Ep 111 | Part 3: How to Become a More Effective Responder

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick and welcome to the No Days Off podcast where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Let's get into it. It's part 3 of 3. The topic is about responding in crisis, responding in times of need. And our final segment today, we're going to talk about steps you can take to be a more effective responder. Now, over the past couple days, part 1 and part 2 started by telling a story around an accident I witnessed where a gentleman unfortunately was struck by a car and also told a brief story around an accident I witnessed. And as a result, in both of those scenarios, for whatever reason, I decided to drop everything and run at the emergency situation, sprint over there and be a first responder of sorts. However, as I've analyzed my reaction, you know, my, my desire to be on the scene and do whatever it— I do whatever it is I can to, to help all those involved. I also in reflection, realize that I'm not really prepared. I'm not really confident or competent. If their situation was more dire than what I had experienced, I could not handle it effectively. And that's been a very sobering realization. But it's also allowed for me to reflect on, you know, what steps I need to take in order to gain confidence, be more competent, and become a more effective responder. And so for today, part 3 of 3, we're going to talk about the steps that you could take to be more effective in your response. And for most of us, we're not going to be responding to an emergency scenario like I described the past couple days, but we will be responding to various crisis or challenges or, or even emergencies in our businesses and in other places within our life. So how do we get better? How do we become a more effective responder? I think there's, you know, a number of things you can do, but after studying and reading and listening and asking questions of those that I think really understand this, I've come up with 6, a list of 6 things that I believe you can start doing today or putting into practice today. So you're a more effective responder. And when you are called into action, you are ready to go. Number 1, develop self-awareness today. Understand your strengths, understand your weaknesses, understand your triggers. Effective response in crisis scenarios starts with self-awareness and emotional intelligence. So recognize how you typically respond to stress and work on managing your emotions and your reactions under pressure. Now, for me, I think I, I think I've got pretty, a pretty high degree of self-awareness. But what I've, you know, in reflecting on the situations I've just experienced, what I realized is that I may have known my strengths, but I probably could have done a lot better job assessing my weaknesses. In my scenarios that I've been talking about here the past couple of days, my weakness is that I'm not trained or prepared to handle any life-threatening scenario. Therefore, I'm ineffective in my response if that situation presented itself. So now that I'm aware, I get to go do something about it. So number 1, develop self-awareness. Number 2, we talked about this a bit in part 2. We got to do a better job planning and preparing. So before an emergency or a crisis even occurs, develop a contingency plan and develop strategies for different scenarios. Remember, Sun Tzu says tactics are just the noise before defeat. Absent a strategy, tactics are not going to lead to victory. So before an emergency occurs, develop these contingency plans, in other words, if-then sort of statements or plans, and come up with strategies right now, this preparation can make a massive difference in how effectively you respond. I can tell you that right now I have been thinking about, okay, when I have this happen again, here are the steps I'm going to take. I'm already going to be prepared. And while I may not have the level of training I I wish I could, like I think a policeman may or a firefighter may, and where, who are getting just tremendous reps around this sort of thing. I may not have the training, but I'll have more situational awareness. Number 3, practice decision-making under pressure. This is a really good one for many of us. Emergency situations, crisis situations demand quick and well-informed decisions. So enhance your decision-making skills by practicing scenarios, practicing exercises that may even simulate high-pressure situations. The better you can get at making decisions under pressure, the better you'll react when you're in a real-life, you know, real-fire scenario. Number 4: Establish priorities. When in action, when crisis or emergency strikes, determine the most critical tasks and priorities. Allocate whatever resources may be available. Get others into action. Have your head on a swivel. And just make sure you address the immediate concern. So understand that in crisis or emergency scenarios, there's going to be a number of different things that are competing for attention, it is worthwhile to establish priorities well in advance, to the best of your ability. Number 5, we talked about this a little bit in the previous 2 episodes. If you're going to be effective in an emergency scenario, in a response scenario, you've got to develop empathy. And a degree of care and support for others. You've got to show empathy and provide support to individuals that are impacted, that are affected, whether they're your team members or other stakeholders, or in my case, a pedestrian or a car driver that was in an accident. We've got to be empathetic. This empathy allows us to manage the scenario, but it also is what may prompt us into action. See, for me, I just think like, I just had this calling, like, I want to go help. Now, when I arrived on the scene, I wasn't as competent as I should be, but that doesn't mean I don't have this burning inside me to go help. And I think many of you have that as well. So you may not have to work on this one specifically, but for others that want to be responders, as I've been describing the past few days, there may be an element of empathy or generosity or care that has to be developed or enhanced. Lastly, number 6, stay calm and lead by example. Your demeanor sets the tone for everything around you. Your demeanor. When I arrived on the scene, this is probably one thing I'm actually proud of. One thing I did right was I brought a relatively calming presence to the gentleman's spouse, to the kid that was the driver. There was a lot of chaos and a lot of shock, but if I stayed calm and I helped them calm down, settle down, everybody can react in a more beneficial way. Stay calm and lead by example. So your demeanor sets the tone, but remaining composed and demonstrating resilience can inspire everybody around you to stay focused and composed as well. So 6 ways to be more effective in your response. Number 1, develop self-awareness. Number 2, plan and prepare. Number 3, practice decision-making under pressure. Number 4, establish priorities. Number 5, develop empathy and care for others. And number 6, stay calm and lead by example. I think that 1 or 2 or 6 of these may be things that those listening today need to consider if we want to be more effective in our response. And I want to bring it back to business because again, most of us are not going to have to react to the emergency scenarios I described, but we will have crisis and chaos and emergencies in our business that require us to respond. And we've got to be effective as leaders in the way that we do take action and respond to these scenarios, be more effective. So the focusing question for you, of these 6, which ones do you have to work on? And what action steps do you need to take today so that when crisis or emergency does strike, because it's coming, it will, we all know this. If you're at business long enough, it's coming. When it does in fact hit, you are effective versus ineffective in your response. That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.