Heather Fox: Wicked Wisdom
Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Heather Fox, a 911 Dispatch Operator from New York. She was able to share her experiences in the Emergency Operations Centre where a team from the Mayors office, Emergency Services, and Local Utility services would congregate to work on a climate disaster.
The approaches towards teams, leaders and how to tackle problems are similar to what Agilists bring to the corporate world with one difference, urgency. The urgency is around life and how to service those in need.
Heather's Wicked Wisdom
1. The Problem is Temporary
For personal or work, at the Emergency Operations Centre or the 911 Center, or on a CPR call - if it is not going as well as you would like, and you want everything to be ok and it feels overwhelming, remember, all these incidents are temporary. You can lose perspective in these moments, and you can feel stuck in it, remember, all incidents end, situations are temporary. This is the biggest takeaway from my 20 years of public safety.
2. Share a Cookie and Have a Cookie
When you are in these high urgency situations, you need to be watching out for each other. Notice where the group or individuals seem stressed. Notice how they are performing. Check in with stressed individuals on your team, encourage them to take a break, eat something – eat a cookie.
Check in with yourself from time to time, how are you feeling? Is your energy low? When was the last time you slept? When is the last time you have taken a break? Check into your wellbeing. Take care of yourself when you need it – have a cookie!
3. Your Why is the Biggest Ally
When you are stuck, when you do not know how you will be impacted by those calls, keep reminding yourself of your bigger Why. One out of 5 dispatchers will get PTSD throughout the career, so you really need to be doing it for a reason. My Why to work is to help people on the worst day, help the community, and ensure the kids are safe. Knowing this allows me to take a couple hits on the call. What I am doing is much bigger scope then how these situations affect me.
