Canvass and Compare
There are a ton of providers that can give you particular insurance plans that you need which is why it is important that you take a good look at each and be reminded constantly to never just settle on what is initially offered to you, especially since you can take your time to really get to compare and canvass which plans are those that you really need. Take a further look into each of the different benefits and the specific advantages that you will be getting between each of the polices that are offered to you, in this way you have a better idea which ones are really within your personal interests and will give you the best gains in the future.
Look at the Trends
Common to all of the different insurance policies are specific types of coverage that are often offered at similar manner with just about every provider that is out there, in fact, you can even consider that there are particular trends that are going on in the insurance industry which is why you have to be on top of this type of information. Become more aware of the current benefits that you can ask for and at the same time view if there are other valuable advantages that you can also add onto the current coverage that you would want to invest your money on this way you are able to end up with a policy that will really make a difference for your future.
Be Open to Negotiate
Not many are eager to consult with a professional and generally argue out what they expect from an insurance plan and this is what you should really be able to practice and be a lot more aware of now especially since a good number of providers would actually be more than willing to help you out on delivering your personal insurance needs. So whether it be a particular benefit that you would like added onto a policy or to demand a different kind of payment scheme, making sure that you address all of your specific concerns and asking for it will really help you get to the most appropriate policy that you are working to achieve and purchase.
Read the Fine Print
Although it may seem too good to be true that you can see to it that the specific details of your insurance policy can get a lot more attuned to what you want, never neglect on being aware of the specifics of your plan. Be certain that when it comes to finalizing everything that you have the upper hand through being well informed of every single detail that goes into your policy so that you really get the best one for you.
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Rather than providing an example of collaboration, this article highlights the efforts of four communities that are seeking to collaborate on joint municipal delivery of regional fire services. Any suggestions you can provide them will be appreciated.
There are four communities east of Regina which are seeking advice and input on creation of joint municipal delivery of regional fire services. Moving beyond the mutual aid agreements, these communities are looking to share capacity. They are looking for areas which have considered or implemented this type of structure in the past. And they are also seeking out a consultant to assist with developing the organizational structure and financing models.
The preliminary findings of the Public Inquiry into the Elliott Lake Mall Collapse leads to a communications shortfall.
The Elliott Lake Public Inquiry is getting it correct. Much of the frustration both Elliott Lake community members and the broader Ontario audience experienced, resulted from lack of implementing an up-to-date emergency communications strategy.
As the preliminary findings of the public inquiry indicate, there was not skilled communications personnel on site or on the emergency response team in the Elliott Lake community when needed most…at the onset, during the response, and in the recovery of this disaster.
Both municipal governments and emergency managers need to take note of these findings. Your reputation is at stake when you fail to meet the fast paced demands by the community when such incidents occur.
Gone are the days of ‘issuing a news release’ and all will be well. The convergence of social media and smart phone technology has thrown the media cycle timetable out the door with yesterday’s trash. Sadly, local government, emergency managers and much of the broader emergency response community have still to learn this simple truth.
I’m posting the following CBC North news clip for your reference…it’s well worth a listen!
Time is a luxury no incident commander or PIO can afford. There are now four key imperatives when a disaster or emergency occurs:
- Respond … that hasn’t changed … but organizations now do so under much more scrutiny
- Alert your audiences … be socially convergent (use mobile tech and social networks)
- Monitor social networks and collate, analyze and present social data to support command and efficient decision-making in real-time
- Engage in ongoing dialogue with your audiences after you have warned them, keep them updated on the incident.
Why those four critical actions? Because, to put it simply, it’s what your audiences and stakeholders expect nowadays.
Responding: the scrutiny is now intense and immediate. And the judgment passed on your response also includes how fast you communicate. People will have different views on your actions …. Positive or negative. One thing is sure: if you rely as the traditional media to distribute your crisis messaging, you’re doomed to irrelevancy.
Alerting: relevancy in the age of social convergence means SPEED. Speed is not the only thing … it’s EVERYTHING. That means moving at the speed of your audiences (the pace of Twitter and other social networks) to be relevant … and using mobile tools to reach them to have a chance to be heard at all …. What you’re aiming for is to insert yourself in the alerting and news networks that are created organically by people online when an incident occurs. It also means you’ve got to have a solid presence ahead of any crisis too. There are tools that can help, such as Ping4Alerts! who marry mobile and social effectively.
