WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT EMOTIONAL CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT TOOLS | Emotional Terrors in the Workplace: Protecting Your Business Bottom Line - Emotional Continuity Management in the Workplace

"Conflict is inevitable, in fact it is desirable if we are to grow and change in meaningful ways. But the conflict that helps us progress is not the destructive conflict of anger and violence. This type of conflict only creates fear as well as more anger and violence, the antithesis of growth. Managers as well as world leaders need tools that encourage people to use disagreement positively to help construct the reality of the greater vision and prevent destruction on local and global levels. Hopefully, skill and practice in using such tools can be the next pandemic."

” Sharon G. Frizzell, Instructional Designer and Communicative Skills Instructor, Command Technologies, Inc. (An MTC company), Silver Springs, Maryland.

An Emotional Continuity Management Event Hot Sheet

Fill out this hot sheet if there is an incident:

What is the nature of the event?
What is the scope of the emotional impact?
How much geography/territory is involved? (i.e., a fire in the break room, a devastated community or a devastated one block radius, a 48 car pile up in front of the main entrance to the worksite, death of one colleague, death of many colleagues)
Who is in charge, authority/command structure? (Who do I report to?)
Has there been property damage?
Who has authority for restoring the property damaged?
Have people been displaced, injured, or killed ?
How many victims are involved?
What are their ages if known?
Are any children involved?
Will the children's needs be treated separately from adult needs? Elderly? Special Need/disabled?
Are there any fatalities?
What are the general nature of any injuries? (mild, moderate, severe, catastrophic)
Will I have access to medical information?
How many support staff will be involved?
Support systems and teams in place now? On the way?
How long will I be expected to respond?
Will I be safe? How will that be accomplished?
Is there a dress code? Or is there any special circumstances where clothing or footwear should be a factor? (i.e. weather, walking through rubble , ethnic or cultural needs, attire for funerals)
Is the entire staff trained in full range of disaster protocols from shelter in place to full evacuation?
Has the entire staff been trained in what emotions to anticipate during this kind of incident?
Are there cultural, religious, political, or ethnic variables that I should know or understand?
What languages will be spoken? Will there be translators?
Am I covered by company liability insurance or my own? Or both?
What duties am I expected to perform or am responsible for providing?(i.e. debriefings,defusings, counseling , crisis response, medication assessment, diagnosis, mediation, communications, transportation, referrals, hand-holding)
What paperwork will be required to manage this incident? Do I have all the required forms?
What are the Mental Health or Disaster Professional qualifications necessary to deal with this?
Who else will be helping me on this?
Will I be fed, housed, provided for, given chocolate?
Will there be an expectation of continuous service, or will there be opportunity for self care, support for me if I need it, breaks, days off, etc.
What are my other resources?
If I find that the situation is beyond my scope, expertise or personal tolerance, or if I become ill or injured or incapacitated, what is the protocol for a professional exit strategy and will that be supported
Who will take over my assignments?
What are the qualifications of the disaster team?
What are the qualifications of the Emotional Continuity Management Team?
How do I protect myself and my team first?
What is the emotional environment needed for rapid recovery?
What is the physical environment (locations on-off site, recovery equipment, communications, paper/pencils, water bottles, cell -phones, toilet paper) needed for rapid recovery?
Do we have event specific planning strategies?
Memos of understanding, agreements, contracts with Local, National and Global Resources?
Have we tested this plan?

Drill and Rehearsal Form

Checklist:

Establish full buy-on administratively
Pick your team
Assign roles
Determine leadership or authority chains
Define the emotional needs of your company
Decide on what kind of drill you will have
Establish timetable
What is the purpose of the drill?
What are five specific objectives you will seek?
What documentation will be required?
Create and write the emergency and emotional scenarios
Make participant assignments
Consider how you would manage a real emergency or unexpected event if one occurred during the exercise
Make a detailed list of all activities, small and large
List emotions that you wish to exercise and the interventions you would use
Decide on how you will evaluate the exercise after it has been completed
Conduct the drill
Collect documentation
Analyze data
Celebrate the closure of the drill formally
Debrief participants and planners without critique
Planners evaluate the success or failure of goal achievements
Lessons learned
Add or subtract necessary components for the next drill
Decide on what training will be necessary and who will get it
Schedule the next drill
Send written thank yous to all participants. No memos, real letters .

