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When A Crisis Hits

Vantage Points Header Joel Elveson

It is now the wee hours of the morning when all is at calm. Everybody is tucked into their beds and presumably fast asleep. In a flash all that is destroyed by a loud piercing alarm or perhaps the howl of a dog barking out its warning that all is not well. You jump out of bed half-awake semi–conscious at best. It is then you see &/or hear the crises that is unfolding before you either on television, radio or worse yet in your own home.

Where do you turn next? What should you do now? Being in a crises situation calls for calm rationale thinking which if you are in the midst of chaos and confusion is nearly impossible to do but necessary to prevent loss of life or limb. You try your hardest to feel the effects of the fear you are feeling but at the same time forcing your mind to focus on what rational move you should make.

In the case of a hurricane that is upon you warning was no doubt given to you so that you can prepare properly via securing everything so that they don’t become unguided missiles heading for your windows or worse yet your head. Why didn’t you pay attention to the forecasters along with the Coast Guard, National Guard or other such organization? What was the sky telling you as you looked up? You have by your own neglect or carelessness have put yourself and others at risk.

crisis-management-1What of a crises that is not related to weather such as a lost child or a mentally unstable individual prowling your neighborhood in search of prey. Where do you turn in these situations? In the case of the missing child there is a national alert system (amber alert I believe it’s called) not to mention your local police. Where was the child seen last and by whom? Have there been any reports of suspicious people or vehicles seemingly just hanging around and watching children at play? Your local police should have been notified of this event. Organize neighborhood patrols just after you check with the child’s friends to see if he or she is there or was there and when they left. Young children should never be left to their own device or in other words unless they are in a group with other children should not be walking around the streets minus an adult or mature teenager or left unsupervised in a playground where they should always be within clear eye view of their caregiver or babysitter.

Of the crises stemming from sighting of known child sex offenders or other violent societal misfits this crises calls yet again for neighborhood mobilization in addition to local law enforcement officials. To avoid adding a crises on top of a crises never try to confront a potentially armed mentally unstable person on your own. Nor should you do so as a group. All it takes is one bullet from a crazed gunman’s gun to end the life of a parent, child or cop. These situations call for professionally trained crises management professionals.

The crises of a family being ripped apart as warring spouses conducting hate filled arguments that often turn physically abusive in front of the children. Two level headed (the key terms here are level headed) adults should know how to settle their differences in such a manner that the children are not hurt physically or emotionally. When marital therapy in conjunction with words of advice from a religious leader (Rabbi, Priest, etc.) prospective as to what to do fail to resolve the simmering feud between the two partners divorce is sadly the only recourse. Try to make the children understand both parents love them and will see to it they in a stable home with either parent whom the court feels would be the most nurturing environment for the children. At times joint custody is a viable solution. As heated as things get the children should not be allowed to manipulate one parent against the other in an apparent exercise to gain some sense of control over the situation for themselves.

When sudden illness strikes (especially in the middle of the night) once again in your semi-conscious state try to instantly and decisively take action. If the person has stopped breathing or is having difficulty breathing perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. In the event you are ill equipped to do so carefully follow the instructions that 911 personnel will give you. Any sudden signs of heart trouble with or without a history the first call should be to 911. Elderly people should have a Life Alert tag or button to push or a string they can pull that is accessible in these types of situations. No matter what age you are or what your domestic living situation is having a list of doctors, medications and allergies to medications in a conspicuous place so that EMT can see it and proceed accordingly is critical to prevent possible loss of life.

Crises will happen in life. Some crises can be averted by planning ahead and being prepared. Other times a crisis will strike you in many different ways. Have you given thought to some of the most likely crises to hit your life and how you will deal with them? If you have not you are turning what could be a manageable crises into one of epic proportions that unnecessarily spiraled out of control.

In the last album John Lennon ever recorded before a crazed violent “fan” or somebody of that genre’ took his life via bullet a song bearing the title “Beautiful Boy” was one of the tracks on the album that mesmerized all who carefully listened and absorbed the lyric line “life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” To digress for a moment from the subject at hand this lyric line was quoted at my son’s high school graduation back in 2004. Hearing this song always causes my eyes to swell with tears.

Nothing I have written in this article is earth-shattering or contains advice you have not heard before. My aim in presenting this information to you is to get you to focus (not all consuming) on the fact that you have to be prepared for what if scenarios. Most of us think we have covered all bases (it is still baseball season hence the use of a baseball analogy) when in fact when that precise moment that a crises hits lack of preparation or at least passing thoughts of preparation evaporate in your mind as quickly as steam vapors.

When a crises hits………

Joel Elveson
Joel Elvesonhttps://jelveson.wixsite.com/recruitersite
INDEPENDENT Executive Recruiting By Joel is an "up and coming" Executive Search Firm formed and headed up by Joel Elveson whose visionary ideas, leadership & creativity have brought to life a more "user-friendly" approach to recruiting. His clients and candidates form powerful strategic partnerships that we use to help you. Joel’s Firm offers Permanent, Temporary (case by case), & Temporary To Permanent staffing solutions for all of your Human Capital Requirements. Contract IT/Consultants are available if needed. Above and beyond they are experts (by way of their personal industry work experience) with mortgage, mortgage banking, middle-market banking, accounting, along with many others under the vast financial spectrum of disciplines. Their business goes beyond candidate recruiting as they also train, mentor and develop your internal recruiting staff with an eye towards helping you reduce the cost of hiring. They will also work in areas such as compensation, effective onboarding processes and alike. In other words, their business is to help your business by becoming an extension of you by filling in gaps that cause delay or waste. The recruiting methods employed by Joel’s team are time tested that results in a high rate of successful placements. Joel was trained in the art of recruiting by some of the top staffing industry executives in addition to the best recruiter trainers who to this day drive me to exceed the lofty goals he has set forth.

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4 CONVERSATIONS

    • Larry, I wholeheartedly agree with your statement about life as it is very often a cold and frightening place. In times of tragedy, periods of darkness, fear, etc. are indeed times we may summon strength we never knew we had. Life demands that of us. When dear friends, family members and sometimes almost total strangers make us feel cared for it reaches deep into our heart while giving us a renewed sense of hope. The sorrow we feel along with ensuing pain that can come with it is in its own way beauty. Real life means caring about and being there for others in their time of need. When people show us caring in addition to being there for us this is how life was meant to be lived. THANK YOU, LARRY!

  1. there are no biological or behavioral characteristics that allow a person to overcome a crisis more easily than others. Rather, there are “constructed” characteristics. In other words, those who seem to do it for questions related to genetics or chance, in reality are simply more skilled in using their life experience to cope with difficulties and unforeseen events. These are people who have made automatic a certain pattern of response, a certain way of interacting with reality. The way they have interacted since a young age with reality has led them to accumulate these skills and automate them to such an extent that they become subconscious and do not even realize it. It is therefore the habits and the training (strengthening the skills, looking for a negotiation, a bridge, creating a compromise, having a clear goal) that create that automatic response that gives the ability to overcome a crisis.

    • Aldo,
      Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my article. I must compliment you on the articulate manner that you write with. As far as your points are concerned I can neither agree or disagree with them since I did not recognize this article as being my until I read that Dennis had posted it. This article must have been written a good enough time ago that I do not recall seeing this article with any recent memory.

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