4 - Communication Lessons - Michael Newland

 Michael Newland
Reference:

Varvas, S., & Mckenna, B. (2013). Learning the Communication Lessons of the Port-au-Prince Earthquake Relief Effort. Journal of Technical Writing & Communication, Vol. 43 Issue 1, Pg 43-61.

Theme:

Natural disasters are often unpredictable events. Supplying relief and aid to affected individuals is difficult especially in third world countries. Without adequate communication relief efforts become nearly impossible to coordinate.

Summary:

·         In January of 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake occurred in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 300,000 people lost their lives with hundreds of thousands more injured and homeless.

The emergency response for this disaster was severely hampered by the destruction of the United Nations communication headquarters. Poverty and miscommunication resulted in riots when food and supplies were being distributed. Several people did not receive any food or supplies for several days. Haiti’s political situation and structure at the time made relief communication and efforts even more difficult. We learned about a lot of things from this disaster that were done poorly.

·         The Three Stages of Disaster Relief outline what goes on before, during, and after a disaster in order to mitigate as much damage as possible. It also covers relief difficulties such as communication problems.

·         The first stage is Pre-Disaster Preparation and Communication. “This stage is essential for it outlines the necessary actions that must be followed to communicate effectively to the public, aid organizations, agencies, and governments to recover from a disaster (Varvas, 2013).”

·         The second stage or Response Stage is, “The implementation of strategic disaster planning and media communication responses to create awareness (Varvas, 2013).” In this stage regional, national, and international actors start to generate aid and support to those affected by the disaster. This stage can be difficult due to lack of short term and long term funding. In third world countries there are concerns that their governments are spending their money elsewhere due to corruption. Developing incident command systems is vital to relief efforts.

·         The last stage is Post-Disaster Communication and Management. After the disaster is over and relief efforts are in full swing there needs to be a post-disaster evaluation and analysis. “There are two steps where lessons and adaptive systems can be taught: 1. Lessons learned from the response stage; and 2. Long-term lessons derived from restoration (Varvas, 2013).”

·         From learning from past disasters like the Haiti earthquake four suggestions were created from several organizations. “To reduce distress from disasters, clear communication channels, political collaboration, proper education, and training are essential (Varvas, 2013).”

Application to the lesson topic:

Communication is incredibly important during disaster relief efforts. Without it you cannot hope to effectively give aid in a timely manner. You also would not be able to get vital information out to the public. Communication is a cornerstone to disaster response and relief.

Application to emergency services:

Responders trying to provide medical treatment and rescue to disaster victims must communicate with each other their organizations and with the government in order to coordinate efforts. Paramedics, EMT’s, and Police officers must remain in contact in order to send and receive information.

4 - Communicating Crisis - Andrea Graff

Andrea Graff

Reference: Isbell, M., Goldstein, R. (2006). Communicating crisis: inter-organizational collaboration among disaster relief agencies. International Communication Association. (p. 1-17).

Theme: Know your key players and communicate before disasters occur.

Summary:
Research was done to "review and investigate where the communicative differences may lie between internal and external crisis communication". Three main themes developed from the results of interviews which are: 1. planning 2. structure 3. collaboration continuum. I'm going to focus on the first, planning. There are three sub-themes to this theme:

• Pre-agreement: Know all of the players and build relationships with each of them. Trust needs to be built way before a crisis occurs and this comes from performance and experience.

• Sharing resources: Working together is key. Knowing who has what and who is bringing what to the table due to prior communication will keep costs lower and help everyone to work together.

• Outliers: Those who are part of the in-group, meaning they had pre-planned and gone to exercises were given larger responsibility during crisis events. Out-group members, or agencies that didn't participate were treated secondary. All help was welcomed, but the in-group had preferential treatment.

Application to the lesson topic:
Knowing the key players and establishing regular communication needs to be a main focus. Practicing for disasters and going over drills and exercises will help everyone to know their roles and be better prepared for the event of a disaster.

Application to emergency services:
As emergency services managers we can plan exercises and drills to make sure not only our staff but all key players will know what to do in the event of a disaster and hopefully work out the kinks beforehand. 

3 - Leadership Integrity - Andrea Graff

Andrea Graff

Reference: Lucas,  F., Katz, B. (2011). Gone with the wind? Integrity and Hurricane Katrina. New Directions for Student Services. (pp. 89-96).

Theme: Maintaining leadership integrity.

Summary:

• The number one characteristic that employees and the public want in a leader is integrity.

• To reassure employees and the public during and after a crisis there are some things you should keep in mind. The first is to make sure you keep calm. Emotions are highly contagious maintaining your composure will help to calm panicked people.

• Maintain a sense of humor. Spontaneous humor can help relieve the tension and overcome fear.

• Make sure you listen, it is the key to gaining assistance. And also communicate. "Accurate, timely, and ongoing information sharing is critical to maintain ethical and structural integrity on campus".

• And finally, take care of yourself. Over the days the strengths of the leaders get eroded, taking fifteen to thirty minutes of privacy each day can help to recenter and refocus.

Application to the lesson topic:
Integrity is the number one thing people look for in a leader. They need to know that when it comes to a crisis situation they can trust their leaders and there is no doubt as to what they are ordering.

Application to Emergency Services:
During a crisis situation it is important that we as leaders realize that everyone is going to be watching us and turning to us to see how they should be responding. It is up to us to keep our composure and help others to stay calm while at the same time getting things taken care of and making sure things get done.

2 - The Waco Watch - Andrea Graff

Andrea Graff

Reference:  Holley, J. (1993). The Waco watch. Columbia Journalism Review. (pp. 50-53).