Additional steps:

" This is a Drill " instructions given
Identification Tags
Evaluations should focus on positive points
Have fun
Add a surprise
Associated agencies participation
Drill a full range of emotions from small to large, annoyances to catastrophic
Participants told to maintain their acting roles until excused from the drill.
Notifications
Exit information
Practice mock debriefings
Debriefing schedule
Formal thank yous
What questions will you need answered to make good decisions?
What resources will you need in each case?
What resources will you activate immediately?
What resources will you put on stand-by?
How will you approach administration, employees , vendors and ancillary participants?
What plan will you write?
What policies for emotions will you want in place?
What people with what qualifications will serve you best?
What level of emotional impact will this possibly have?
What risks will there be for solo or group emotional spinning?
What tools will you use to manage the emotions of employees?
How will you take care of your self as you participated?
What would be the estimated costs of this for your company?
Outline the performance tasks that must be accomplished
Outline the emotional components for yourself, the staff, and the community that you must accommodate as the process evolves.
What emotions are likely to be demonstrated?
What might be a surprise emotion?
How will you manage the emotions of your employees and clients ?
What fears or concerns can you anticipate because they were exposed to a potential health threat? Exposed to injury ? Exposed to death?

How will you plan for managing: ( see the Emotions List in above )

Fear	Anger
Rage	Terror
Sadness	Concern
Ambivalence	Hysteria
Boredom	Numbness
Confusion	Shock
Horror	Disgust
Disappointment	Grief
Denial	Horror
Grief	Disgust
Disappointment	Withdrawn
Irritated	Rancorous
Pessimistic	Impatient
Passive	Aggressive
Nervous	Embarrassed
Edgy	Sensitivity
Serious	Frivolous

How to Set up a Drill

Establish full buy-on administratively
Determine leadership
Prepare with paper drills and table-talks prior to simulation drills
Define the goals of the drill
Develop appropriate and safe logistical settings
Develop appropriate scenarios
Create scenario assignments
Consider management of a real emergency or unexpected event during the simulation
Review plans and gather feedback
Conduct the drill
Collect results
Celebrate the closure of the drill formally
Debrief participants and planners without critique
Planners then can evaluate the success or failure of goal achievements
Add or subtract necessary components and schedule next drill cycle
Send thank yous to all participants
What questions will you need answered to make good decisions?
What resources will you need in each case?
What resources will you activate immediately?
What resources will you put on stand-by?
How will you approach administration, employees, vendors and ancillary participants?
What plan will you write?
What policies for emotions will you want in place?
What people with what qualifications will serve you best?
What level of emotional impact will this possibly have?
What risks will there be for solo or group emotional spinning?
What tools will you use to manage the emotions of employees?
How will you take care of your self as you participated?
What would be the estimated costs of this for your company?
What would be the estimated costs for your company if it was unprepared for a real emergency?

Tips for Success of Drills

Clear Notifications:

Always state "THIS IS A DRILL" when making phone calls or contact calls during the drill. Remember when Orson Wells read the story War of the Worlds on radio and some people really thought the Earth was being invaded by aliens ? People are fun! And, people are nervous. Our world is scarier than it was a few years ago. It is better to be cautious than to create more emotional impact. It is critical to inform and notify all players and anyone who might be concerned that this is not a drill.

Identification Tags:

For the same reasons as above, and for ease in managing the Participants, all members should have visible and highly identifiable temporary identification that is collected after the drill.

Time them well:

A drill during a layoff phase is dangerous. A drill during an earthquake is pointless and dangerous.

Evaluations should focus on positive points:

Negative critiques destroy buy-on. Attempt to phrase weaknesses and losses in positive " can-do -better-next-time" language.

Have fun:

Simulations can be fun and exciting when people are motivated to do their best for the sake of everyone else.

Add a surprise:

The unexpected is where drills show holes in preparation. Don't add anything extreme, but include a small twist to make it interesting.

Ask other experts to play with you:

Go to your local fire department, hospital or chapter of the American Red Cross and ask someone to help you plan your drill.

Drill a full range of emotions:

Include all feelings from small to large, annoyances to catastrophic.

Maintain the illusion:

Encourage participants to maintain their acting roles until excused from the drill.

Explain exit strategies and ending calls:

Inform your participants how they can exit the drill if it becomes distressful. Also inform everyone when or how the drill will conclude.

Debrief even when it is a drill:

Make certain any individual who exits a drill have a mandatory debriefing to deter people who simply want to exit the process so they can go home early, and protect participants who may really have difficulty. This also gets people into the good habit of debriefing.

Pleases and Thank-yous:

Courtesy goes a long way to create closure and future buy-on. Write a formal thank you letter to all participants.

