Thriving in Disruption
Plan, Act, and Communicate on Multiple Timelines!
Two of the greatest surprises about Thriving in Disruption are:
The need to think and act in at least 3 visions and timelines at once AND
The non-negotiable necessity to prioritize communications that build trust with constituents including donors/partners.
From September of 2017 until late in 2019 I worked with the Community Foundation of the US Virgin Islands (CFVI) to help them fight their way through the aftermath of an unprecedented crisis--double-hurricanes! Those lessons are helping to accelerate survival strategies for the current public health and economic crisis.
The 2017 hurricane response quickly and clearly focused on the islands’ communities and the overwhelming human needs created by physical and infrastructure devastation. (Everything from drinking water to schools on three islands). Unfortunately, much of the rest of the Caribbean region also was affected by the same bad weather which meant that normally available support systems (particularly Puerto Rico) were unavailable to the USVI.
“Those lessons are helping to accelerate survival strategies for the current public health and economic crisis.”
Before the emergency survival needs could even be met, CFVI leaders realized that while they were stressed with front-line responses they also had to face the need to expand the Foundation’s own capacity so that it could fulfill the expectations and demands of the community--both community organizations and donors. And ultimately the Community also had to be supported to rebuild and redevelop for a changing future; it could not stay only in emergency services and restoration modes. As hurricane recovery began to unfold it became clear the immediate assistance, intermediate rebuilding and long term recovery would have to be managed simultaneously.
Comparing the current COVID-19 health and economic crisis to a natural disaster most people would say, “At least a hurricane happens and then it is over; so all efforts can be focused short term and then the community can move on.” But...NOT true. In a disaster crisis-- as in the current reality of COVID 19-- both the crisis and the remedies roll out in slow motion. Systems are complex and everything is interconnected.
Insight from other disaster recoveries have helped to make this an inescapable reality in highly disrupted situations. For example, planners and developers active in the Hurricane Sandy hurricane recovery (New York/New Jersey 2012) warned USVI leaders in 2017 to plan for 10 years of disaster-related change and to accept the necessity to accelerate both direct service and redevelopment efforts!
“In disrupted contexts, communications emerge as a high-level practice. ”
To further complicate things, lessons from the long “9/11” recovery echoed into 2017 and created an awareness about the importance of managing the message on these long response and recovery timelines. The complexity of crisis recovery begs for messages about financial accountability. Anytime a social sector entity is responsible for the resources flowing to alleviate community pain and spark recovery, public accountability is important.
In the first days/weeks of response, everyone is grateful and happy to cooperate. But as people are worn down by the time that things take, their confidence is eroded, and public trust is challenged. Misperceptions and assumptions about intentions and actions can lead to unfair criticism, discontent, and erosion of faith in the helping organizations. This erosion of confidence can then undermine otherwise excellent organizations and their efforts.
In disrupted contexts, communications emerge as a high-level practice. The line between doing “it’ and communicating about “it” is blurred in a crisis. What you do--no matter how noble--hardly matters if the organization’s constituency--large or small--doesn’t understand what is happening and why.
In any crisis leaders expect to need more money, more volunteers, more board attention, more staff flexibility. But they often miss the signals that such essentials have to be supported by a clear-eyed strategic recovery vision on multiple timelines along with the willingness to invest time and resources in great communications.
To get a glance at the relentless task of managing the multiple timelines, here’s a visual that helped the CFVI conceptualize action strategies:
Communications are strongest when they draw on a core conceptual framework like the multi-dimensional timeline. This allows the organization to construct a shared reality with donors, constituencies, allies. Shared communications--and the resulting shared reality--will help everyone to hold together around priorities and solutions. For this to happen the messages must:
Establish the need: What are we facing? What do we know? How big is the problem? What has to be done now. What needs to be done next and when does “next” arrive?
Clarify what we do: Establish the organization’s role(s); sometimes a “we do this not that” message can be powerful. For example, in the case of CFVI it was important to be clear that the Foundation could organize resources to fund front-line responses such as water, generators, repairs, restoration, etc. but would not be the front-line responder to deliver the actual assistance.
Share how we do it: be direct about pulling back the curtain on how things get done. What we’ve already done since “hour-1” or day-1. How we are optimizing our role and the benefits flowing because we’re doing our job. Articulate the multi-dimensional timetable and help everyone understand how phases of response lead to recovery.
Invite everyone into the Vision: most people will stick to the long-term hard work of emerging from a crisis if they can see a future. The organization’s job is to create/adjust a vision for what is possible and enlist constituents and supporters in believing in the vision. The multi-dimensional timeline shows how the organization’s work starts in transactional mode but moves to transformational as aid is buttressed by restoration and then revitalization/re-imagining.
In disruptive times everyone finds comfort in a roadmap even if that road is long, unruly, twisted and subject to change. If done well, the organization is embracing donors, constituents and allies to come along on the journey and to work comfortably in all three timelines for immediate relief and long term recovery.
Author, Stephanie Clohsey
Use the links below to learn more about how to plan in multi-dimensional timelines and how to increase trust during disruption.