In a crisis,
people will either be part to the problem
or part of the solution.
The right decision begins with XBRM.
Now more than ever, understanding the human factor in crisis management is essential. To survive and thrive in an unpredictable economic environment, health scares, or other threatening events, fear can overwhelm individuals and organizations at a time when they must keep their focus. Stress, anxiety and fear can impact problem-solving and decision-making just when they are needed the most.
XBRM helps organizations predict, plan, and prepare for the human response to all types of adverse events, from natural disasters to financial crises. Our insights derived from behavioral research can help organizations improve safety, security and performance in times of high stress. Through expert consultation and training, XBRM can enhance your ability to accurately integrate critical human factors into policies, plans, procedures and exercises to mitigate negative emotional and behavioral reactions that can compromise critical operations and effective crisis management efforts.
Managing the Emotional Consequences of Public Health Emergencies
Coping with Swine Flu Fears in the Workplace
For nearly a decade, XBRM's experts have been assisting businesses, NGO's and government agencies in preparing for the behavioral challenges of an influenza pandemic. Unlike other disasters, disease outbreaks can trigger a unique constellation of emotional and behavioral reactions that can significantly exacerbate the medical impact of the event and complicate emergency management and business continuity efforts.
XBRM can provide the necessary consultation and training to help organizations of all types make the appropriate and accurate behavioral assumptions to properly calibrate emergency and disaster plans to the specific behavioral concerns associated with a long and complex crisis, such as a pandemic.
Using a Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences approach, XBRM can help enhance you organization's ability to prepare for and mitigate the impacts of catastrophic events by building plans and programs that incorporate social, psychological and economic aspects of organizational resilience. Such resilience is an essential element of pandemic planning and may be critical to organizational survival.
Download XBRM's free fact sheet: "
Coping with Swine Flu Fear", a useful resource in managing the emotional and behavioral consequences of the H1N1 outbreak.
The Human Factor in the Financial Crisis
Behavior-based Emergency Preparedness & Response
In the aftermath of a catastrophic event, when technical assets are unavailable or destroyed, it is human behavior-- and often human behavior alone--that determines the speed and efficacy of disaster recovery efforts.
Knowledge of human behavior, in all phases of emergency management, is critical in the development of effective emergency policies, plans and training programs. For many years, business continuity planners worked under a simple assumption: When a disaster strikes, people will follow plans and procedures. Psychologists and other behavioral scientists have found that this idea fails to consider the often-surprising behavior of people during emergencies.
For disaster plans to be truly effective, an understanding of the full range of behavioral responses across the different stages of disasters and emergencies should serve as a core component of the broader, interdisciplinary planning process.
Anticipating the Human Factor
The recent benchmarking study conducted by Continuity Insights Magazine and KPMG, revealed that 35% of respondents indicated that the "weakest link" in the continuity plans and strategy was "people risks." Traditional business continuity plans do not adequately take to into account the many forces of human behavior, especially when scenarios include extreme fear, harmful behaviors and survival responses. Planners often wrongly assumed that the organization’s emergency plans will be automatically accepted, understood and acted upon by all. The principles of human psychology inform us that the behavior of individuals and groups is shaped more by numerous intangible factors than by official or executive demand.
In most organizations, the term “behavioral” is typically associated with the mental health, wellness or employee assistance programs (EAPs) that address a range of post-incident emotional and psychological needs for employees and their families. Our proactive approach allows for much broader understanding of behavior, encouraging the desired emergency response from employees, responders and leaders, during the emergency.
The central premise behind Business Continuity Plannng Human Factors (BCPh) is straightforward: in a crisis, people will be part of the problem or part of the solution. BCPh is the application of scientifically accepted behavioral principles (individual, group, organizational and occupational) to aid in the development of disaster and emergency policies, plans and programs. XBRM helps organizations translate behavioral research findings into actionable information for decision makers and crisis managers.
Our model encompasses many research approaches, such as: case studies, theoretical analyses, computer models, literature reviews, and psychological studies. This holistic, evidence-informed approach allows our team to help yours in developing the most behaviorally-accurate emergency plans possible. The goal of this approach is to reduce the frequent of human variability in all phases of emergency management.
The Human Factor in Business Continuity Planning
Extreme Behavioral Risk Management LLC (XBRM) is a crisis management consulting practice specialized in the human factor in emergency management, disaster recovery and homeland security. XBRM helps prepare an organization’s decision-makers and first responders by providing education, training and resources to accurately address emotional and behavioral responses across all phases of emergency management. XBRM is home to some of the world’s foremost experts in disaster human factors, and offers a compressive portfolio of products and services addressing this important facet of crisis management.
XBRM offers organizations:
- BCPh - Behavior-based Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans
- Behavioral Vulnerability Assessments
- Workplace Violence Prevention Programs
- Telephone Threat Management Software and Training
- Behavioral Science Consultation Teams (BSCTs)
- Psychological First Aid (PFA) Responder Training
- Post-incident Behavioral Consequence Management Services
