Tag Archives: Disaster Management

GET OVER YOURSELF AND GET AHEAD

Emergency Management, Motivation, Inspiration, , ,

Jhull|3/15

GET OVER YOURSELF AND GET AHEAD!

TIP: That sense of self-importance in business –OR– life in general, will never get you a seat at the head table.

If you want to get ahead and make people want to propel you, here’s the secret.  Sometimes, you just have to get over yourself.   It’s not always about you.  That’s the mistake that breeds interpersonal relationship problems and insecurity, not to mention, it will constantly keep you looking over your shoulder for the next fabricated infraction.

TIP:   Be instrumental in helping someone excel or,help someone get back into the game.  It’s a great feeling and, a team player, whether in your own family or, in your business, IS noticed. 

Most people have many responsibilities in their life, i.e., children, parents, elderly or sick relatives; the list goes on and on.  However, as difficult as this new concept is to process,(especially in an economy when most people are working very hard just to keep their heads above water and, the heads of their family members as well), there really are people out there who have been given gratis for most of their adult lives.   This type of person continues to expect the same special treatment in the workforce while attempting to judge unkindly those less fortunate. Needless to say, that attitude does not translate well in the business world or, for the matter, any where else.

Don’t be so consumed with yourself that you forget to be a team player. Try giving some encouragement to someone not as fortunate at the moment or, someone who is also trying to get ahead.   Have some compassion, lend a helping hand, maybe lend and ear… Be a mentor. 

TIP: In business and in life, everyone is not going to understand, agree with, or even like, all of your concepts, ideas, and choices.  Why? Because they don’t have to!  That’s correct.  EVERYONE will not applaud you all of the time.

Be prepared to accept applause graciously but, conversely, be just as prepared to accept constructive criticism just as gracefully. Don’t be so quick to judge someone else’s back story.  You may think someone is making a big deal out of something you have decided is as simple as a shattered or broken glass.  You have to believe there may be reasons you don’t need to understand.  Everything is not worth the fight.  Pick and choose your words wisely from an understanding point of view and not a superior or dismissive one.

There you have it in a nutshell…… The get over yourself trick.

We are all cogs in rather large wheels (be it family, friends, or co-workers and, most times, all of the above).  Once you start believing you are the “wheel” then, that’s the time to take inventory.

If you have estranged yourself from family, friends, and co-workers, by making excuses to yourself about how unfair and mean spirited people are to you because, they don’t always agree with you or your choices…….WELL maybe, JUST maybe,  you have become your own problem.

TIP………………GET OVER IT AND GET AHEAD!

Experience Over Bravado Any Day !

Emergency Management, ,

EXPERIENCE 

Joanne Hull|September 25, 2014

I’LL TAKE EXPERIENCE OVER BRAVADO ANY DAY .  We’ve all seen it.  That one blowhard who thinks they know it all.

NOT ON MY TEAM.

Anyone can talk the talk, wear the logos, and strut their stuff.  I’ve seen more letters and certifications after surnames that defy the existing alphabet.

NOT IMPRESSED.

I want the person who can walk that walk on my team….EXPERIENCE…..That’s the name of the game.  If you haven’t done disaster field work, been on the scene, in the moment, in the aftermath then my friend, you only talk the talk.  Arrogant is not the same as confident.  Confidence comes with experience.  A strong network of experience and confidence is needed to connect and collaborate for any mission to succeed.

The issues we face are too complex to be addressed by someone who thinks they know it all.  The world we work in is a fluid universe which presents multi-faceted challenges at any given time.  Team work– with an experienced team.  We feed off each other’s experience, drill down for the answer and act swiftly to provide the need and fill in the gaps.

HOW ?

By bringing experienced people together sharing a multiplicity of ideas, perspectives and courage to meet any challenge.

SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH ????

Disaster Planning, Emergency Management, How To Prepare, ,

SEPTEMBER—NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH ????

(Shouldn’t every month be National Preparedness Month?)

Joanne Hull|September 2014

In this day and age, do we really need a designated month to prepare?   Shouldn’t we be preparing every day ?

I remember working in a state that had several hurricanes.  They struck the state one after the other, each one more violent than the next.  One night thoroughly exhausted as usual, I arrived “home” to my hotel in time for the 11PM news.  I turned on the television trying to unwind and heard the best 60 seconds ever.  A frustrated elected official was being interviewed and he said words to the effect……  Look, we live in a state that gets hurricanes.  Is it too much to ask to have a few days of bottled water and non-perishable items until help can get to you?

Words to live by since September also happens to be the month when more hurricanes have occurred that any other month.

BE PREPARED.  HAVE A PLAN.  What would happen if you become the only person your family has to count on until help arrives?

FIRST TASK OF A LEADER

Communication, Emergency Management, Leadership, Meetings, , , , ,

FIRST TASK OF A LEADER 

IDENTIFY AND UNDERSTAND THE EXPECTATIONS OF YOUR STAFF ! 

