The Southeast United States spent last week preparing for the worst. Hurricane Helene started to form in the Gulf of Mexico early in the week. Its formation initiated the exercise of preparedness by residents, communities, and all levels of government.
Preparing for the Worst
The exercise was no different in Acworth, Georgia. As the forecast started to solidify Tuesday, most models showed the eye of the storm going right through us. In talking with one of our leaders, we decided to move our scheduled preparedness briefing up from Thursday afternoon to Wednesday morning in anticipation.
The briefing was an opportunity for each department to showcase their preparedness. We had presentations from leaders in Geographic Information Systems, Public Works, Stom Water, Power, Police, Communications, Information Technology, Parks, and Customer Service. We collaborated, communicated, filled gaps, and finalized our plans to prepare for the worst.
I am extremely proud of our team and their efforts in the planning, preparation, and execution in the face of Hurricane Helene. Here are a few of the leadership lessons I took away from the experience:
Calm Before the Storm
After the briefing, there was a sense of calm over the next day, which was unusual knowing that we had an intense storm headed our way.
The sense of calm came from preparation. We had crossed our T’s and dotted our I’s extensively. Most any scenario we could control, we had a plan for. The rest was well outside of that.
As I tried to translate this to leadership, it reminded me that preparedness soothes the soul. Anxiety and stress tend to gain a foothold when we don’t have a plan. Preparedness leads to calm, and calm is contagious. Calm is one of the greatest attributes leaders can possess in preparation of the storm.
Take the Storm Serious
In my 24 plus years of public service, I have grown skeptical of weather forecasts. I’ve seen twenty percent chances of precipitation produce heavy rainfalls in the middle of an event resulting in a costly cancellation. On the flipside, I’ve seen one hundred percent chances of thunderstorms produce premature cancellations casting a cloud of disappointment. Mother nature is the most predicted thing on this earth, yet the least predictable.
Desensitization is a real thing. Preparation is stressed on every news cast during every severe weather event. We are often advised not to drive in poor conditions, have an emergency food supply, go to the lowest level of the house, and in the most dire of situations evacuate. Guess what? We all tend to dismiss these warnings. Why? Because we have done it before, and nothing ever happened. We become desensitized.
Preparedness saves lives. Preparedness is grounded in taking the storm serious. Understanding its capabilities…death, destruction, and devastation. Storms demand our respect, if not, they will gain our respect. Our team took Hurricane Helene seriously and I am proud of them for that. It showed in their performance.
The storms of leadership are inevitable. There are two types of leaders in this world, those who have experienced storms and those that are about to. Prepared leaders can better navigate the chaos, confusion, and circumstances surrounding the storm. We can be assured of this promise though…Every Storm Runs Out of Rain.
Run After It
Evacuations are issued in the best interest of the people in the path of the storm. Those people include our heroes, the first responders, police, fire, linemen, our armed forces, and other public servants that can save the day. The problem with severe storms is that even those heroes have limitations. They can’t always run into hundred mile an hour winds, lightning, damaging hail, flooding rivers, or mudslides.
Many would offer the advice to run towards the storm, myself included. At times it requires the storm to clear first, then put on the Capes. With severe storms, its better to run after it, not towards it. Let the greatest dangers clear, then go to work.
Power going out is an unsettling fear. We have grown accustomed to the luxuries of it and quickly get antsy when we are deprived of it. After about thirty minutes we become concerned with our groceries in the fridge, the charge on our cell phones, and our heating/air conditioning.
I’m often reminded by our team about the safety of lineman. We often have to hold them back by the belt loop in these events. Being fifty feet up in a bucket truck in heavy rain and strong sustained winds puts those very heroes at risk. Therefore, the rule of thumb is to run after the storm, not into it.
In fact, that is exactly what six of our team at Acworth Power did after we weathered the storm here. They ran after the storms that went through Washington, Georgia. A community that lost ALL power and will be potentially absent of it for weeks.
The storms of leadership may require restraint. Sometimes running into them isn’t always the best option, but being prepared to run after it is. We can see the aftermath and start the cleanup process.
Conclusion
Call it favor, call it luck, or call it whatever we may, but Helene spared us. The storm ended up pushing east a few hours before it got to us. Some downed trees, isolated outages, and no major public safety incidents to report. Any issue that did arise, our team was prepared for and quickly responded to.
Unfortunately, our good fortune, was someone else’s misfortune. Our fellow Georgian’s to the east, Eastern Tennessee and in Western North Carolina were not so lucky. If you are unfamiliar with the severity, jump on Twitter and or Google the devastation. Entire towns wiped away, dams breached, sections of highways washed away, flooded rivers carrying houses off their foundations, no cell service, and complete loss of power.
We were prepared for what we could control, so were these communities. No one can possibly prepare for what they experienced. We were supposed to receive what they got.
Here is what I do know. Regardless of the outcome, our team would have worked to exhaustion to get our community back up and running. It’s what I love most about our people, they love and care for our community. I would have expected nothing less of them.
It’s a shame that it requires a natural disaster to do so, but over the coming weeks, we will watch communities band together to rebuild. It’s the greatest part of what we do as Americans. In the face of disaster, we unite and overcome. We will see Leadership and Main at its finest, preparing for the best.