Phew, glad that was over.
After the handover today, this marks the end of my first-time experience as Incident Commander (IC) for our operational region’s Emergency Management Team (EMT).
The first day I received this duty phone, I said to the wifey: “this phone is scary man”.
Not realizing that was the third time I said it, she replied, “are you going to say this all week?” #savage 🤣
Boy, the anxiety. As a noob first-timer who isn’t familiar with the entire incident response procedures, it brings back flashback memories of being a fresh graduate: Am I doing this right? What should I be doing, that people aren’t pointing out? Did i word that incident report correctly? Is it potentially going to lead to misinformation?
Every notification, every ringtone, makes your heart skip a beat. It almost feels like carrying a baby in your pocket. Except with a baby, you can “hope” that she settles down by herself, and learn to develop "selective ignorance" - this one, you MUST attend, regardless.
Here’s what I learnt, though:
1. Curiosity (with a great team) is your best friend - when in doubt, always ask questions. Everyone tells me: “No worries, you have a great team" And yes, it’s true! Every time I ask questions, I immediately get answers. It’s like being a fresh grad, but with all the SME’s around you ready to guide you.
2. Learn the history - since we can review the chat history, we can read how past IC’s & team members used to respond/act (and if they committed any msitakes), and we can learn from them
3. Complete References - because the EMT duty roster rotates every week, the team have developed a complete set of references to guide us A-to-Z. Everything is there: from procedures, contact numbers, contingency plans. It reinforces the importance of establishing solid working systems if you want to ensure sustainability of leadership succession planning.
Having to be vigilant 24-7, reminds me of the hadith about the virtues of Ribaat: Guarding the borders. The Prophet ﷺ said:
“رِبَاطُ يَوْمٍ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا وَمَا عَلَيْهَا”
“Guarding the borders from its enemies for one day in the cause of Allah, is better than the entire world and everything in it.” (Al-Bukhari, Muslim)
In another narration:
رِبَاطُ يَوْمٍ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَفْضَلُ مِنْ أَلْفِ يَوْمٍ فِيمَا سِوَاهُ فَلْيُرَابِطْ امْرُؤٌ كَيْفَ شَاءَ
“Standing guard on the border for one day for the sake of Allah is better than one thousand ordinary days, so let a man stand on guard at the border as much as he wants.” (Musnad Ahmad)
It’s not an easy job, and 7-days of IC duty gave a little taste of that. To be fair, the IC duty is way easier, too: you just have to be alert and vigilant of the phone ring/vibration. You can work, eat, study, play, exercise, sleep - as long as you attend to the notifications and respond. But with guarding borders.. man.
Alhamdulillah, it was a good learning experience. But it's OK, I'll have my weekend now. I shall gladly pass the torch to the next IC, thank you very much 😇
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