Norwich-university-bio-article

Human Resiliency

Business Continuity Awareness Week
Webinar Proposal

John Orlando, Program Director
Norwich University
Master of Science in Business Continuity Management
158 Harmon Drive
Northfield, VT 05663
jorlando@norwich.edu
802-485-2729

Description

Most continuity/resiliency plans focus on infrastructure, IT and system, while minimal significance is given to the human factor. “Resiliency” is the buzz word, but recent events have demonstrated that getting phone lines and computers back up is less important than handling the needs of employees and their families.   Preparation for disruptions often ignores the dynamics, dilemmas and damage to the workforce. This presentation focuses on pre-incident preparation and post-incident services to help mitigate the impact on personnel.

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the wide range of emotional impacts on the well-being of workers during a disruption.
2. Learn how to develop pre-incident strategies and plan post-incident services for employees in a business continuity plan.

Presenter

Gerald Lewis, Ph.D
Dr. Lewis, an international consultant and trainer, has worked with national and international government agencies, healthcare facilities, educational institutions and private businesses on a wide range of work, behavioral health and organizational issues.  His focus is facilitating organizational recovery and resiliency with the emphasis on “people-recovery.”

He has authored numerous articles and three books: Critical Incident Stress and Trauma in the Workplace (1994) and Workplace Hostility: Myth & Reality (co-author, 1998) and Organizational Crisis Management: The Human Factor (2006).  In addition, he contributed the chapter, "Violence at Work: Causes and Protection" in Psychopathology in the Workplace: Recognition and Adaptation, edited by Thomas, J. and Hersen, M., Bruner-Rutledge, NY, 2004.