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Crisis-Ready with RIMS Canada Plenary Melissa Agnes

2023-08-22

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Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

Justin visits with two guests today to discuss the RIMS Canada Conference 2023 on September 11th–14th in Ottawa! The first guest is the National Co-Chair of the RIMS Canada Conference 2023, Valerie Barber. Justin and Valerie discuss her risk career, her role with the government of Manitoba, and how Canada’s provincial government is a good place to establish a risk management career. Valerie discusses some of the Plenary and educational events to expect at the RIMS Canada Conference. Valerie talks about Plenary Speakers Sinead Bovell and Melissa Agnes.

Melissa Agnes joins the episode as the second guest. Melissa is a world-renowned expert on crisis management and is the Founder and CEO of Crisis Ready Institute. She discusses consulting for agencies and large organizations, and how “Crisis Ready” beats managing a crisis as it happens. She talks about her Plenary talk for RIMS Canada Conference 2023 and what hampers people from being ready for a crisis. She shares some steps to being ready before a crisis comes and managing it when it does.

Listen in and learn to be Crisis Ready and protect your brand.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMScast and the RIMS App, an exclusive benefit for RIMS members.

[:32] About today’s episode, where we will talk about RIMS Canada Conference 2023 and hear from one of the plenary speakers about crisis management.

[:55] All about exciting, upcoming RIMS events! Registration is open for the RIMS Canada Conference 2023, which will be held September 11th–14th in Ottawa! Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information.

[1:16] For those of you based in Canada, Justin needs to hear from you about a game show he will be hosting on September 13th. A link to a survey is in this episode’s notes. He needs your honest feedback, so he can say, “Survey says: …” Please check out the links in this episode’s notes!

[1:39] On September 14th, the Spencer Educational Foundation returns to New York City for its Annual Funding Their Future Gala. The event will be held at the Cipriani on 42nd Street. A link is on this episode’s notes. You can also visit SpencerEd.org.

[1:56] The RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held October 4th–6th in Vail, Colorado. Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com for more information and to register.

[2:08] Head to the RIMS.org/Advocacy page to find information about The RIMS Legislative Summit, which is returning to Washington, D.C. on October 25th and 26th.

[2:22] We are very excited about the RIMS ERM Conference 2023, which will be held November 2nd and 3rd in Denver, Colorado! The theme is Elevate and Evolve. Registration is open, as is a call for nominations for the ERM Award of Distinction. Those submissions are due September 1st.

[2:43] The first guest on today’s episode is the National Co-Chair of the RIMS Canada Conference 2023. She has also been a risk leader for the government of Manitoba for more than 20 years. She will share her risk philosophies and then we will talk about RIMS Canada Conference 2023.

[3:01] Justin welcomes Valerie Barber to RIMScast!

[3:18] Valerie started in accounting, for an insurance agency and company. After five years, she worked in claims at a brokerage office for several years. She took a position next with the government of Manitoba in claims and loss prevention, then insurance and risk management, and later, the director of the insurance and risk management branch.

[4:18] Her background in working with losses as they happened and preventing future losses was a good foundation to move into the risk management side. Valerie is going on 24 years of working with the government of Manitoba,

[4:53] Valerie’s employer is a small but mighty branch of the government. There are four individuals, an increase. They are now fully staffed. It was incredibly relieving for Valerie to get the third and the fourth person hired. Since she started, she has done three of the four positions in the branch.

[6:40] In Canada, there are significant numbers of pubic sector risk professionals in RIMS, attending the conferences and other educational opportunities. Risk professionals that Valerie has met are quick to share knowledge and experiences they’ve encountered that may help others going through similar situations now.

[7:46] Among the RIMS provincial membership there is an informal group called GovRIMS, that meets before the conference every year.

[9:32] The theme of the RIMS Canada Conference 2023 is Risk Evolution...Be a Part of It. Risk continues to evolve in Canada, as everywhere else, as old risks develop and new risks emerge. Risk managers today have to reimagine and adapt. What worked before may not work today.

