In a crisis maintaining an operational focus is key to success
At the recent annual conference for the International Association of Emergency Managers I was fortunate to hear presentations by a number of the major academics supporting our profession. One thing that struck me was the similar views expressed by Dr. Dennis Miletti, a sociologist, and Dr. Brian Fagan, a historian specializing historical climate change. Both emphasized the need to take the long term view when dealing with crisis. While they were dealing with different time lines, the message was the same, "you need to see the big picture."
This is a major concern for those working at the operational level in crises. The tactical concerns are immediate and highly visible and it is easy to get drawn into trying to resolve these types of issues. I once saw a big city mayor become very involved with the rescue of passengers stranded in a subway after regional power outage, something that was a fairly routine problem for the transportation agency and the police department. On another occasion, a mayoral staff member began setting up an evacuation of the local airport on September 11th and establishing shelters for stranded passengers. The fact that there was a well-trained shelter branch available in the emergency operations center and that the problem was being handled by the airport management team completely escaped her.
It is easy to dismiss these examples as the result of untrained officials who neglect to participate in exercises and that would certainly be the case in many instances. However, focusing on the tactical rather than the operational issues is a common failing in many crisis management situations. We need to recognize that tactical issues are best handled by first responders and we must trust them to do their jobs. The best way we can help resolve tactical issues is to provide needed support to responders but, most importantly, to anticipate future needs.
This long-term view is essential in a crisis. The time available for decision making at a scene is measured in minutes and seconds. At the operational level, we have the luxury of hours and often days in which to consider the situation and make decisions. We need to acknowledge that our job is to move ahead of the crisis, identify emerging issues, and determine future resource needs. If we do our job well, it makes dealing with tactical issues much easier on everyone.