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.

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