[10:15] Valerie notes numerous challenges: cyber, political, financial, weather-related events, fires in Hawaii and Canada, flooding, artificial intelligence, and pandemics. In 2020 RIMS was to have Vision 2020 in Ottawa which did not occur because of COVID-19. Three years later we are finally getting there!

[11:32] RIMS Canada Conference 2023 will be held on September 11–14 in Ottawa, the beautiful capital city of Canada, named by CNN Travel as one of the best destinations to visit in 2023. There are many local attractions. Shops, the ByWard Market, Parliament buildings, and National Museums are close to Shaw Convention Centre.

[12:50] The Shaw Convention Centre is exceptional, with stunning views of the canals and city skyline. The Conference Centre is very spacious to accommodate all aspects of the conference, including the opening night reception, the plenary sessions, concurrent sessions, and the exhibit hall, which we are pleased to say was sold out in space.

[13:54] The Plenary Sessions feature speakers who are making an impact on the risk landscape with their followers. Day 1’s plenary is Melissa Agnes, who is recognized as a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. There are many crises out there for which we need to be prepared.

[14:45] It will be interesting to learn the types of strategies and the secrets to successful crisis management. The next big event is potentially around the corner, globally, nationally, or in our backyards.

[15:28] The second featured Plenary Speaker, Sinead Bovell, is a future-of-work expert. She will discuss the future of AI in her address. AI is a prime example of risk revolution. An AI-related age discrimination case has been filed recently. AI hiring software was rejecting candidates over certain ages.

[16:49] Valerie is interested in learning about the good things that will be happening with AI in risk management.

[17:06] Closing out RIMS Canada Conference 2023 on September 14th is Lt. General Roméo Dallaire, an international champion of human rights, a mental health advocate, and a leadership & crisis management expert. Lt. General Dallaire is a Canadian national treasure not only for his military background but also for the work he’s done afterward.

[18:27] The RIMS CRMP Exam Prep will be a pre-conference workshop on September 10th and 11th on-site. See the link on this episode’s notes. Save $100.00 Canadian when you register for both the conference and the workshop. There were 75% more sessions submitted for consideration.

[18:50] There are 68 exceptional educational sessions. Sessions are either 60-minutes long or there are 20-minute thought leadership sessions. Tracks include career development, claims management, cyber risk management, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, emerging risks, and more. Select educational sessions on the registration page.

[20:15] Justin is hosting a Family-Feud-style gameshow on September 13th. You can see details in this episode’s notes. Justin thanks Valerie for being on today’s episode,

[20:46] RIMS plug time! Sponsor an episode of RIMScast! Contact us at pd@rims.org. For upcoming virtual workshops visit RIMS.org/virtualworkshops for the calendar. Managing Data for ERM is a three-module course that begins September 21st.

[21:31] Optimizing Risk Management with Artificial Intelligence will be led on September 28th by Pat Saporito. Recent RIMScast guest Chris Hansen will be leading Managing Worker Compensation, Employer's Liability, and Employment Practices in the US on November 7th and 8th. Be sure to register for that course!
[22:04] Information about these sessions and others is on the RIMS Virtual Workshops page. Check it out and register!

[22:12] For anyone attending RIMS Canada on September 10th and 11th, we will host an in-person RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep In-Person Workshop in Ottawa, and it will be led by former RIMS President Chris Mandel.

[22:32] Visit RIMS.org/Certification for these and future workshops. A link is also in this episode’s show notes, as is a link to the full Virtual Workshop calendar.

[22:45] There is a new RIMS webinar called A Decade of Disconnect: Understanding Multi-Generational Mental Health in the Workplace. It is sponsored by Travelers and Constitution State Services on September 7th, 2023 at 12:00 noon Eastern. Visit Rims.org/webinars or the link on this episode’s show notes to register.

[23:12] On September 26th, Gallagher will present A Road Less Challenged? An Outlook on the Management Liability Market at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Visit RIMS.org/Webinars to learn more about these webinars and to register!

[23:29] Links are on the show notes. Webinar registration is complimentary for RIMS members.

