Emergency response: Self-organization, emergence, and beyond resilience

The cover story on Government Executive magazine this week, is about RESILIENCE. The article is an excellent piece about the need for this capacity in responding to emergency incidents. But while this is a necessary capacity for individuals and organizations, I don't believe it is sufficient.

In 2004, my employer hired a firm to develop a business process recovery plan. After spending more than $100,000 the consultants delivered a 65-page report. All but two paragraphs were about the need to protect computers and data. There was nothing about the human beings who run the machines, run the computers, and who do the work of the firm. Not one word about the lessons learned from 9/11, where first responders and those trapped, were all dealing with the fear and confusion that accompanied the situation. There were rapidly-changing conditions, emergent circumstances that were not foreseen, and the need for groups of people to make literally life-or-death decisions in the moment. I wrote a four-page analysis for my COO, in which I outlined the capacities of individuals and the organization, that I thought were truly critical in the midst of an emergency.

RESILIENCE is about the capacity to absorb some measure of adversity on the path towards our objective. The late, lamented Dr. Hunter S. Thompson famously wrote "when the going gets tough, the weird turn pro." My frend and colleague Dr. Richard Knowles noticed that as a plant manager for Dupont chemicals, people suddenly came together and figured out what to do in the midst of a crisis. The more resilient we are as individuals and organzations, the greater our chances of successful response and survival.

Two other skills seem to me to be necessary in these times of emergency. We must be AGILE. The quicker we can respond to changes, and use other alternatives, the better. We must also heed Darwin's advice and be RESPONSIVE to changes in our environment. I have some "intellectual property" that describes this approach in slightly different terms. But this will do for blogville.

The dynamics of an uncertain and fast-changing emergency, result in people SELF-ORGANIZING. No one will tell you what to do with others in the heat of the moment. Through very fast DIALOGUE and the NEGOTIATION OF MEANING AND PURPOSE, decisions get made. Action is taken. Leadership and the capacity to collaborate, EMERGE from the wild vortex of the crisis.

I am pleased to see that DHS and others advising the Federal government, are thinking about resilience. I just hope they agree that these other skills are also essential.

cmplxty

Where's the Dipstick? - Complicated versus Complex

The current issue of Car and Driver magazine has an item that illustrates the distinction between COMPLICATED and COMPLEX.

Apparently BMW, like Mercedes, has done away with a time-honored part of every internal combustion engine, the humble dipstick. Since engines generate a lot of heat and friction, they need oil to lubricate teh moving parts inside. You know about going to Jiffy Lube every few months to get the oil changed. But in between, you can - or could - check the oil level yourself by taking a look at the dipstick.

Our friend the dipstick works on a very simple basis. Put a stick into a tank of liquid, pull it out, and see how high up the level of wetness goes. In our engines, the dipstick resides in a scabbard, its tip down in the depths of the oil reservoir. It awaits our gesture to loose its thin steel blade, and look for the tell-tale mark of golden oil. Too low? Add a quart. About all you need to make this a complete process is a rag or paper towel to wipe the dipstick clean before taking your "official" reading.

But now, those crafty Alpine engineers at Mercedes and BMW have eliminated the dipstick. Did you feel the earth move? Did the stock market tumble in a cataclysmic fury? Maybe not. But maybe it should have. In order to know the level of oil in your precious German auto's crankcase, you must take the car to your authorized dealer. They then drain the oil, measure it, decide if you need more, and then pour it back in. Of course, the dealer will tell you that you CAN check your oil by looking at the in-car computer. However this just checks pressure in the system, not actual quantity.

Now I know what you're thinking. This can't possibly be true. Must be an urban legend. Well, sadly, it is true. The crafty Alpine engineers have created an astonishingly COMPLICATED and I daresay COSTLY process for something that every car owner had the unalienable right to do for themselves with a single stroke of the stick. How much time and money are consumed by making those redundant computers? How much time and money are wasted by making the owners of all those Autobahnstormers bring their cars in for an oil check.

However complicated this process is, it is not COMPLEX. We can follow the path of the new process from beginning to end. It always works out the same. Pay your money, add a quart. Got oil? Pour it back in and thank the gods of Vallhalla for this latest stroke of genius. And say farewell to the once-mighty dipstick.

cmplxty