Inputs, Offers, and Pivots

September 2014

This is a modified version of a deck co-presented (with Amanda Pick, Executive Director of the Missing Children Society of Canada) on May 27th at the 2014 CPRS Ascend Summit in Banff, Canada called “Herding Cats, Finding Kids, and Rallying Dispersed Teams in a Crisis”.

How Mobile Networks, Startup Culture, and Improv Principles Reshape Disaster Management and Crisis Communications

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What is Improv?

This? This? This?

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Improv is a Mindset

It is a way of thinking...

an approach to life...

and a versatile framework for teamwork.

This presentation looks at how improv principles, as well as startup culture and mobile technology, all apply surprisingly well to disaster management and crisis communications.

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This was downtown Calgary in May 2013.Heavy rains and spring snow melt caused massive flooding.

One of Canada’s biggest natural disasters ever. At $5 billion, it was the costliest.

Over 75,000 were evacuated from Calgary.The downtown was closed to its 350,000 workers.

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5Confidential – All rights to the work presented remain the property of RallyEngine® Inc.

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Everyone was affected

• 92% said some employees’ commutes were disrupted• 90% said some employees’ homes were evacuated• 86% said one or more premises were closed• 80% said some employees’ homes were flooded

The event was clearly disruptive.

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Ipsos Study: Calgary Flood

Download the full report at: use.rallyengine.com/study/yycflood

Plans were inadequate

• 80% had an Emergency Response Plan, BUT...

• 44% included emergency communications plans and protocols• 28% included evacuation plans• 22% included an offsite meeting location or shelter• 20% factored in contact lists/directories• 13% included severe weather and natural disaster instructions• 11% included steps for business continuity

Obviously there were significant gaps.7

Ipsos Study: Calgary Flood

Perception wasn’t reality

• 81% rated their ERPs as effective• 43% said their plans worked efficiently

• 19% were able to reach employees• 8% said their people knew what to do• 8% continued business functions• 8% maintained good communications with clients

Plans gave a false sense of comfort and preparation.

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Ipsos Study: Calgary Flood

Large organizations were less prepared...

more ad hoc...

and more reliant on volunteers than we’d expect.

While the overall response of large organizations to the 2013 Flood may be called a success, it was thanks to the initiative and hard work of citizens and leaders - more than to definitive plans.

Calgary was was extraordinarily resilient...

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Ipsos Study: Calgary Flood

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This was the scene outside McMahon Stadium.The mayor put out a call for 500 volunteers and got >6000.

Response was unexpected - well-meaning but overwhelming. It was treated by Emergency Managers as an input - just like upstream water level readings or a bridge collapse would be.

It had to be accepted as reality - like it or not.

Key Learnings

• Inputs are random• Plans are imperfect• Ad hoc teams are versatile• Context and proximity are important• Rallying people – herding cats – is critical• Willing participants make all the difference

Resilience requires adaptability and teamwork...

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Calgary Flood Insights

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Just like Startups

The Lean Startup

• Some unlearning is required Rethink the idea of a perfect strategic master plan.

• Business/ERP planning > business/ERP planBusiness plans obsolete quickly. The process of planning is important but the plan itself should not be an instruction manual.

• Just do it, actions > wordsIdeas are nothing without execution.

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Startup Culture

The Lean Startup

• MVP (Minimum Viable Product)A cornerstone of a lean startup.

• Validated learning (build, measure, learn...)Validate your learning on-the-fly and in tandem with reality; with inputs not ideals. Treat it like a cycle, not a waterfall.

• Agile development / continuous deploymentFor software, continually add/edit/patch code based on real use.

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Startup Culture

The Lean Startup

• PivotStartups themselves shift their businesses to where the market is. Examples: Twitter, Groupon, Flickr, etc.

• Teamwork is paramountTitles are irrelevant.

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Startup Culture

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Speaking of irrelevant...

“Never gonna give you up, ‘80s radio communications

equipment.”

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Disasters Need Different

There are more Black Swan events...

information (and misinformation) moves faster...

and networks and tools are more interconnected.

The fields of Emergency Management, Disaster Response, and Crisis Communications are undergoing major transformation.

Communications Has Changed

• The Radio Industrial ComplexWe need to move on from the entrenched use of big, expensive, inconvenient 1980s holdover tech.

• Interoperability vs APIsInteroperability – to span groups or jurisdictions – is a huge issue for police, fire, and emergency organizations. In the startup world, the ability to naturally communicate across systems is the default.

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Tech Interconnectivity

Organizations Have Changed

• Social media alters command-and-controlNew channels force fluidity and adaptability, punish rigidity.

• HolacracyWhole organizations are embracing flat org charts with no bosses.

• No one has all the answersExpertise is functional and personal, not hierarchical. No one has all the answers and pretending they do is a liability in a crisis.

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Tech Interconnectivity

Information Has Changed

• Everyone carries a computerEveryone can now be a contributor and can now be informed because of the power and ubiquity of mobile computing.

• Situational awarenessActive real-time observation takes precedence over pre-scripted bureaucratic process.

• Emergent groupsResilience is shepherded by mobilized groups of people.

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Tech Interconnectivity

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Which brings us back to improv...

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Improv Mindset

General Principles of Improv

• Be prepared (blend process and spontaneity)Many think that improv is just winging it – having nothing prepared – and that’s only half-true. The best improvisers are exceptionally well-prepared in terms of blending spontaneity with a framework.

• Just show upVery overlooked. People often don’t show up because they’re thinking of something perfect or because they’re afraid of uncertainty. But simply being there creates options.

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Improv Mindset

General Principles of Improv

• Be in the nowThe past and future are distractions. “This show has never been done before and will never be done again!”

• Observe and listen activelyBe alert. Find flow.

• Action over inaction, commitBe ready to jump in. And don’t be half-hearted or lackadaisical; you must be all in.

“It’s always my job,if the job needs doing,and I am there to do it.”-Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom

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Improv Mindset

General Principles of Improv

• Accept all offers and inputsIn improv these are actually called gifts. They form the reality of the scene and the basis of your role.

• Be averageDon’t try to do too much, be over-the-top, or act the hero. Just be average. And be fluid with leadership - give and take it. It’s not entitled or entrenched.

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Improv Mindset

General Principles of Improv

• Roll with mistakesThey happen (that’s what crisis is). It doesn’t help anyone or anything to be critical during a jam.

• Keep the energyBecause your enthusiasm fuels others.

• Make others look goodThe active listening, the gifts, the energy - all of it is in service of those you’re working with.

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Yes, and...

Amazing Things Will Happen

• Always say yes, and always build on it.• Accept offers as gifts - even if you don’t yet know what to do • No ego, it’s all about the us (share resources and credit)• Scene paint - a vision becomes reality• Set the stage and find positive participants• Do together what can’t be done alone

rallyengine.com | @RallyEngine

Thank you

Steve Hardy@Shardy12

Steve is an entrepreneur, improv student, and the Marketing Director of RallyEngine, an award-winning app-based internal communications system for dispersed teams and workforces.

RallyEngine was founded in 2012 and is the commercial spin-off of CodeSearch, a ground-breaking private-public search program by the Missing Children Society of Canada.

Mobile internal/crisis communications = nimble business continuity

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