Developing Resiliency in an Emergency Response Team
When thinking of resiliency and sports, most people will get a picture of a Major League Baseball team pulling out a win in extra innings when they’re down by three, or an NFL team returning to the field after halftime with a score of 21-0 and coming all the way back to victory.
There is an old saying in sports that 90 percent of performance is psychological. Our thinking influences our choice of action. Resiliency is being able to change your thinking in order to believe in a positive outcome. In team sports, it’s not just one individual’s thinking, it’s the combined effort of the team.
There is another team for which resiliency is even more critical – the emergency response team (ERT). This team spends most of the time on the sidelines and is only activated if and when something goes wrong. Although always ready to respond to any type of crisis, the reality is that for the majority of the time, ERT personnel are responding to minor incidents.
Yet when a disaster does occur, team members need to bring their A-game and respond with the least negative impact on themselves and the organization. Easier said than done.
How does the ERT – which is made up of individuals whose main responsibilities on any given day run the gamut of guest relations, game day communications, premium seating concierge or parking attendant – utilize these team members most effectively during an emergency response and remain resilient?