How to Make an Emergency Assistance Resource List

DISASTER CONSULTANT

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

EMOTIONAL HEALTH PROVIDER

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDER

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

MEDICAL SERVICES PROVIDER

Local Contact Person:

National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

WEATHER SERVICES

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

HOMELAND SECURITY (HS)

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (DOJ)

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA)

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE)

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA)

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

DEAPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (DHHS)

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD)

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

NATIONAL TRANSPORATION SAFETY BOARD (NTSB)

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

AMERICAN RED CROSS

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

FIRE DEPARTMENT

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

PUBLIC WORKS

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

24 HOUR CRISIS HOT LINE

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

VOLUNTEER SERVICES ASSISTANCE ORGANIZATIONS

Salvation Army

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

Critical Incident Stress Management Teams

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

Spiritual Support Network

Local Contact Person:
National phone number:
Local number:
Website:
Other:

D'Mort (Death support)

Search and Rescue

Dive Rescue

Ski Patrol

K-Nine Search and Rescue

HAM Radio Network

WHAT ELSE WILL YOUR COMPANY NEED?

Managing Before, During and after a Disaster

BEFORE

Acknowledge

Acknowledge that there is a probability that at some time there will be a disaster that has an effect and consequences for your company

Brainstorm

Make a list of all possible disasters that could ever, even in wildest imaginings, touch your company directly or indirectly

Buy-on

Establish hierarchical buy-on for your company. If you company refuses to acknowledge the probability that there will be a disaster that has an effect and consequences for your company, dust off your resume and look elsewhere. Denial is not good business.

Plan

Create a list of partnerships, interventions, resources, policies, procedures, ideas, concepts, supplies , and contingencies for even the wildest imagined disaster

Narrow

Narrow down your full list to the top ten possibilities

Training

Get training for anyone who might be involved in any disaster, from the line staff to the authority players in key positions . Training can consist of a small pamphlet to significant formal education opportunities

Partners

Pre-plan partnerships with local, state, and federal responder agencies and private disaster industry professionals. Write memos of understandings, pay for retainer fees, and publish a list for everyone on your staff. You never know if you will be there to make the calls.

Normalize

Make disasters a normal discussion in meetings, and planning sessions as you would any other part of company business. Disasters are a "normal" part of life and need addressing in a coherent and open manner in the same spirit you would discuss the furniture in the office.

Learn

Although everyone is doing fine, this is an excellent time to seek more management training.

DURING

Self Care

It is always appropriate to take care of yourself first

Survive

Do what is appropriate to survive a disaster

Expect

Expect emotions of all forms, from immobilized screaming to hysterically funny giggling fits.

Remember

Recall the stages of grieving: Denial, Bargaining, Anger, Depression, Acceptance. Add to this blaming, resistance, minimizing, aggrandizing and emotional response and reaction surprises that you haven't anticipated.

Remind

Remind yourself and others that all disasters have a beginning, a middle and an end. Beginnings are easy, and ends are a relief. Middles are crazy makers and seem to last forever but they do not!

Learn

Although this is a difficult time for everyone, it can be an excellent time to seek more management training.

Review

Review the BEFORE guidelines and repeat what is necessary to stay on track.

AFTER

Manage

Remember that the disaster cannot be controlled, but you can manage through it. Face the changes and work through the transitions between the activity of the disaster and the end of the disaster when changes have been completed.

Expect

Don't be surprised. Encourage yourself and others to not ne surprised. There is no "going back" before the disaster, there is only moving forward "after" the disaster. Help people move forward.

Involve

Involve people in managing themselves and others. In disasters there is a tendency for people to either help others or become looters. Involve people in helping, even if it is a fabricated task like "we need someone to empty the wastebaskets." Busy people become more focused and feel more security. The rubric is that in an abnormal situation, it is helpful to do something that seems normal. Washing dishes, sweeping, dusting, organizing a phone tree, serving water, and other such banal and mundane tasks may keep people from sliding into an emotional abyss of helplessness. An employee who has "power and control" over the wastebaskets may feel less overwhelmed by the power of the disaster and may return to competent functioning more quickly.

Listen

Listen. Don't argue, discredit, disagree , or deny people their own perception of reality. People will adjust and recover in their own way at their own speed.

Okay

Human emotions are okay. Don't avoid or discourage emotions from your employees. If you feel uncomfortable with emotions find someone who isn't and gently direct people that direction. Do not block the healthy process of emotional recovery or it may come back on you.

Pay Attention

After a disaster the rhythm of work has fits and starts as it readjusts to its new flow. Try to move with it without resistance. See or feel it as a choreography with new dance steps. Two steps forward, one step back. One step forward, two steps to the side and two steps forward. Take your time. You will "feel" your new footing soon. Don't be afraid to ask questions or check your footwork from time to time. You don't want to step on toes, but you also don't want to miss a beat. Everything will be uncertain which will then be followed by what seems like rigid certainty which will then again decay into chaos as it moves back into a more resolved new form. Take your time. Take your time. The disaster is over now, you have time to figure it all out.

Insist

Insist on being in the loop for information sharing. If you are out of the loop your anxiety will increase and so will your employees' anxiety. It is better to say, "I don't know, but I'll find out as soon as I can," than to say, "I have no clue" and leave people in the dark with no sense of leadership.