 Successful Communication:

Joanne Hull | June 18, 2014

How confident do you appear?

Lack of clarity in your words, your questions, or your statements, usually concludes to your staff your own lack of clarity on the topic of your discussion and your overall objective.

Identify the expectation.

Your verbal message needs to model or match your non-verbal language and nuances and not act as a direct contradiction.

You’re being tested.

Be confident in what you communicate to your staff.  You’re being tested.  The old saying “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”, will ultimately decide if you are reliable.  Your staff needs to know that they can rely on what you say.  If you appear unsure, flustered or confused or off topic, you are perceived as no longer in charge of the situation.

Win their respect.

It is important to be respected not for your title but because you exude knowledge and confidence under very trying circumstances.  It is important to be credible to your staff.  When your words are secure, levelheaded and imperturbable you will stop being tested and start being respected.

JUDGE THE IDEA NOT THE PERSON

Chief of staff, Leadership,

lightbulb

JUDGE THE IDEA NOT THE PERSON

Joanne Hull| June 12, 2014

A new approach may have potential.  Leading your staff through the myriad of global disasters requires a value on innovative ideas and an institutional commitment to partnership.

Ideas and innovation become the incubator for a successful response and recovery plan and influence the possible outcomes on the impact to the society and to the environment.

New ideas provide a conceptual system of approach. They are the backbone providing a framework for a successful emergency response, recovery and a successful unified command.

Leaders encourage new ideas.

One good idea provides many contributions and contributors to a final design.

Take a chance….LISTEN.

You may just hear a compelling argument to the how and why it can be done.

Challenges faced on disasters are far too complex and far too unpredictable not to allow new discoveries and/or fresh approaches.

New ideas provide more opportunities for transforming every disaster response and recovery into continued successes.

Welcome to My World……Pass The Aspirin !

Chief of staff, , , ,

WELCOME TO MY WORLD……..Pass The Aspirin!!

Joanne Hull | February 2, 2014

Hello Emergency Managers, Disaster Junkies and anyone else who cares to listen in.    I’ve worked plenty of declared disasters and emergencies throughout the country these past eighteen years (see my profile above on the “about “tab if you care to learn more about me) and, have held key positions in some of the largest disasters in the nation.   Just like anyone else in any other field, I’ve got plenty of “war stories”.  However, if I were to tell them, I would have to change the names, change the locations and quite frankly, the office politics and interpersonal relationships would start to sound more like fiction than fact.

Visualize, if you will, a group of people – hundreds, sometimes thousands, arriving from all over the country with different backgrounds, different skill sets, and way, way different personalities – all, descending at once to the same disaster office site and possible staying 6-7-8 months or longer.  The first few months, working possibly as much as 7 days a week sometimes 12-14 hour days, if not way longer.

Are we dedicated?  Of course we are or we wouldn’t be here!  We came this far and left our families behind to help disaster survivors and the affected states recover as quickly as possible.   Are we happy?  Of course not!  We’re too darn tired to even smile at each other in the office let alone manage small talk.  Are we cordial to each other?  We try hard, however, by 7 or 8 pm, after being in the office since 6 am, we’re on our last nerve.

Oh, did I mention, that by 9-10 pm or maybe even 11 pm we start back to our hotel and turn on the GPS in our rental car (remember, it’s a strange city, it’s dark out, and some us still have our luggage in the car because we came to the disaster office directly from the airport and we still need to check in at the hotel).  Also worth noting, if it’s a major disaster or catastrophic event there aren’t many rooms available in the immediate vicinity therefore, some of us may be traveling distances to sleep.

Now that the adrenalin rush is wearing off this is usually about the time you remember that you didn’t make time for dinner that evening and you’re really, really, hungry.  Not to mention, you were too busy all day and didn’t get a chance to make that private phone call home and the family is now worried about you and, on top of everything else, you still haven’t said goodnight to your kids.

By 6 am – or, if you’re lucky, by 7 am – you’re back in the office.  You probably have figured out by now that it doesn’t take much for this many tired people to get on each other’s nerves…

I get off the elevator and start to turn down the hallway to my office.  I see that a line is forming.  I hope it’s for bagels but I know better. That line is forming outside my office door.  I know it’s going to be a very, very, long day indeed.   “I need COFFEE”, I think I say this to myself but the words must have come right out very audible because some stranger in line hands me a cup.  I wish I could say that everyone is here to say hello and see how I’m doing or, how it’s going or, share some bagels.

If you could only see the looks on their faces, you’d know instantly that was not the case.

That’s right, they come to me.   The buck stops here and they know it.  They want to talk, they want me to listen and, they want me to use my authority to make their problems go away.  Sometimes, they may even be the cause of their own problems but regardless, they still want it gone and expect me to fix it, provide a solution, and make their troubles yesterday’s old news.

Who am I?

Yes, you guessed it right!

I’m, “ THE CHIEF OF STAFF “.

Welcome to my world. Pass the aspirin!