”.

The Kukui tree is the state tree of Hawaii and in the past the oil derived from the Kukui nuts (a.k.a. “candle nut) was harvested and in turn was burned for light.  In Hawaii, the kukui is a symbol of enlightenment, protection and peace.

The book, “Life in the Pacific of the 1700’s” is a wonderful award-winning catalog which shows the exhibits which were collected during Captain Cook’s expeditions to the Pacific.

OK … that’s it for today.  Hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for more.  Until then …

Aloha ahiahi ia oukou

Preparedness – Hawaiian Style

Welcome back to yet another SPECIAL EDITION of my blog.  This week I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to be in Honolulu, Hawaii teaching Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Train-the-Trainer and Program Manager classes.  This is my first trip to Hawaii, so I’m really looking forward to what lies ahead this week … and sharing those sites and experiences with you.

Getting to Hawaii – Saturday

It's a good time to be leaving St. Louis

When I left St. Louis, Missouri early yesterday morning it was dark, very cold (in the teens) and snowing.  It was a great time to leave for sunshine and warmer climates.  I flew my favorite airline, Southwest from St. Louis to Los Angeles with a change of planes in Denver, CO.  I know I’ve said it before, but I have to say it again … I really enjoy flying with Southwest.  Their fares are reasonable, their customer service is outstanding, they have a good frequent flyer program, and they don’t charge for your first two checked bags!  I only wish they flew to Hawaii.

On a related item, in the December 2011 issue of “Fire Chief” magazine  editorial director Janet Wilmoth wrote about how Southwest could be seen as a role-model for fire departments.  In her article she mentions a few strategic initiatives that are as applicable to fire departments as they are to Southwest, including:

• Standardization
• Service, and
• Culture

I ate the "double double" animal style

I had a four-hour layover at LAX in Los Angeles so I took advantage of the opportunity and had lunch with my nephew, Kevin.  While reconnecting with Kevin is great, he made the visit even better by taking me to a place I’ve wanted to try for many years, but never had the chance.  Kevin took me to “In-N-Out Burger” !  What a neat place.  Their menu is very limited to burgers, fries, and drinks.  But since I was with an experienced “guide”, we ordered something that wasn’t on the menu.  A “double-double animal style”.  Two hamburgers with pickles, cheese, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, and their special sauce (thousand island like).  Man, was it good!  After lunch, Kev dropped me off back at the airport for my final leg of the day’s journey.

From Los Angeles to Honolulu I flew United.  I think I flew many years ago, but not recently.  I was very pleasantly surprised at how nice the five-hour flight was.  The plane was a big 767 and was clean.  The seats were very comfortable.  And the customer service was very good.

Altogether, I spent 20 hours in travel time, of which five were spent on the flight from LA to Honolulu.

Welcome to Hawaii

This week I have the great fortune to work again with a good friend of mine.  Although we haven’t known each other very long, we’ve worked together in Reno (last month) as well as at FEMA’s EMI in Emmitsburg, MD (last October).   Wilson is one of the best instructors I’ve worked with.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, I admire his teaching capabilities.  PLUS, he’s just an all-around good guy!  Anyway, Wilson picked me up at the airport and then took me on a little tour of Oahu.  I actually think we were lost but of course being men, we weren’t about to stop and ask for directions.

For those attending classes this week, the organizers of this great training opportunity wanted to provide an “EMI experience”.  To help create that experience, those from out-of-town are all staying at the new Hawaii National Guard 298th Regiment MFTU (RTI). If you click on the link, take a look at the “Welcome Brief”.

We’re tourists – Sunday

So, today Wilson and I spent the day playing tourists.

Weather was great today.  Mostly sunny, high in the low 80’s, and gentle ENE winds.  There were just a couple of things we knew we had to do while we had the chance.  We wanted to go see Pearl Harbor and also the U.S.S. Missouri

To have the opportunity to see both of these historic sites, it truly reminds us how fortunate we are to live in America.  And when you collectively look at Pearl Harbor along with other attacks like the Murrah bombing in Oklahoma City and of course 9/11, you are reminded about how resilient we Americans really are.

Here’s some pictures from today …

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On the way back to the RTI, we had the opportunity to see some of the beaches and the ocean …

And of course, no trip out-of-town is complete until you have visited the local Walmart …

Does your local Walmart have a Hawaiian BBQ?