Theme: Questioning the way journalists do their jobs.

Summary:

• Reporters were accused of alerting cult members to a possible raid either by a phone call or by "starting the series before the raid took place".

• The media broadcast messages from Koresh, the cult leader, resulting in the release of some of the children.

• A radio station was criticized for undermining federal authorities negotiating strategy when they flew a banner for the Branch Davidians.

• The vice president of a radio station said they did not have a "blanket policy" about cooperating with authorities.

Application to this lesson topic:
In this case the media was being accused of warning of the raid on the ranch, which they deny, and also of not cooperating with authorities when it came to airing stuff without permission.

Application to Emergency Services:
Just be really careful when it comes to reporters, they can be your best asset, or your worst nightmare. Make sure someone is briefing them so they don't feel the need to dig for their own information and that the information they get is accurate.

1 -Media bias and coverage of disasters - Andrea Graff

Andrea Graff

Reference: Moeller, S. (2006). "Regarding the pain of others": media, bias and the coverage of international disasters. Journal of International Affairs. (pp. 173-196).

Theme: Media bias and the coverage of international disasters

Summary:

• The amount of air time a certain disaster receives is influenced by who is evaluating it and usually when something is reported heavily in the news it is because a celebrity is backing it.

• If the disaster is in a part of the world we use as a vacation destination there will be far more attention than a place no one really knows about even if the death toll is quadruple in the unknown area.

• When there is no political controversy attached to a disaster the media will give it more time because no one will be critical and people will donate freely knowing they aren't furthering a political agenda.

• "Simple emergencies" are those which are considered "Acts of God" and call for a straight forward humanitarian response. On the contrary are "complex emergencies" which are man-made disasters where humans are at fault. These demand humanitarian relief, social, political and even military attention. These are costly and time time consuming for the media to cover. 

Application to the lesson topic:
All disasters should be known to people via the news. They should all be unbiased and facts should be all that is reported.

Application to emergency services:
I guess just make sure that the media has accurate facts and knows the real story.

3 - Leadership Through the Blur - Ray Huntzinger

Leading Through the Blur: Leadership in Difficult Times

ESMG 4200 Reading Summary #3



Ray Huntzinger

Reference:

Kerfoot, K. (2001, December). Leading through the blur: Leadership in
difficult times. Dermatology Nursing, 13(6), pp. 450-451.

Theme:

The theme of the article was that leadership requirements are
ever-changing and dynamic; and true leadership can only be measured by
how well a leader adapts during the difficult times.

Summary:

--Leadership abilities are measured in difficult times as most leaders
can survive when times are easy.

--Leadership in the face of terrorism will cause leaders to learn and
grow; those who choose these actions over fear will be successful.

--Successful leadership requires focused "community building" during
difficult times.

--To survive, leaders must look at adversity as a new chapter in their
lives and ultimately take advantage of the learning opportunity.

--Leaders must lead by example, particularly when it comes to showing
compassion.

--Leaders must foster an inner peace, avoiding negativity, hatred, or
self-loathing.

--Leaders must rise to the occasion and keep the "spirit of the
organization" alive.

Application to the lesson topic:

The article relates to the lesson topic because its ideas require
strong, decisive, and honest leadership. In addition, effective
communication skills are required to implement any of the suggested
strategies.

Application to emergency services:

The leadership ideas described in the article would make any emergency
service leader more effective. The Emergency services require
positivity, decisive, compassionate, proactive, and community-based
leadership ideals, just as the article suggests.

3- Leadership in the Face of Disaster - John Scardena

John Scardena

Reference:

Karlene Kerfoot (December, 2001) Leading Through the Blur: Leadership in Difficult Times

Theme:

Leaders become successful when they can understand what is going on despite chaos and grow in ability by using the five properties of leadership of disaster control

Summary:

-Recent Disasters like 9/11, floods in Houston, Oklahoma City Bombing, and tornados have created a new syndrome of nervousness called "anticipatory anxiety" which is a fear of the unknown.

- Leadership facing threats from terror and disaster has become very different than times past.

-Tests of leadership are not brought about by times of safety but by times of crisis

-In times of disasters leaders will raise from crisis because they choose to fight instead of flight.

-People will gravitate to those who are bold and seem to live without fear of the unknown

-This is a great time of learning and growing for leaders, just as a muscle grown from excursion so does a leader.

-This is a time to build the community

-The people who will suffer most in a disaster are those who do not have a support system.

-This is a time to rethink leadership qualities and training; i.e. new methods of leadership

This is a time for practicing compassion- leaders must lead by how they want the world to be governed.

-The world is attracted to leaders whom follow the golden rule.

-This is a time to focus on the spirit of peace.

-Leaders must look threw the blur of disasters and blow away the fog of confusion and become strong.

-People need strong leaders who are intelligent, courageous, and have a good heart.

Application to Lesson Topic:

            The leason focuses all about leadership, the view of leadership and what the World needs. I think this meshes with media because the leaders that we speak of and the ones we look up to are passionate and dramatic. Media thrives on these ideas thus making a positive link between the leaders we are looking for and the exposure that they need.

Application to Emergency Services:

            When I think of leaders in a disaster or crisis situation, I do think of the men and women that are in emergency services. Whether that be the police doing crowd control, the Red Cross comforting victims, members of Reaching Efforts taking control of clearing debris and rebuilding homes so that the communities can return, all have a place and all need to have courage so that victims and others suffering from anticipatory anxiety can feel safe and calm. Ultimately it will be the first responders becoming leaders who will help the initial calm and it will need to be the second responders and public servants who reinforce that calm by taking control, being peace makers, and offering peace.