BBS028 - EM in Middle Earth and embedding vulnerability into the culture - Karen Stephens Pt1

G’day, this is Ken Simpson and welcome to episode 28 of Beyond the Black Stump.

 

As it turns out this is really the introduction to episode 28 and episode 29 of the show. After I recorded this interview I decided it needed to be split into two shows.

 

You see this is an interview with somebody I have known and worked with for about 17 years, so it was both a little odd at first, but we ended up chatting for over an hour!

 

My guess today will probably not be widely known outside her current adopted country of New Zealand. So while she might fall into the “new voices” category for a global audience, she has 20+ years of practice behind her.

 

We are going to explore her background in Business Continuity, Crisis Management and Emergency Management. She has worked extensively in the financial services sector, been a BC/CM consultant/manager for a "Big 4” firm, worked in Emergency Management for local government and consulted to a range of private sector, local government and national government entities.

 

She is currently a Director with New Zealand-based Kestrel Group. So join me as we discuss Emergency Management in Middle Earth and how we may at times embed vulnerability in the culture, issues you can find beyond the Black Stump to with Karen Stephens.

 

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I think that is a good spot to break the conversation. But don’t worry, you don’t have to wait a week to hear the rest of the conversation. There will be a special episode of the show released mid-week.

 

In the interim, take a few minutes to reflect on what we have been talking about.

Are you embedding vulnerability into the culture of your organisation? We mean well, but if we don’t actually understand how culture works - or in fact, how being resilient actually works - then we might inadvertently be creating vulnerability.

 

You might also take a moment to think about your use of “assumptions” in writing plans. Unless a proposed response/recovery solution is approved at the highest levels and fully funded - then it is a dream, make believe. Not a solution.

 

Telling people they have implemented a response/recovery plan based on fiction - thats vulnerability, not capability.

 

Join me of the next part of this chat, where we talk about Capability, and what that leads to resilience and executive engagement. Karen will talk us through a specific client case-study of how they approached making that client capable.

 

Until then, as always a comment or rating on iTunes would be appreciated, and stay safe on your journey.