Well, I hope you will follow me this week and check back daily to see what’s going on in our class and throughout the state of Hawaii with respect to emergency management.   Along with our classroom experiences, I’ll also be briefing you about some of the guest speakers who will be joining us this week as well.  So stay tuned.

LinkedIn Recommendation Etiquette

Happy New Year… and welcome to 2012!

I am anxiously looking forward to what lies ahead this year, and I hope you are too.  It seems as though a lot of us have been carrying around a lot of “heavy stuff” for a long time.  I’m optimistic that 2012 will be the year that we get out from under the heavy loads we’ve been carrying and get back to fully enjoying the lives we want and should have.  Best wishes to all.

I’m starting off the New Year with several posts over the next few days.  Today, I’m writing about LinkedIn Recommendations and then, starting tomorrow and for the next few days, I’m going to be writing about my experiences teaching Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Train-the-Trainer and Program Manager classes to a very interesting group of people.  Yeah, I know, it’s a cheap teaser, but I hope you’ll come back daily to see what’s going on.

LinkedIn and Recommendations

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve received several requests from business acquaintances (operative word) asking if I would write recommendations for them in LinkedIn.  Now, I’m a big believer in the power of well-written recommendations by others, and I’ve written several (both solicited and unsolicited) in the past.  When you view my LinkedIn profile , you’ll see that I’ve also received several recommendations.  But with the recent requests that I received for recommendations, I found the requests a bit odd (heck, maybe it’s just me).

First, these individuals solicited me by sending what seemed to be the standard LinkedIn generated request.  I viewed the requests as a bit cold and not very motivating.  Second, they provided no guidance as to what areas of their “professional career” they wanted me to write a recommendation about.  And finally, they approached this from a “Give me” attitude.  So, I thought I’d share with you a few of my thoughts and observations about “LinkedIn Recommendation Etiquette”.

If you are a user of LinkedIn you are probably familiar with the Recommendations feature of this fantastic social media website.  If you aren’t using LinkedIn, or aren’t familiar with the Recommendations feature, let’s get up to speed.

According to LinkedIn, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 135 million members and growing rapidly. Your LinkedIn profile is discoverable through the millions of searches on search engines and on LinkedIn itself. You are in complete control over what others see on your profile, so leverage this to showcase your skills and talents so the right people and opportunities find you.  If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile already set-up, I’d encourage you to do so and discover how this social media tool can add value to your professional life.

One of the features LinkedIn offers is Recommendations.  Recommendations written by others about you help illustrate your achievements, project credibility, and show why people enjoy working with you.  LinkedIn claims that users with recommendations are three times as likely to get inquiries through LinkedIn searches.  Generally, you must seek out and approve recommendations from connections of your choosing.  Recommendations give those viewing your profile a fuller view of you as a direct report, boss, colleague, or client. They make your LinkedIn profile more dynamic and personal than the fairly static information (where you worked, what you did) that appears in your general resume.

But you can also do more harm than good with a LinkedIn recommendation. If you don’t pick the most appropriate people, or if you use too many people, it might scare off potential employers who might look at those recommendations as a red flag rather than a helpful vote of confidence.

Recommendation Etiquette

In most instances, in order to begin acquiring recommendations, you will need to be proactive and solicit a few of your current LinkedIn connections and ask for a recommendation.  Later on, you may be fortunate and start receiving unsolicited recommendations.  In my opinion, those mean the most!

Research your LinkedIn Connections and ask for a recommendation only from those individuals who have a solid relationship with you (not somebody who is vaguely familiar with you).  You will also want to make sure you solicit those that you feel can write an effective message about you.

Offer a gift before accepting one.  I look at recommendations as a gift.  People don’t have to write these.  But, they chose to spend time creating a message on your behalf.  It’s a gift.  So, rather than simply ask for a recommendation, try this … take the time to write an accurate and positive recommendation for the person you are asking and send it to them.  Then, immediately call them or drop them an e-mail letting them know you wrote a recommendation on their behalf, and ask if they would mind doing the same for you.  In your request, you’ll want to identify the two or three key points that you would like their recommendation to address, but don’t set overly specific guidelines.  Simply mention that you’d be happy to offer them if they think it would be helpful.   You might get a terrific surprise in their writing because they included something you hadn’t thought of.  Finally, when you receive their recommendation, be sure to thank them.