Communicate

Share information, listen, wait, exchange ideas, avoid rumors, seek facts, present facts, offer patience, peace , procedures and protocol.

Support

Support your people. Know they can handle information better than innuendo. People can handle ambiguity if they are in the loop. Waiting is very hard for most people under duress, so make a formal "what should we do while we are waiting" process. Put things in writing when you can. A quick-fix bulletin board for memos or messages is very supportive for groups of people. Expect people to be distracted. It might help to have a television in the office for a few days. Let people watch it while they are working. Put it in the center of the work site and not the employee lounge. Don't make employees pretend nothing happened . That will make you look crazy. Expect random outbreaks of group talking when incidents change. Check up on people to find out if they are in the loop or feel like they are.

Open up

Acknowledge stress, yours and theirs. It's okay to say you are stressed even when you are in a management position. It gives you more credibility and makes you more accessible. This doesn't mean a crying jag with your staff necessarily , although tears do not destroy leadership potential. Don't hesitate to ask for help. Quick check-ins with employees, without getting deeply involved in their emotions is very helpful. It is called defusing and takes the edge off the emotions as a brief respite and release. Find a place where you can defuse also. It should not be with another employee that you are managing.

Debriefings

Create opportunities to debrief your employees. You can train your people to do it, find volunteers, hire professionals or consultants who have been specially trained in mental health disaster practices.

Avoid

Do everything you can to stay away from group blame-frenzy behavior.

Continue

Continue to communicate and move forward, check in with people to see if they are moving forward, or if they are beginning to lose ground and need a different kind of intervention.

Persist

Persist in assisting people who may need ongoing management support. During normal situations people need leadership. Before, during and well after a disaster people need to keep their focus through the well balanced position of leaders. Workers who may have lost capacity to work due to loss of technology or services that existed before the incident will need specific leadership to stay connected to the job.

Learn

Although this is a difficult time for everyone, it can be an excellent time to gain more training.

Review

Review the BEFORE and DURING guidelines and repeat what might be useful or necessary to stay on track. There may be another disaster in your future.

Lessons Learned

In the absolutely most intensely positive manner you can muster after all of this, review every step, BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER, with an eye of successes and areas that need improvement .

Celebrate

Celebrate your survival!

Memorialize

Plan ahead for the one year anniversary or remembrance moment of the event. Create an annual commemoration for your office. Delegate the task if necessary to someone who would benefit emotionally from the process of creating tribute.

Phases of Disaster Planning to Consider

PLANNING PHASE (prior to a disaster incident)

Define qualifications necessary for Emotional Continuity Management team membership and leadership
Select and interview applicants
Provide training and continuing education
Provide regular training and practice drills
Plan task assignments, authority lines, and delegations of responsibility
Create a disaster buddy system
Chain of command structure should be provided to all employees
Contractual relationships with external disaster services providers

IMPLEMENTATION PHASE (during a disaster incident)

Provide a central location for communications for your team and outside teams
Do a disaster buddy check-in
Initiate pre-planned task assignments, authority lines, and delegations of responsibility
Coordinate responses
Coordinate lines of supply, equipment, and information
Assess needs with an ongoing process of open communications
Provide a clerical manager for support
Provide other support services such as communications, logistics, supply
Orient team to the specific event
Define event status and review plan
Profile the participants of the event
Collect resources, make network connections, implement memos of understanding,
Create a blueprint of actions for immediate response and build in plan for long term
Make task assignments
Continue training as needed with regular updates and support
Review short term response
Begin discussions of intermediate and long-term responses
Continue status updates, consultations, liaisons, MOU's, and provider partnerships
Provide expert consultations and trainings
Support staff and manage self-care
Defuse as needed
Document activities

RECOVERY PHASE (after an incident)

Debrief participants and team members
Continue self-care
Maintain liaisons and links with other network connections
Ongoing training should continue
Discussions on lessons learned
Wrap up details
Paper work completion, filings, recordings
Support process over the long term no matter how long it takes
Send thank you letters
Support and encourage buddy sets and support and reorganize around any buddy losses
Provide memorials and commemoration programs
Acknowledge and give appropriate recognitions
Return to phase one and begin new phase of recruitment for planning for next disaster

Increasing Competency of Your Own Emotional Continuity Management

With every incident ask:

What can I learn from this?
Why would I need to continue to hang on to hurt feelings?
What fear does this expose for me? Why am I vulnerable?
What sacred issues of mine are at risk or being threatened?
Can I think of ways to let this go?
Did I take this issue personally ?
Was it really about me?
Can I use my spiritual practice and move on?
Could I let this incident simply pass?
Would I let incident simply pass?
When will I allow this incident to simply pass?
Can I give myself permission for the feelings I had?
Is this temporary or permanent?
Did I make a positive or negative contribution?