Case Study: Building a Preparedness Roadmap for a City/County Office of Emergency Management
How one emergency management team defined success, aligned priorities, and selected projects to strengthen disaster readiness
The Situation
Our client, a large city/county Office of Emergency Management, needed a way to select preparedness projects that would enhance its ability to respond to and recover from disasters, with a new leadership team, while ensuring staff remained ready ready for Emergency Operations Center (EOC) activations.
At the core of this challenge, the office leadership team needed to do two things:
Define Success During EOC Activations. Before establishing their annual preparedness goals and work plan, the team needed to establish a clear and shared understanding of how they would be assessed during large-scale disasters requiring activating their EOC. Preparing with the end in mind was a critical, but unmet need.
Scope High-Priority Preparedness Projects. Preparedness work can feel limitless and can consume every available minute and more. Without a structured and thoughtful approach to identifying, scoping, and selecting disaster preparedness projects, the office risked exhausting its staff before even activating the EOC and limiting its ability to determine whether the team met its annual goals.
The combination of these needs underscored the value of developing a Preparedness Roadmap to guide the office’s annual planning and support staffing decisions for the year ahead.
According to the office's director, “While we have many responsibilities, none are more important than our ability to bring together our partners, coordinate response efforts, and support our community. Starting this process by defining what a successful response looked like was essential to focusing our preparedness efforts.”
The CP Journal’s Approach
To address the organization's challenges and deliver a meaningful Preparedness Roadmap, The CP Journal partnered with their leadership team to design and facilitate a structured series of workshops. These collaborative sessions provided the foundation for advancing their readiness and ensuring alignment with their mission of building resilience across the community.
The project progressed through three distinct phases, each designed to achieve critical outcomes.
Phase 1 | Defining Success. The process began by establishing a shared definition of success for Emergency Operations Center (EOC) activations. During the initial workshop, the team established success criteria for seven critical EOC functions, using clear yes/no questions to create measurable benchmarks.
This collaborative process not only defined success but also enabled the organization to assess their current state of readiness against these criteria. By identifying gaps and opportunities, the team was able to set informed expectations for the year ahead and focus their efforts on the most impactful areas.
Phase 2 | Setting a Vision for the Year. Together, the team envisioned what readiness would look like 12 months into the future, establishing the “definition of done” for the year ahead. This shared vision anchored the workplan development to meet their long-term objectives.
Key elements of this phase included:
Establishing a schedule for plan maintenance and strategic projects.
Proactively identifying potential obstacles that could hinder progress, equipping leadership with clear “red flags” to monitor and address.
This forward-thinking approach empowered the organization's leadership, elected officials, and city/county leaders to support the plan’s implementation and ensure its resilience.
Phase 3 | Project Selection. With a clear vision in place, the team identified and scoped 10 actionable projects critical to achieving their goals. These projects were integrated with the office’s plan maintenance schedule and anticipated exercises, enabling clear delegation and progress tracking throughout the year.
The selected initiatives were designed to be both impactful and manageable, ensuring both sustainable growth and measurable improvements in preparedness.
Project Outcome
By the end of the engagement, The CP Journal delivered a focused Preparedness Roadmap tailored to the organization's needs. This roadmap not only guided their preparedness efforts but also positioned the organization for growth and success in the year ahead.
As The CP Journal’s co-founder, Patrick Van Horne, explained, "A key element of getting left of bang is developing the capabilities needed for a successful response to and recovery from disasters. Even on the worst of days, organizations can position themselves to succeed. Teams thrive when they understand what they’re expected to do and how it aligns with organizational goals. By starting with the end in mind, determining what needs to happen to make that vision a reality, and empowering staff to execute, organizations can achieve remarkable outcomes. This doesn’t mean they don’t adapt or adjust priorities when disasters strike, but having a plan ensures they know what they’re adapting from."
Through this project, the client demonstrated the power of strategic planning, collaborative leadership, and actionable roadmaps in driving organizational success.
Achieve Preparedness Success
Is your organization ready to tackle its biggest preparedness challenges and build your Preparedness Roadmap? The CP Journal specializes in helping teams define success, align their efforts with long-term goals, and execute actionable strategies that your team for the unexpected.
Contact us today to learn how we can help your organization get left of bang and achieve remarkable outcomes, even in the face of uncertainty.