Talking Stick - November/December 2011 - 32

they’re going through the scenario. It’s all discussion-based.” Such exercises can take a variety of shapes and forms. They may last anywhere from two to eight hours, and the situation could range from a fire in a chemical lab to a bed bug infestation in a residence hall. Throughout the exercise, different hypothetical events are revealed which, in turn, means that additional decisions must be made, leading to yet more revelations. In the train collision example, information was revealed every 20 minutes. Updates informing the university’s team about the white gas cloud and the fire department’s decision to quarantine prompted the members to discuss their decision-making process and assess risk communication strategies between students, parents, and faculty. If the hypothetical scenario was, for example, the report of a bed bug outbreak, the process would begin by answering challenges based on the information presented about the

training and knowledge. The relative stressfree environment of a tabletop exercise reduces the tension that would be present in an actual crisis. Based on an artificial experience, the setting also allows for individuals to form methodical decisions based on the scenario and to thoroughly prepare the institution for a real-world disaster. In addition, by drawing upon recorded tabletop decisions, an institution can develop a crisis management plan for officials to later draw upon. Staff members with consistent practice in handling emergencies will perform with more effective risk assessment and damage mitigation. “It’s a perfect environment for making mistakes and learning from your mistakes, before there are lives or money at risk,” Bujak explains.

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“As colleges today rightly focus significant time and energy toward crisis mitigation and response planning, we need to provide training that helps develop and improve the decision-making processes made by people in the crisis response effort – those staff in the middle of it all, in the heat of the moment, making onthe-spot assessments and choices that direct the initial responses to the crisis itself,” Buck says. Beth Loewendick, a crisis management trainer and author of the article “Laying Your Crisis on the Table” (November 1993 issue of Training and Development), suggests tabletop exercises as a viable way to provide training that will cultivate employee skills, formulate policy, and build team cohesion and consensus. She also identifies four steps to organizing a tabletop exercise: design, develop, conduct, and evaluate.

event. How would the housing unit manage this crisis? How widespread is the problem? Do students need to be evacuated? Is there an alternative housing option? Do other campus departments need to be involved? Is there a need for medical treatment? Does someone need to call an exterminator? Participants then respond to specific reports or events in the scenario by drawing upon background
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The effectiveness of tabletop exercise training is directly related to the creation and design of the scenario. This means that the situation needs to be more than an elaborate game of “what if?” The planning should highlight clear objectives, assess risk and vulnerabilities, and examine response capabilities. The problems should be challenging enough to prompt thought and discussion, but not too difficult to

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Talking Stick - November/December 2011

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