Bryghtpath LLC - Leading in an Active Shooter Situation - July 2017

SHOTS FIRED: Leading through an Active Shooter Situation

Bryan Strawser, Principal & CEO Bryghtpath LLCJennifer Otremba, Senior Consultant bryghtpath.com

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Shots FiredLeading in an Active Shooter situation

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Our Agenda

• Mitigation and preparedness strategies for active shooter situations

• Crisis leadership during an active shooter situation

• Helping your employees recover from workplace violence incidents

• How to communicate and make decisions during a crisis


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TheTimeline

Normal Behavior

Pre-Attack Indicators The Attack Immediate

ResponseLong-Term Recovery

7Preparedness & Mitigation


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Mitigation & Preparedness: Threat Management Process


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Pre-Attack Indicators / Risk Indicators


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Basic Mitigation & Preparedness

RUN – HIDE - FIGHT


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Mitigation & Preparedness: Exercises

• Shelter in place

• Building evacuation

• Tabletop w/ your Crisis Team

• Simulation w/ local law enforcement agencies


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When you need a friend…It’s too late to make one.

US Northern Command Challenge Coin

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Mitigation & Preparedness: React to the Threat

• Normal operating procedures

• Escalated Threat

• Lock Down

• RESPOND – EXECUTE THE PLAN


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When things go wrong

June 2017 UPS driver Jimmy Lam shot and killed 3 other UPS drivers.

Risk Factors• Perceived disrespect from coworkers• Possible depressive state• Grievance filed regarding excessive overtime


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When things go wrong

One September 2012 Accent Signage employee Andrew John Engeldinger was told that he would be losing his job.

He responded with “Oh Really?” just prior to opening fire

Risk Factors:• Negative family support network• Potential paranoia and delusions reported by family• Disintegrated work performance• Known access to firearms• Known history of violence• Known grievance towards supervisor


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High risk termination

• What makes a situation high risk?• How to plan for high risk terminations.• Who should conduct the conversation and how?• Job is done....now what? Well, depends...


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Reductions in Force (RIF)

• Generally, do not result in any issues• However, must be carefully planned in a cross-functional manner

Keys to success:• Are there particular individuals who have exhibited any risk

factors?• Ensure that everyone is treated in an aboveboard and

humane manner

19Leading in the Critical Moment

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Leading in the Moment

Physical Space – Two Rooms• “Watch floor”• Conference Room• Keep outsiders out

Feed the Team if things will last any length of time beyond an hour or so

Deploy someone to be with the incident commander from law enforcement• Utilize the free ICS training offered by FEMA & MN HSEM (or your home state) to better

understand the process


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Leading the Team in the Moment

• Have the crisis team call their families right away• It’s ok to be a bit frazzled• Box up your emotions and deal with it later• Idle hands are the devil’s work• Exercise so that you can see how people react


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TheFiveDimensionsofMeta-Leadership

• Thepersonofthemeta-leader

• SituationalAwareness

• Leadyoursilo

• Leadup

• Leadconnectivity

Dr.LennyMarcus(l)Dr.BarryDorn(r)

“TheBasement”

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Crisis Management Framework

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Corporate Crisis Management Team

• Corporate Security• Crisis Management• Business Continuity• Human Resources• Communications• Facilities• Operations (business lines / operating companies)• Legal

Who is the leader? Who are the backups?

Long-Term Recovery


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Long-Term Recovery

• After-action process• Honest self-assessment of what happened, how you

responded, and how you wish to improve• Communicate the results and your plans to mitigate

• Counselors• Employee Assistance Program

• Facility repair / design changes

32Communicating in the Crisis


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Communicating in a Crisis: Audiences

• Impacted employees

• All employees

• Leadership / Board

• Stakeholders

• The public


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Communicating in a Crisis: First Steps

• If possible, send a corporate spokesperson to the scene to co-locate w/ law enforcement PIO.

• Strongly recommend sending a communications trained corporate executive along with communications staff.

• Ensure internal comms are sent before any public facing communications.

• Create a cadence of ongoing communications (ex: every 15 minutes).

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KEY TAKEAWAYBuild Communications Plans


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Holding Statement (Public)

• Right now our focus is on our employees (include customers and all those impacted) while law enforcement does their job.

• We don’t have any additional information at this time.


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During the Event (Public)

• We are concerned about our team (include customers and/or all those impacted) and doing everything we can to ensure their safety and wellbeing.

• We can confirm that (enter info, such as: an emergency call was made) from (location) and those on the premises have been instructed to (take cover/find a secure location as trained).

• Do not share names, speculate about what might have happened, or share about injuries or deaths that might have occurred.

• Law enforcement is in (enter location) and we are working closely with them to learn more information.

• As this is a part of an ongoing investigation, additional questions can be directed to law enforcement.

• We will share more information as soon as we can. • If the location is under lockdown: The (enter location) was immediately

(evacuated/locked down) following the incident.


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After the Event (Public)

• Provide high level summary, such as the one below: Around (enter time) this morning, an emergency call was made in response to threat in the building located at (enter address) where approximately (enter # of employees and contractors in building) work.

• If deaths occurred: This has been an unimaginably difficult day for our team. We are all stunned and deeply affected by the loss of team members (and others) and the horrible events our team (and all involved) have endured.

• We are committed to supporting our team as we all struggle to understand and cope with this news.

• We have encouraged employees to do whatever they need to grieve and process this incident. Grief counselors are being provided to support our team.


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After the Event (Internal)

• Today we experienced a terrible tragedy that we cannot begin to understand yet. We are all grieving deeply for our fellow employees (customer and others) who were victims of this unthinkable violence.

• As we all begin to process and cope with this experience, I want you to know that there will be (include support – such as grief counselors on-site for support, if available). I also want to acknowledge that this will impact everyone differently and I encourage you to take the time you need to grieve and begin to heal in your own way. More information will be coming from (HR/corporate) on how we handle this in the days and weeks ahead, but for today I welcome you to go home – or if some of you would like to just go be with your team somewhere off-site that may be a good idea too.

• I am grateful every day, to have you all on my team and to get to work together. Today I am especially thankful that you are all safe and knowing we will get through this together.

• You may be thinking about safety and how to prevent future incidents from occurring. (Company) takes this incident seriously and we are working directly with an organization that specializes in security and crisis prevention to understand how to better protect our team in the future.


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Social Media

• Your employees will probably post on social media during a major event – trying to stop them is futile.

• It’s just as important to post factual information on social media as it is to push out press releases.

• You have no idea how fast social media moves in a crisis until you’ve been in the middle of the storm.

• If you can, practice this with your communications team.

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Bryghtpath Free Resources

• Active Shooter 101 Course• Crisis Communications 101 Course

Bryghtpath Paid Resources• Active Shooter 101 eBook• Crisis Communications 101 eBook• Active Shooter Plan

http://bryghtpath.com/products

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BryanStrawserJenniferOtrembaBryghtpathLLC

Getthepresentationandcoursesathttp://bryghtpath.com

[email protected] /[email protected]+1-612-235-6435http://bryghtpath.com