[23:37] Our next guest, Melissa Agnes, is a world-renowned authority on crisis management and the Founder and CEO of Crisis Ready Institute. She will kick off the RIMS Canada Conference 2023 on September 11th with the Plenary Session. Melissa joins us today to provide a brief preview and talk about her risk management career.

[24:03] Justin welcomes Melissa Agnes to RIMScast and introduces her. Melissa has advised people around the world from all walks of life. She has worked with NATO and other notable agencies and organizations to help them understand risk and build invincible brands that can withstand even the most devastating of events.

[25:01] Global agencies and governments are slow to create change. One of the great things for Melissa is to work with the individuals who recognize the slowness of the change process and continue to advocate internally to uplevel the organization’s skillset in crisis response.

[25:49] Around the world in governments and agencies, Melissa finds incredible people with thankless jobs where even their stakeholders don’t understand the complexity of their roles and there are a lot of negative viewpoints, yet they continue to work to level up their skillset and bring the cultural component of “crisis ready” to the organization.

[26:38] Melissa coined the term “crisis ready” about 14 years ago. It came out of her frustration with the status quo of crisis preparedness. Melissa didn’t agree with the status quo. She created a definition for “crisis ready” that is similar to but more than crisis preparedness. She started it as a hashtag, #CrisisReady, and it became a brand.

[27:23] Crisis ready is about having a culture. It’s not about having a crisis management plan document that sits on a shelf but about developing a program that permeates the organization. It consists of the mindset, skillset, and capabilities designed to respond to crisis in a way that strengthens trust.

[28:07] Melissa explains about measuring trust. You can feel it. It’s just not easily quantifiable. That’s part of the struggle. In organizations, getting buy-in support for the “crisis-ready” culture is universally the biggest challenge that I experience.

[28:51] No matter how “crisis ready” an organization is, there’s constantly the obstacle of gaining buy-in and support. It’s against human nature to talk about the negative. They don’t understand what a strength-building positive it is to get past viewing “crisis ready” as a negative.

[29:33] In her future presentations and book, Melissa will be talking about the five hindrances people face in getting “crisis ready” or dealing with crises as they occur. It’s against our human nature to get ready. The five hindrances are avoidance, ego, fear, ignorance, and politics.

[31:23] Melissa’s advice for non-profits: First, go through your core values and make sure that they are your foundation, what you stand for, and why you exist. Make sure that you’re living by them. Second, in alignment with the first, know how to respond to controversy. Controversy is a big part of the world, There is a tactic for responding.

[32:24] When responding to controversy, be thoughtful, decisive, clear, and quiet. Being thoughtful means looking at the controversy, understanding what it is, and understanding the emotion and how it drives the controversy and complicates things.

[33:26] Understand why it is controversial and divisive. Understand where it aligns with your core values. If you think you can appease everyone, you will have a hard awakening. Don’t try to make everybody happy.

[34:31] Being decisive means taking a stance. If you don’t, it looks like you are trying to appease everyone. Instead, you will lose everyone. State your core values and the stance you are taking in alignment with your core values.

[35:13] Being clear means being as clear and concise as you can in your response to the controversy. Talk about your core values. Do not leave room for ambiguity. Talk about why you’re taking the stance that you are in alignment with those core values. It needs to be concise and clear. People may not like it, but they can respect it.

[36:08] Being quiet comes when you have been thoughtful, decisive, and clear; there will be nothing left to say. Let the conversation unfold by itself. Let your advocates come to your defense. Let those who are upset have the space to validate how they feel and then they’ll move on. Then you can move forward with recovery.

[36:59] Often it takes an unfortunate situation for people to wake up and see they’re

not ready. At the beginning of her career, Melissa learned that she wanted her brand to be Crisis Ready, not crisis management. Crisis is an emotional time. Unless Melissa has a relationship with the leadership team before the crisis, her job is 100 times harder!

[38:00] Without a prior relationship, it’s hard for Melissa in the moment to help the organization cross that border of fear and ego. People get in their own way, and Melissa feels that she didn’t do as well as she could have for them because they blocked it.

[38:35] Melissa decided that she would build relationships before clients were hit with a crisis, so when they got in crisis, Melissa could kick into gear and serve them instead of fighting against their human nature of self-protection. She never wants to waste energy selling something to somebody who isn’t ready. She started her brand with a clear blog.