One point to remember is volume is not the key factor when it comes to recommendations.  I’d much rather have 10-12 well-written recommendations from people who really know me and my work and can influence others, versus 20-30 average to poorly written recommendations from people who I’m only connected to through a casual acquaintance.

When you receive a recommendation, you’ll get notified via email.  You’ll be able to view the recommendation and request a revision, if necessary.  If for some reason you don’t want the recommendation on your profile, you have the option of not publishing it.

Lastly, if you receive a recommendation, especially one you solicited for and you hadn’t already written a recommendation for the person recommending you, then please have the courtesy to write a well-thought out recommendation in return.  LinkedIn will prompt you for this.  It’s a very nice gesture and shows appreciation to someone who has done something nice for you.

Getting Prepared In a Year

I mentioned in my last blog that throughout 2012 I would be including a series of simple actionable items each of us can perform to become better prepared for emergencies or disasters.  The following starts our Preparedness Roadmap!  So, let’s get started …

To get started:

• Check around your house for supplies that you already have on hand.
• Decide where you will store supplies (food may be packed together in a single container or kept on shelves for easy rotation)

Next time you are at the grocery store, pick up the following items (if you don’t have them already):

• One gallon of water per person in your home (don’t forget about your pets either)
• One jar of peanut butter
• One large can of juice
• One can meat (ie tuna, chicken, ravioli, beef stew, Spam, corned beef, etc)
• A hand-operated can opener
• Instant coffee, tea, powered drinks
• A permanent marking pen (to mark the date on cans)
• (if needed) Pet food
• (if needed) Baby food and diapers

Things to do:

• Make a “Family Plan”.  Check out “Ready In 3” or “Ready.gov”
• With your family, discuss the types of disasters that could occur in your area.  You might want to ask your local or state Emergency Management Agency.
• As a family, talk about how to prepare, explain when and how to respond
• Discuss what to do if your family has to evacuate.
• Practice your plan.
• Date each perishable food item (see groceries above) using the marking pen

A look back in 2011

Welcome back to another installment of my blog.  I trust you enjoyed a safe and happy Thanksgiving.  Ours was terrific.  Like you we have much to be thankful for.  And now we sit just 21 days away from Christmas and 28 days from a New Year.  I refuse to think it’s an age thing, but I’m continually amazed at how fast time seems to fly by.

I thought I’d take the opportunity with this blog posting to reflect back on the year with respect to Business Continuity, Emergency Management, and Leadership.  Of course this won’t be an exhaustive or all inclusive list, just a few key observations.

Emergency Management

Here in the St. Louis area we started the year off on the wrong foot thanks to Mother Nature.  It was on New Year’s Eve 2010 that a tornado hit the Sunset Hills community which lies about 20 miles southwest of the City of St. Louis.  It wasn’t a large tornado, nor did it do extensive damage.  As a matter of fact, I don’t think the incident even qualified for a Presidential Disaster Declaration.  But, it was a tornado that  did damage, and in some cases destroyed some residences as well as some small businesses.

From there things got interesting the first half of the year.  We had the spring tornados that hit Alabama and up the southeast.  In St. Louis again, we had the tornado that hit Lambert International Airport (which is still under repair).  And who could forget the Joplin, Missouri tornado that was so devastating.  I feel very blessed to say that I was able to deploy with the Eureka Fire Protection District’s Search and Rescue Team to help with local recovery efforts.

It wasn’t just tornados that caused problems either.  On one end of the spectrum we had significant flooding in several parts of the country and on the other hand we had the draught in Texas and the southwest.  Oh yeah, and remember the earthquake that hit Washington D.C.?

Fortunately, it was a relatively quiet hurricane season.

Finally, while it wasn’t in the United States, we also must remember the Japanese earthquake that caused the tsunami, which in turn caused a nuclear disaster.

Back in the United States, the economic toll on FEMA was so great as a result of all the disasters that took place that the agency was forced to reallocate funding … because there just wasn’t enough to go around.  Additionally, this year, we’ve seen a decline in Homeland Security funding.  As we lived through the 10^th anniversary of the tragic World Trade Center bombing, debate existed and questions raised as to whether or not we (the United States) are more secure today following the investment of over $600 million dollars of homeland security grant money over the 10 year period.  Only those with more knowledge and insight than I have can answer those questions intelligently.  However, from my experiences I believe we’ve fallen short by not having an adequately funded strategy that made citizen preparedness training a priority.  In a recent discussion posting on a groups page in LinkedIn, I suggested our government out to look at combining the former Project Impact with UASI-like funding and include Citizen Corps.  Now that combination would lead to a better prepared America!

