A Plan on the Shelf? That's Only the Beginning.
Building a Culture of Resilience | Lesson 6: Decisions in Real-Time
Imagine being a teacher or school administrator on a day when an emergency suddenly changes everything.
Decisions must be made. Communication becomes critical. People who spend their days educating students may find themselves responsible for managing a crisis.
How do you prepare people for responsibilities they hope never to face?
The Story: Preparing for the Unexpected
Meridian Strategic Services recently partnered with a private school to strengthen its emergency preparedness.
The assignment involved developing an emergency operations plan, but the work began with understanding the school's people, resources, and existing capabilities. What could staff already do? What resources were available? Where were the gaps?
One important area involved communications, particularly the availability of backup methods such as phones, intercoms, and radios. Those conversations helped the school identify opportunities to strengthen its ability to respond when normal operations are disrupted.
The Action: Bringing the Right Expertise Together
Meridian partnered with the Convoy Group, which specializes in physical security assessments and protection. Together, the organizations helped connect emergency operations planning with physical security and exercise planning.
The objective was to help school personnel understand their responsibilities, become familiar with available resources, and prepare to coordinate with community emergency responders. The planning process also brought together people who might never have worked through these scenarios together. It created opportunities to ask difficult questions, clarify expectations, and identify what would be required during an emergency.
The Lesson: Planning Builds Readiness
Scott Thomas of Meridian Strategic Services offers a powerful reminder:
"While plans are important, the planning process is infinitely more important."
A finished emergency operations plan provides important guidance. Developing it helps people understand their responsibilities, recognize potential challenges, and build relationships that support coordinated action. And that lesson extends far beyond schools.
Whether you lead a business, government agency, nonprofit, or educational institution, preparedness benefits from the conversations and collaboration that happen before an emergency.
Three questions every organizational leader should consider:
Do our employees understand their responsibilities during an emergency?
Have we identified backup communication capabilities?
Have we practiced coordinating with the partners and responders we may need?
The answers can help identify where additional preparation will make a difference.
Watch Lesson 6: Decisions in Real-Time
Hear Scott Thomas explain how Meridian and the Convoy Group helped a school strengthen preparedness through emergency planning. https://www.meridianstrategicserv.com/about-1-3
Join the conversation: What has your organization learned from an emergency planning process or exercise?
Meridian Strategic Services' 10-lesson video series, "Building a Culture of Resilience"
, offers practical insights to help organizations strengthen preparedness and resilience.
Comments