We can talk about incident management all day.
You should be able to, too.
But really, how ready are you for this season?
For your next event?
For the future?
No matter what your industry, you need to take care of business – and look good doing it.
Agree?
Today, we want to talk about something, well, that we talk about all the time.
Yes, we write exhaustively about incidents, issues, communication, customer service, and everything else that encompasses running an effective operation.
But we do it for a reason!
We want you to be a top-notch professional.
Pure and simple.
No question about it.
With that said, we want you to test yourself today.
A little test.
But it's for an important cause.
Are you running a safe and secure environment that's conducive to endless excitement and so many memories that peace of mind is inevitable?
We're going to find out.
Don't worry if your summer vacation has left your memory a little foggy.
That's why we're here.
To clear your mind and wake up your inner professional.
We're ready to find out where your operation stands for the upcoming season or your next event, give you some insight to prepare for what's ahead, and watch you achieve Proactive Operations.
Treat today's article like a pop quiz that you can't fail, and you get all the correct answers.
Are you ready?
We are.
Then, let's get to it.
4 Critical Factors to Measuring Your Operation's Incident Management Readiness
We love what we do so much and enjoy sharing everything we learn with the industry.
So much that we listen to you, our customers and the industry as a whole.
(Yes, we're those solution providers that do listen.)
Now:
Over the years, we've listened and have studied operations incessantly.
Truthfully, it has been quite an eye-opener as to how many professionals throughout the industry have great ideas that their peers don't know.
We've noticed other limitations too.
There's not always consistency among operations.
Our point is that great ideas and practices are meant to be shared and utilized for further improvement, enhancement, and analysis.
It also helps to create consistency in communication.
That's why we've developed our framework for ensuring your operation is advanced, is improved, and is always under analysis during your continuous pursuit of perfection.
You might have heard of it or seen it mentioned somewhere before – we call it the ACDA Principle™.
We think it's pretty awesome.
Not because we thought of it, because that'd be inaccurate.
The truth is:
You, as an industry, created it without even realizing it.
We only put the pieces together.
You created the ACDA Principle™.
We just named it and continue to promote the heck out of it.
You'll be able to establish where your incident management readiness stands by rating your current operation against the four pillars of the ACDA Principle™:
- Awareness
- Communication
- Documentation
- Analysis
Look:
We know that you might have all four in place, or maybe only three or your operation might not be associated with any of these factors.
No problem.
As we said, don't worry!
Today we're going to change your operational readiness and get your operation ready for the future.
Once you have all four of these pieces in place, your readiness from this point on will be through the roof – with a jet pack attached.
Next:
We're going to couple the ACDA Principle™ with progressive technology and show you what operational readiness should and can look like for your advanced operation.
Ramp up Your Readiness with a Clear Framework and Cutting-Edge Technology
If you think you can blink and see awareness, communication, documentation, and analysis appear in your operation – it's not going to happen.
Trust us.
To get full awareness, enhanced communication, accurate and reliable documentation, smart analytics, and to achieve Proactive Operations, you'll need a little help from your friends and innovative software.
Now:
For your pop quiz…
Mind you; this is a self-test.
Remember the honor code as a kid?
Well, that also applies here because we want you to be successful.
As we go through each aspect of the ACDA Principle™, rate your current operation, refresh your skills, and you might want to ask yourself questions like this along the way:
- What occurs in your operation, at all times? Does your staff even know half the time?
- Is resource allocation a significant stress factor? Do you have the ability to deploy security and emergency response teams effectively?
- How far back do your incident details go? Is liability defense in your operational vocabulary?
- What's your staff doing at all times? Can and how do you ensure accountability?
- What software solutions do you use to improve your operation and team's performance continuously?
- Is it time to revamp your emergency management plan? How about your protocols-to-handle?
Let these questions percolate while we move your operational readiness sky high using the ACDA Principle™ and innovative software.
Moving From Not Knowing to Full Awareness in Your Operation
Increased awareness affords you and your staff the ability to respond to one more incident in a little less time.
It gives you the liberty to take care of your other responsibilities.
Provide text communication as a channel for your customers to report issues instantly.
It's useful for your staff without radios as well.
Text communication software gives you lots of value.
It offers the ability to have thousands of eyes to assist in reporting issues as they occur.
Think about it:
Valuable time can be saved for staff by eliminating the need to find one of your supervisors with a radio so they can report an incident.
Who has the time for that?
Using an incident management system, your team can enter and update incidents in real time.
It can be more complex and exciting than this, but that's for another article.
Here's the kicker:
Your team knows exactly what's happening and when.
It's how you ensure all issues are quickly being handled.
It will always keep your customers and staff safe.
You're already starting to look even more ready than right before you began reading this article, aren't you?
Unclogging and Enhancing Communication Lines Between Your Customers and Staff
Close the communication gap by arming your staff with mobile apps to efficiently and effectively report incidents.
Real-time communication will lead to real-time data.
(We love data.)
Create an easy to learn set of communication procedures inclusive of mobile apps, alerts, and notifications.
It gives you a painless and manageable way to train staff too.
Automate information to empower your staff, and you'll see communication throughout all departments rapidly improve.
Producing Comprehensive, Accurate, and Complete Documentation of All of Your Incidents and Issues
Accurate documentation gives you liability defense. It's that clear.
You never know when you'll need it.
You must document every incident, every single time.
Don't forget.
All the details matter.
It gets better:
The use of an incident reporting system will let you eliminate illegible handwritten notes.
You'll replace them with the correct information that you can access anytime.
Even if notes need to be accessed in the future, there's no need to find the employee who created the report.
- You no longer need to decrypt illegible handwritten details
- Your records are digital, complete, and reliable
Digital records are generally accepted in liability defense, and handwritten notes are not.
Digital records are tracked in these solutions.
Any changes and updates your team makes are logged into the system. You know who wrote what and when changes to the record were made.
You'll be ready for anything.
The key to gaining accurate documentation is creating a system that allows your staff to record information at the same time they're performing their job.
Important concept:
Get the job done in real time while on the move.
Putting these systems and protocols in place ensures their job performance is never affected by documenting incidents.
Smart Professionals Use Smart Analytics – How Do You Assess?
Data can be the difference between high-stress and peace of mind.
Would you agree?
Now, know this:
You can't analyze what you don't know.
- Own the documentation so that you can measure your risk
- Communicate what you know to your staff
- Repair any flaws so you can be ready for the future
Having and using analytics is crucial for the efficiency of any operation.
Teach your team how to create lasting, positive memories for your customers.
Use your analytics to improve your processes and ensure protocols-to-handle are executed as you require.
Look:
Analytics gives you the insight into your operation so you can improve every aspect of your operation and the people that run it.
Use the data to improve factors of readiness like – for example – response times. We all know the response times matter.
That's a start.
Understand your operation so you can respond a little better each time.
Over to You
Knowing where your operation stands is vital to your peace of mind. Using the ACDA Principle™ as your framework helps you achieve the readiness that your team needs to be successful.
So, how do you rate on incident management readiness? Are you ready for what's coming?
Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness and freshness.