Business Continuity

Business Continuity remains a vital business function for those companies astute enough to recognize it’s intrinsic value.  When you think about it, business continuity has only been around a short time.  And today, when you look at its core, the philosophy and strategies remain a strong foundation.  We still talk about the need for executive support.  We know Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis (BIA) are the drivers.  In the planning process we need to look at things like dependencies, Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO).  Once plans are written they must be exercised, updated, and maintained in order to be effective.  We still have hot sites

We also know that gaining commitment is difficult which translates into we have to fight for every budget dollar we get and we never get enough.  Our management teams still have to be reminded that yes, bad things can happen to us and we must be ready.  If we aren’t, the business will suffer.

We’ve seen standards become an industry strategy that even the government was to get in to.  FEMA rolled out PS-PREP earlier this year.   While geared to small and medium-sized businesses it leverages three different standards (ASIS SPC.1-2009 Organizational Resilience: Security Preparedness, and Continuity Management System, British Standard 25999-2:2007 Business Continuity Management (which is being replaced by ISO 22301), and the National Fire Protection Association 1600:2007/2010 Standard on Disaster / Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs).  My question is this, is our industry so complex that we really need three different standards?  Is one REALLY BETTER than another?  Perhaps that will be the ISO standard?  Time will tell.

So what’s new?  I think technology, and how we leverage it, is certainly one, if not the biggest changes.  For small example, “the cloud”.  From software, to hardware, to storage, it seems as though the cloud can do it all!  Can it?  As business continuity experts, we need to work closely with our technology experts to stay ahead of this constantly challenging curve and define how current (and emerging) technology can strengthen our business continuity capabilities.  And it’s not just IT-related.  We need to look at the various tools we use from planning software to notification systems, even down to our individual smart phones.  How can we use technology to be stronger?

Leadership

I have to start off by recognizing the passing of Steve Jobs.  Jobs was a visionary who, like Thomas Edison and other great inventors, helped changed the way we live today.

I also have to make mention of what seems to be a loss of leadership in our government across all parties.  It’s very discouraging today to see how our elected “leaders” are leading our country.  It doesn’t seem like anyone is really interested in working together for the betterment of our great country.  Nobody is taking ownership and instead, everyone is pointing fingers.

It’s also sad to see what’s developing on a few of our college campuses with respect to so called leaders within college athletic departments.

Don’t get me wrong.  There are many more good and decent leaders then there are bad ones.  It’s just that the bad ones seem to be in the news all too often.

We need to encourage strong moral leadership.  We need to encourage those leaders that understand it’s more important to do what’s right for the greater good rather than for themselves.  We need to applaud leaders who are able to bring diverse groups together and get them to all work together and moving in the same direction.  We should look for opportunities to develop, coach, and mentor those interested in leading.

Personally

This year has been another great year for me personally and professionally.  As I look back, professionally I have had the opportunity to become active on the Eureka Fire Protection District’s Search and Rescue Team (www.efpd.org  , or look for us on Facebook).  In one of my earlier blogs, I wrote about our deployment to Joplin, Mo.  As the Training Lead for the team, I’ve been working on our 2012 training calendar.  Additionally, in October 2012, our team will be hosting the 15^th Annual Canine Search and Recovery (CSAR) Seminar.

Just recently, I accomplished a dream I’ve had and, I wasn’t disappointed.  I was able to teach a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) course for FEMA at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmittsburg, MD.  I also have previous posts about this great experience.

Here locally, as President of the MidAmerica Contingency Planning Forum (MCPF) I was able to work with our Board of Directors and run a full year’s worth of programs that proved valuable to our members.  Additionally, we were able to incorporate the organization as a 501-C3 Not-for-Profit organization, contract with a vendor to build our own dedicated website that I hope will be online the first of 2012, and we had our first ever Vendor Expo.  With these strong deliverables in place, along with a strong educational program, I see 2012 as a growth year for the MCPF.

Well, I wish you good luck with your holiday shopping.  And as always, stay safe!

TIP:  Make sure you include preparedness items and leadership books on your Christmas list, or when you are thinking of a gift to give someone else.  I mean who doesn’t need another flashlight!