"Sandy Hurricane"

Project Management Lessons from Sandy Hurricane

Risk mitigation:

Immediately after the Hurricane Sandy, the airlines industry rebounded back. The airports were cleaned up, and restored normal operations. No major facility damage was reported, power interruption was not reported and the aircraft started flying again gaining back connectivity to the world. Early forecasts and warnings in advance of the storm helped them. Risk mitigation is very important to reduce the gravity of negative impact. In a project, it is always advisable to listen to the experts, take their advice and use the best of strategies to keep the risk to a minimum. There has to be a plan in mind and not much delay should be there in implementing it.

 Validate assumptions:

Sandy came one week ahead of the Election Day. As a necessity for the election, residents were ensured of accessible polling sites. A typical election site consisted of tents, voting machines and all other equipment necessary for the day. A generator had also been brought in to provide the power as the area had not yet been put back in power after Sandy Hurricane. When the site operators attempted to start the generator, it disappointed them to fund the fuel tank empty. Although the voting proceeded as per schedule with great difficult, this was a learning not to make an assumption. Similarly for a project also, it is important to understand the assumptions and to validate them.

  Action speaks louder than words / don’t promise, ACT:

During Hurricane, to implement the mandatory evaluations of areas under high risk, the officials shut down public transport and all bridges, tunnels, roadways to those areas were shut down. Same thing applies in any organization also when there are certain expectations from its employees. The organization has to find out ways to mandatory enforce those ideas by taking constructive feedback from the employees. These ideas should be applied to not only the employees but the managers also

  Tolerance for risk tolerance:

Each person’s risk tolerance is as unique as one finger prints. During the Hurricane crisis also, people tolerated other people’s perspectives and emotions when it came to managing risk it order to live and work together. Managers in organizations need to understand this. When dealing with different department heads, all will speak of the risks involved in their respective department, here the managers need to understand and be calculative of the risk involved. Only when the other person feels listened to and values, will he/she open up and be open to new ideas thus increasing the risk tolerance. The changes of any organization will be felt for a long time the same way as the impact of  

Be rooted:

One very important lesson can be learnt from the Sandy Hurricane. We as humans demand a lot from our daily lives, we always are greedy for something more, whether be it in job location, salary, health, assets and many more. On the day the hurricane strike also, people left their homes worrying about satisfying relationships , achievement , recognition  or maybe what they really wanted to be when they grew up. The very next day, the same people were devastated by the storm and now had their main worry as some of the basic needs of life as food, shelter, water, sleep, physical and financial security. This understanding is the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Applying the same thing to the organizational level, managers need to understand that when employees worry about if their basic needs are going to be met in terms of salary, health insurance cannot actually focus on how to make a difference, work creatively or collaboratively or how to take the organization to a next level. When improvement in an employee’s seems to get stuck, it is necessary to investigate if the basic needs are going unmet.

    Right Communication, Right Time:

It is important to be in control but also equally important to be human and humane. The type of communication provided by the governor informing about Hurricane crisis was equally appreciated. They information came in a formula which is: briefly review what happened, briefly describe what is happening right now, and then justify the plan going forward. There was an effort made to reach out to customers in every possible way. Applying this to the organizational level also, any news should be following the same logical order – share the immediate past, the present and the future .It is important to be very clear and concise during this news. During the delivery of any news like disaster it is important to consider the mood of the people also; people can be frustrated, angry, scared or lost. So the communication should be expressed with gravity, calmness and a sense of confidence.

 Put aside enmity:

During the time of Hurricane crisis, the republicans and democrats put their political differences aside and focussed solely on the issue. This is very demandable during a disaster. Coordination between politicians, technocrats, fire brigade, ambulance and health services worked like a jig saw puzzle. It is very important to work together during such a crisis. The government is actually doing a very nice job in responding well to the crisis. Even the organizations should understand this and be collaborative for crisis on an industry.

Be there and get your hands dirty

By touring some of the hardest hit areas personally, the president and governor were able to witness the state of calamity and the amount of disaster occurred. Delegation is an important thing but in a situation of crisis, ground knowledge and in person leadership is irreplaceable. In any organization also, In case of an issue at the employee level, it is sometimes helpful for the managers to get involved and solve the problem. This make the manager and employee relationship healthier. The employee embodies a sense of confidence and opens up to his manager in terms of urgency.

Lead and empower your team:

The president directed all federal employees to return all calls within 15 minutes. He also ordered them to tell a “yes” instead of a “no” for all requests for aid. In teams, it is necessary to empower the team as a manager. It is necessary to demonstrate that you trust them. This increases their confidence also. This helps the managers also to recognize specific leaders and appreciate their work.

   Being prepared

As the Hurricane Sandy roared towards the mid – Atlantic, as people were stuck by the mess created all over. The thought that first commonly in all peoples mind was – Be prepared. The devastation brought about by the storm will always have an everlasting impact. Fortunately, the human toll stands low. Agreeable that any loss on human life is a tragedy, the loss would have been a lot more if the emergency services and elected officials wouldn’t have stretched to greater lengths to prepare residents for the storm. In an organization also, it is important to be prepared for any crisis that comes on the way.