[40:04] A crisis can stem from social media or a physical event. We live in a complex world. A crisis has to hit certain criteria to be a crisis. If you call every social media issue a social media crisis, some people will not take it as seriously.

[41:13] Melissa sat on the panel that developed the updated International Standard for Crisis Management, or ISO 22361. That was pre-pandemic, in 2019. It was a UK committee but Melissa Canadian, based in the U.S. Melissa says it was a huge honor to be put on this panel. It’s always interesting to work by committee, but it was great.

[42:59] Melissa can spot her influence in the standard. No one person can create all of that alone. She feels proud of the collective efforts and collaboration of the committee and their lived experiences that contributed to creating that whole.

[44:06] Melissa is very excited about RIMS Canada Conference 2023! She will be bringing to the stage something that she can’t find anywhere else. The message is so important so she has so much passion for sharing what she’s going to share and engaging and interacting with the audience. She feels very honored to be able to do that.

[44:47] Without ego, Melissa says she hopes the audience will listen in. She is passionate about this message in the talk she’s been giving this year. It lights her up. Melissa doesn’t believe we’ve been set up for success in our society, from kindergarten straight through, and that will be part of her message.

[44:25] Justin looks forward to meeting Melissa Agnes at RIMS Canada Conference and thanks her for joining us on RIMScast!

[45:38] Special thanks to my guests for joining me. I’m looking forward to Melissa Agnes’s Plenary Session on September 11, 2023, at the RIMS Canada Conference in Ottawa. Register now at RIMSCanadaConference.ca.

[45:52] Be sure to tune in next week to RIMScast. We have another Plenary Speaker from RIMS Canada Conference 2023, Sinead Bovell.

[46:01] We cover crisis management in Risk Management Magazine. You can find it at RMMagazine.com but RIMS members can access it instantly via the RIMS app. This is a special members-only benefit. Everybody loves the RIMS app!

[46:23] You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in our show notes. RIMScast has a global audience of risk professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let’s collaborate! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.

[47:03] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information. The RIMS app is available only for RIMS members! You can find it in the App Store.

[47:26] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today’s risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.

[47:41] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com and in print, and check out the blog at RiskManagementMonitor.com. Justin Smulison is Business Content Manager. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org.

[48:02] Justin thanks you for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe!

Mentioned in this Episode:

NEW FOR MEMBERS! RIMS Mobile App

RIMS Canada 2023 — Sept. 11–14 in Ottawa!

RIMS Canada 2023 — Game Show Survey!

RIMS ERM Conference 2023 | Nov 2–3 in Denver, CO!

Spencer Educational Foundation — Funding Their Future Gala — Sept. 14, 2023

RIMS Western Regional — Oct 4–6, Vail Colorado

RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP)

Dan Kugler Risk Manager on Campus Grant

RIMS Webinars:

A Decade of Disconnect: Understanding Multi-Generational Mental Health in the Workplace | Sponsored by Travelers | Sept. 7, 2023

A Road Less Challenged? An Outlook on the Management Liability Market | Sponsored by Gallagher | Sept. 26, 2023
RIMS.org/Webinars
Upcoming Virtual Workshops:

Fundamentals of Insurance | Sept 12–13

Optimizing Risk Management with AI | Sept. 28

Managing Worker Compensation, Employer's Liability and Employment Practices in the US | Nov 7

See the full calendar of RIMS Virtual Workshops

RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep at RIMS Canada 2023
September 10–11, 2023
9:00 am–4:00 pm EDT
Ottawa, ON, Canada
All RIMS-CRMP Prep Workshops

Related RIMScast Episodes:

“Turning Tides: Live from RIMS Canada 2022”

“Rising Risk and Insurance Professional Ana Lage, 2022 Fred H. Bossons Award Winner”

“Safety and International Risk Leadership with Franck Baron”

“Strategic Moves with RIMS CEO Gary LaBranche”

“RIMS President Jennifer Santiago: R.E.A.D.Y. for 2023”