Rising to the challenge

In times of crisis, such as last month's significant flood event, communities rely on established leaders - city officials, law enforcement, media - to make sense of what's happening and understand what to do.

But in addition to those institutional leaders, it's not unusual for other community members to take on essential leadership roles outside of their daily responsibilities - to identify an unmet need and step forward to address it.

Several such leaders played key roles in minimizing the damage last month's flood inflicted on Cedar Rapids. Recently, we talked with a few of them about their experiences, including:

' Sue Driscoll

, manager of volunteer engagement for the United Way of East Central Iowa, led a disaster relief coordination team as part of the Linn Area Partners in Disaster.

' Gary Ficken

, president of Bimm Ridder Sportswear, used his experiences in the 2008 flood to advise the business community on how to respond to this recent flood threat.

' Jackie Stiles

, founder of Honest Floating, harnessed the power of social media to rally volunteers and communicate critical information.

In these excerpts from our interviews, you'll find varied approaches to leadership, but a common recognition in our community's need to adapt, collaborate, and to seek hidden resources and strengths when responding to exceptionally trying circumstances.

' ' '

SUE DRISCOLL

How did your role evolve?

During a disaster, the sense of urgency is much more heightened because things are happening very quickly. It's about connecting individuals who want to volunteer with those in the community who have the greatest needs, but doing to it at a much faster pace.

What characteristics define a leader in times of emergency?

One of the traits that rose to the top for me is flexibility. Take a step back, look at what's working, be open to ideas and know how to make changes quickly. I think that some people are naturally more flexible and adaptable. I also feel it's a trait that can be learned and practiced, depending on the position and role you play in the community.

What lessons did you learn?

Our community needs partnerships and collaborations with businesses, non-profits and government entities in order to bring a variety of strengths to the table and work in partnership as opposed to working in silos.

How can leaders continue their work?

Encourage conversations, talk about our experiences, what we learned, what we are going to change. There will be a next time.

Other thoughts?

You can't compare 2008 to 2016. The community pulled together and worked side by side. There were no separations, everybody did what they needed to do and didn't ask questions. It was really impressive and to be part of that.

' ' '

GARY FICKEN

How did your role evolve?

I offered to come out of retirement from 2008 and lend a helping hand or voice for the small business side of recovery. In 2008, I headed a committee that through time was deemed the Small Business Recovery Group - a committee that lasted for five years. Lending a voice of experience from the business side in 2016 was critical - plenty of businesses out there that are still paying off loans from the 2008 disaster. There were also plenty of new businesses, new business owners, that didn't have the experience of 2008. This time around, even before crest day, city and civic organizations knew they wanted to react immediately.

What characteristics define a leader in times of emergency?

Some people can get paralyzed with what to do, others will get moving immediately. They will fight hard, get a good plan in place and always look to refine it and make it better. They don't worry about creating a perfect plan - time doesn't allow it. I think initially it is a natural instinct but obviously experience helps a lot in forming better skills as time goes on.

What lessons did you learn?

A couple of things come to mind. Always spend time in preparation. Plan for the worst, hope you never have to use any of those plans, Insulate yourself the best you can from a potential disaster. It wasn't just the city and the civic organizations [who had to do this]. In putting sandbags together and helping coordinate semi loads of product and equipment to leave the flood zone for the businesses. The other lesson, especially at my age, was the huge percentage of the young volunteers. I think as business owners we get a little frustrated that youth don't have the work ethic as the generation before - but being in the flood zone during those few days really turned that around for me because there were so many young people wanting to help. That was inspiring.

How can leaders continue their work?

There is a good inventory of leaders in this town. All have different ways of lending a helping hand. There are plenty of leaders who like to lead by having meetings and those willing to roll up their sleeves and put the work in. Cedar Rapids has a combination of both.

Other thoughts?

In times of rising crests or future floods, we can't assume everything will go as well as it did in 2016. Lessons to learn are in the fact that plenty of people's lives are affected and we need to think about flood protection. Go to the businesses that were affected - we need to save as many businesses as possible. There will be businesses that want to leave the flood zone and we don't want to create ghost towns in different pockets of the downtown area.

' ' '

JACKIE STILES

How did your role evolve?

The Friday before the crest, I was in NewBo to sandbag, walking the whole neighborhood. Lots of people needed help connecting with where to go, who to help. Saturday morning, I was thinking, what can I really do? I started the Facebook group CR Flood Help 2016 [for people to share needs and offers for help with flood prevention and recovery]. I worked through algorithms with Facebook and in four hours in we had 400 members. Suddenly we had administrators in the group, taking shifts and helping with posts, responding to requests.

What characteristics define a leader in times of emergency?

Someone can move fast on their feet, think of different options, select the right one quickly, to continue to turn over the ideas in your head about how it can be improved or tweaked, and sometimes people say it's love, drive, passion. Passion alone can't make up for thinking quick on your feet, understanding logistics of how Facebook works, or how people need to be spoken to in a time of stress. Patience is one of those. It boils down to encompassing the realistic needs in a fast paced thing like a flood and the moral or ethics, as well. Regarding natural or learned …. I've taken Myers Briggs, the Colby, Strength Finders, and I do find that I am stronger in what I am good at when I am following when it feels very natural and comfortable to me. I could try and do something that is unnatural to me. It's no service to that purpose because someone else is 10 times better at it because it is natural for them. People just innately feel an internal force or a comfortableness. I do think that there are some people that have become leaders that they have had to work very hard to go outside of their comfort zone. I appreciate and respect that very much. When we see someone that is doing it from a deep, comfortable place, we feel the difference.

What lessons did you learn?

I feel incredibly re-energized. I am harnessing that residual effect of all of this prep and this organizational process. I've heard a lot of people ask, how can I volunteer now? What can I do? I've got this boosted sense of community now. We have to communicate and find out where the structure is. How can we do this? I have been invited by different associations to see how we can work on connecting specifically for disaster relief. So meeting with non-profits I can help them learn how to connect with social media. We have 5,900 people in [the Facebook group] CR Flood Recovery Help, how do we continue ... and still have our day-to-day lives?

Other thoughts?

The energy is there. We can do things we set our mind to. Nobody asked their political party before grabbing sandbags. It draws on our heart and soul, it draws on our love for helping our neighbor, and being a community. Everyone had their own way of helping this event. It's been a great experience with all the positivity that has come from it. I know that there are places that do need our help still and are damaged, but the overall vibe is amazing.

' Comments: (319) 398-8469; editorial@thegazette.com