Technical Emergency
Management Workshop

he Y2K problem was well known, but up until the bitter end, most organizations were having continuing difficulty making it a priority. Sadly, this is a typical pattern for many organizations that face the risk of significant technical emergencies. When there is enough time to plan, there isn't enough urgency to make it a priority, and when there is finally enough urgency, there isn't enough time. Yet, preparedness, as we know from the experience of the emergency management community, is the basis for survival in emergencies.

Much of the available advice about emergency preparedness makes the assumption that somehow you have succeeded in making preparation a priority when there is still enough time to do it in a routine manner. Since that is rarely the situation, this workshop assumes that the emergency is either already upon you, or that it is imminent, and there is not enough time to prepare in the usual take-forever, yet-another-meeting, plan-then-plan-some-more manner. We'll assume that you're in a situation in which business as usual just won't cut it. Which leaves just one place to go — business as unusual.

For most organizations that are newly serious about planning for a technical emergency, there is usually a pressing situation. Perhaps it's a legal or regulatory deadline, or warnings about security vulnerabilities from authoritative source. Usually only a short time remains to install an emergency management plan. Senior managers cannot develop and roll out an emergency management plan in the usual centralized manner. Success depends upon communicating the idea of emergency management widely throughout the organization. This seminar presents four principles of emergency management planning that leaders can use to put in place an emergency management plan now. You'll learn how to apply these four principles to put in place an adaptable, responsive emergency management plan. The four principles are:

Build a backup infrastructure

All infrastructure systems are potential points of failure: electric power, communications, water, materials flow, fire protection, cash, transportation and so on. Select the elements that pertain to the emergency you foresee, and focus your planning on them.

Avoid central planning

Distribute planning responsibility out through the organization as broadly and deeply as you can. Decentralized, accountability-based planning gives your organization a chance to practice what it most needs in an emergency — decentralized, accountability-based action.

Run emergency drills and simulations

The emergency management community learned this long ago — simulations smoke out coordination problems.

Network with your supply chain

Share lessons learned. Coordinate simulations and emergency drills. If you find a supplier who is emergency-asleep, you can replace them or plan for the consequences.