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Elizabeth Dole says:
"The midst of a disaster is the poorest possible time to establish new relationships and to introduce ourselves to new organizations... When you have taken the time to build rapport, then you can make a call at 2 a.m., when the river's rising and expect to launch a well-planned, smoothly conducted response." [quoted in "Managing the Crisis You Tried to Prevent," Norman Augustine, Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec 1995, 151.]
This is the part of your effort where you will be trying things out in advance, making connections with people, shaking out the things that confuse people, figuring out better solutions. That way, if things get really serious you can swing into action more quickly, and be more effective right away.
Don't forget to take the time to congratulate yourselves on a job well done after you've completed your tests. After all, if things go really well and there isn't a "real" problem at the turn of the century, these will be the times that you will want to say thanks to each other.
Here are some of the things that you could do
After the "partnering" and "planning" stuff is done
- Develop/revise/distribute training materials
- Conduct "dry runs" with community partner leadership group
Mid to late 1999
- Conduct "dry runs" with community partner membership
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