Developing A Resilient Workforce Through Disaster Preparedness

Since the unthinkable terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 there has been a dramatic increase and interest in workplace security and the well being of employees. Survival, of course, is a number one priority but learning to thrive following a disruptive incident is a benefit requiring planning that most businesses don't have in place.

An emerging concept in the field of disaster response and recovery is the psychological cluster of skills that are called resiliency. This concept refers to a series of adaptive strategies employed by individuals to aid them in managing traumatic stress and coping with disasters and disruptive events. Resiliency strategies can be learned by individuals and virtually anyone can learn how to cope more effectively with stress and trauma. Resiliency strategies can be employed by organizations to improve their ability to recover from disasters, business disruptions and changes in the marketplace. This article will focus on how organizations can improve their organizational resiliency through disaster preparedness and through this process be better equipped to respond to disasters and other business disruptions.

Resiliency is a series of coping mechanisms that include using social support, accepting the idea that change is a part of life, acquiring new skills to handle challenges, keeping a long term focus, and using challenging situations to aid in self discovery and growth. After 9/11, The American Psychological Association developed a program titled "The Road To Resiliency" that was designed to help people understand the use of resiliency strategies to handle difficult situations and increase adaptive skills. These skills can be learned and relevant resources can be found online at http://www.helping.apa.org

Businesses can also benefit from these same concepts because they facilitate coping with the aftermaths of disasters, disruptions or changes in the marketplace. Hamel and Välikangas (Sept. 03, p54) discussed corporate resiliency in the Harvard Business Review. They suggest that, "Strategic resilience is not about responding to a onetime crisis. It's not about rebounding from a setback. It's about continuously anticipating and adjusting … It's about having the capacity to change before the case for change becomes desperately obvious." In fact, businesses with a resiliency plan are better able to respond to disasters and disruptions of all kinds. They are also better able to adapt to changes in the marketplace that may be due to emerging technology, new products, customer needs and virtually any issue that affects selling products or services. Resiliency plans actually increase organizational flexibility and change-ability. It works because adaptation to necessary changes involves learning new skills, redefining the business and working together as an organization to build the business into the future. Resiliency is a process that can be adopted by businesses. An added bonus is the enhancement of teamwork to help employees work together anticipating change and solving challenges.

Resiliency skills can be incorporated into a business in several ways:

• Business can teach resiliency skills to employees as part of disaster training. A packet of resiliency training materials can be obtained from the American Psychological Association, distributed and discussed with the employees in a group format.
• A more formal and effective strategy would be to bring in psychologists familiar with this topic to teach these skills directly to employees.
• A more comprehensive approach includes resiliency training incorporated into the disaster planning process, which teaches employees about their role in the company during and after a. disaster. This results in team members' over-learning their assignments enabling them to respond with confidence in any emergency.
• A forward looking plan will include the above aspects but will also emphasize change management to anticipate and increase organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

An example of how a resiliency strategy can be used in disaster planning is that of incorporating social support in the form of disaster response planning teams. Functioning in teams is important in planning and in disaster response. The social support that takes place creates cohesiveness in teams and the broader workplace. Disaster planning done by teams can be used as a team building exercise. When employees work in this way they can provide psychological support to team members, help to insure the safety of team members and bring greater resources to bear on problem solving. Teamwork reinforces the understanding that mutual aid is essential after a disaster, or even in the day-to-day work of the business. The members of the team can plan how they will track the whereabouts and status of other workers in their area after a disaster. They can also focus on ways to provide first aid or render other assistance after a disaster. Mutual interdependence is critical for survival but in fact does much more. It enhances team functioning by creating a community of support.

When employees have finished developing a plan or adapting a plan to their worksite they will have a clear understanding of what the organization expects of them in the event of a disaster. The employees will also take ownership of a plan. When teams are used to develop or refine a disaster plan there is an added benefit of a process that can be taught to others. By using resiliency concepts in training employees excellent disaster response skills will result. Not only will employees be able to respond effectively after an incident but they will be able to apply these skills to workplace challenges.

About the Authora

Rick Allen, Ph.D., & Francine Toder, Ph.D. co-founded Management Continuity Planning Associates, providing businesses with pre-incident planning and post-incident services. Both are licensed psychologists and organizational consultants with expertise in workplace trauma and disaster preparedness. They have extensive experience in providing services following disasters and have responded to earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, tornadoes and both responded to 9/11 providing disaster mental health services for the Red Cross at Ground Zero. Their web site http://www.ManagementContinuity.com contains articles and resources for disaster planning and response.