Planning for Pandemics, Epidemics and Outbreaks
On June 16, 2014
The second workshop of the World Conference on Disaster Management was extremely interesting and related to pandemics, epidemics and outbreaks. The first point was the need to change the terminology from pandemic plans to epidemic or outbreak plans because we are more likely to experience one of these than a pandemic. An outbreak can still...
Planning a Crisis Simulation Exercise
On June 16, 2014
The first workshop of the World Conference on Disaster Management was disappointing. However, there were still some learnings, especially from the discussion and comments among participants. Some interesting points include: Challenges faced by people running simulation exercises include: Senior management failing to buy in and not attending. This poses problems when an actual crisis does...
Resilience Definitions – All at Sea; Crisis Management, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
On October 4, 2013
This month a ship described as China’s first luxury cruise liner has been detained at a port on the South Korean island of Jeju because of a legal dispute. A local court ordered the Henna not to leave after a request from a Chinese shipping company. It is not clear what the dispute centres on....
What Is A Stakeholder?
On April 25, 2013
Recently I looked at some stats for Google searches and saw that the question ‘What is a stakeholder?’ has a significantly high number of searches which I thought was interesting. Wikipedia says a stakeholder is a person, group, organization, member or system who affects or can be affected by an organisation’s actions. I am comfortable...
Consultation and Engagement
On March 27, 2013
Less than twenty years ago, consultation wasn’t really a consideration in the planning process. In 1994, Socom wrote the consultation manual for Moreland City Council. It was the first consultation manual written for a local government in Victoria. Today, consultation and engagement is part of the planning vernacular. Yet it is still often given only...
Crisis Management – Timing vs Attitude
On August 10, 2012
Albert Bartlett is an innovative thinker. Professor Albert is known for his work in quirky mathematics and its application to weighty questions of modern life. Population for one. He uses the analogy of a Petri dish containing organisms that are multiplying and points out that although it took a long time to half fill the...
RELATIONSHIP GOLDEN RULE No.1: Do unto others…
On August 6, 2012
What an interesting way to treat a customer who takes the time to write to you and tell you that your service isn’t up to scratch. Rather than write and thank the customer, Rex decides to write an insulting letter back (Australian Financial Review, p 11, 31 July 2012). The article includes phrases from a...
Relationships are critical – it’s time to start the revolution
On March 20, 2012
If you’ve ever had to call an organisation several times to get a response, been placed on hold only to face a hang up, or given up waiting for someone to answer your query, you understand how it feels to be undervalued. Surely answering the phone or returning a phone call can’t be too difficult....