This Week and Leadership

If only……it’s not uncommon for people to think back to the what if’s. What if we all had taken the COVID-19 more seriously to start?  Okay, let’s say we all did. When did it start? When did it hit the radar? Was it when the Bay Area (California) took the lead for the country and executed a shelter in place order on March 16th involving 6 counties and one city, nearly 7 million people?  At the time, I thought, why just the one city? Did the other and much larger Bay Area cities not agree, or were they not asked or did they feel the County Medical Directors have the responsibility and authority? Or did it start on January 21st when the first case hit in the US? That was the unfortunate guy who returned to Washington State from a visit to the epicenter of COVID-19. Was it even earlier, when those who have invested a lifetime in understanding world health began to hear what was happening at the epicenter or at least what was being shared? Looking back and pulling out our finger to point is no way to help and no way to lead.

Certainly not claiming to be an expert in this area, but a lifetime of being around and assisting emergency responders does provide some insight. Generally in the emergency response environment, while it is important to understand how something happened, the first responsibility is to do everything possible to secure the site and ensure that anyone responding will not place themselves in harm’s way. Then and of course (it’s usually concurrently) how do they protect others, the general public from what has happened, what is happening and what could happen.

So securing the site; ensuring the safety of the responders and the safety of the general public provides a safe environment, so the very heavy lifting of the responders can commence. At that point, the responders have at least three primary responsibilities. 

1. Show Poise. That’s right, when you are in the middle of a crisis, displaying poise or maintaining composure is critical.  Responders train really long and hard for this. That’s why you hardly ever see them running. Running leads to hurrying, mistakes, more risk and risk to themselves perhaps eliminating their ability to respond.  As well, rushing and rushed decisions can lead to mistakes and errors that may be life threatening and make the situation worse.   It’s exasperating to see paramedics walking from their vehicle to the scene of an injury or a victim, but it is really important. It allows them to calm themselves a bit, to survey the scene, to coordinate and repeat to themselves their own action steps based on what they see and hear.  Slowing down allows for a better, higher quality response.  That takes poise and that’s leadership.

2. Provide Hope. Thank God they are here!  Anyone who has had need and been aware of their arrival, comes to that kind of a thought. If you are there supporting someone who needs the help, you feel the same.  Thank God they are here! Providing hope is an essential role of emergency responders and by being calm and explaining what they see and what the next steps are, they provide us with that hope. The moment often becomes more calm, an action plan is developed and as execution of the plan begins. Out of chaos comes order.   Out of the chaos comes a belief that it will get better, that there will be recovery, that even if we have to rebuild from a major injury, a calamity, we will do it, we will make it happen.  Providing optimism through actions and words is important to responding in a crisis. That is hope and that’s leadership.

3. Show Vision. Where are we going now? What is the objective, the goal? How will we move forward?  What needs to be done? Who is being left behind and what can we do about them? Is there potential for more risk, more danger? Asking these questions and developing thoughtful answers is how emergency responders work through their responsibility.  By maintaining an exceptionally high awareness, responders attempt to minimize as much risk as is possible, accomplish their heroic work and help lead to a successful operation or campaign. They commit to an ending, a successful one and ensure that everyone gets there.  That is vision and that is leadership.

Are you showing poise? Are you providing hope? What can you do to help show vision?  In some way, we are all now emergency responders.  Lead like it’s an emergency and lead well!