Monitoring: recent events in Boston, Kenya and in the Philippines have shown the great value of social listening during incidents as a source of situational awareness and a way to gauge the public perception of your response. Operationalizing that listening is essential for supporting effective decision-making. You must find a way to finding out how the incident is progressing by screening out the fluff and concentrating on what witnesses are putting out; detecting and countering false rumours and defending your reputation. Next you must collate and analyze this info and feed it back into your command or ops structure in a way in can be used in real-time. A challenge for sure, but now eminently feasible and necessary. I like using a mix of Hootsuite and Tweetdeck for the listening part, Google docs for reports and Crowdmap for simple, easy-to-update maps.
Engaging: public alerting and warnings are one thing. But they are only the start of the comms continuum during incidents. Our audiences now demand constant updates. Does your PIO have the ability to keep sending out info? Either technical capabilities or the necessary authority? Now ensure you have linkages inside your social media listening teams to ensure that posts that should be answered get prioritized and acted upon.
After all, if the bad guys are listening to social chatter … shouldn’t you?
Now, the real hard part is that all of the four elements of the incident/crisis comms plan have to be implemented/conducted almost simultaneously. Again, time is a luxury no PIO can afford any longer.
]]>Recent events have again demonstrated the absolute necessity for organization to monitor social media during incidents or crises. This goes well beyond using social media as a communications tool (althought it’s a great start). The mall attack in Kenya has given another (albeit a rather unpleasant one) argument for the benefits of active social listening.
It’s not only the bad guys that get this … The Boston bombings earlier this year highlighted the effective use of social networks by local authorities..
It’s simpl,e really. News breaiks on Twitter … comments and opinions … witness accounts, follow almost instantly … as we saw with what happened in Washington near the Capitor Building today.
Other organizations recognize the need to monitor social media to gather more info and get a better operational picture. Frankly, they either do this or run the risk of being marginalized.
I had the opportunity in the last few months to lead a project on behalf of Agincourt Strategies, and collaborating with two key experts (Gerald Baron and Bill Boyd), to provide a social media monitoring training program for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
It’s now an imperative for organizations in all fields, public or private, to have the ability to stay abreast, minute by minute, of any crisis. To do so, they must monitor social media and for the following five reasons:
- emergency information/messaging validation: how are your audiences reacting to your messages?
- identifying reputational threats? what’s being said out there that could negatively impact public perception of your response/actions in a crisis … and hamper your ability to fulfil your mandate?
- Routing calls for help or assistance through the proper channels …we know people will use social media to call for help in a disaster … few, if any, public safety agencies are ready for this …yet they must have a plan in place to do it …
- detecting and countering rumours: a critical function of any social listening operation … in fact, probably the most important aspect at the onset of any crisis.
- finally, gathering info (pictures, videos, tweets, posts) that provide you with a better idea of what’s going on … adding to your comprehension of an event.
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In effort to promote a common benchmark process that is peer driven, IAEM Canada has formed a partnership with The Emergency Management Accreditation Program, (EMAP) to bring an peer accreditation process to Canada. The intent is for the EMAP process to incorporate the Canadian Standards Association Z1600 standard on Emergency Management and Business Continuity. The EMAP process, is a cost effective voluntary review process for emergency management programs. Accreditation is a means of demonstrating, through self-assessment, documentation and peer review, that a program meets national standards for emergency management programs. The self and onsite assessment process developed and utilized by EMAP allows jurisdictions of differing sizes, geographic location, political structure and hazards faced to internally assess their emergency management program to identify areas of excellence as well as potential gaps in compliance with a recognized emergency management standard. The process then allows for an onsite assessment by a group of Canadian trained peer emergency managers to come in and validate the self assessment as well as add critical additional insight. This process can and has been used for both accreditation and developmental purposes. For programs seeking affirmation and recognition as a comprehensive emergency management program meeting compliance with a recognized standard this process provides a vehicle to do so, but the process also provides a wonderful strategic planning tool that allows programs to identify and correct potential gaps in their program.
]]>I used the NFPA 1600 standard quite effectively for upgrading a hospital emergency management program before CSA Z1600 was available, so I was quite excited to hear that CSA Z1600 may play a part in the hospital accreditation program. I have requested an article for our PTSC-Online accreditation blog from those who are directly involved and I anxiously look forward to that article and learning the details.
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