4: Learning & Innovation
Enhance FEMA's Ability to Learn and Innovate as an Organization Other Information:
The operational realities of crises make it impossible to predict exactly who is going to be doing what, when, why, and/or
how in a disaster environment. This initiative puts a premium on developing organizational capacity to learn from past experience,
rapidly orient and apply that learning in current contexts, and adapt to quickly changing conditions. FEMA can facilitate
this kind of organizational growth by improving its evaluation of operational performance in both real world incidents and
simulated exercises.
Stakeholder(s):
- FEMA Partners: FEMA will develop an integrated after action review process to evaluate operational performance in both real and simulated
events consistently. FEMA will then work with our partners to track efforts to act on and address lessons learned. FEMA's
methodology will be nimble and support the rapid analysis of raw data and have mechanisms that allow for the near-real time
sharing of after action findings with partners within and outside of government. The methodology will also be performance-based,
allowing for comparisons between predicted and actual performance and incorporating meta analyses that look across multiple
events and exercises to analyze performance trends over time. FEMA's approach will seek to develop a broader understanding
of national capabilities and readiness that transcends the particulars of individual incidents or scenarios, and will include
analyses of how underlying community conditions and vulnerabilities may have contributed to outcomes experienced in disasters.
In doing so, the evaluation process will provide a mechanism used to engage with new partners to strengthen disaster resilience.
Consistently evaluating operational performance and acting on lessons learned will better enable FEMA and the emergency management
community to share best practices and implement effective ideas and solutions, thus creating an emergency management culture
that positively evolves as a result of constructive experience.
- Emergency Management Officials: To support broader learning and innovation, FEMA will realign and enhance existing and emerging training and education programs
for state, local, tribal emergency management officials, and FEMA employees, into a comprehensive emergency management curriculum.
- Emergency Management Institute: FEMA's Emergency Management Institute (EMI), Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP), and the FEMA-sponsored Center for Homeland
Defense and Security (CHDS) at the Naval Postgraduate School will play prominent roles in this effort. The programs at EMI,
CDP, and CHDS, along with FEMA's other training and education providers, will serve as the basis for training in core competencies
across four areas; foundational, technical, management and leadership. FEMA's approach will emphasize education opportunities
for newly appointed emergency managers and staff from state, local, tribal and territorial, and Federal emergency management
offices. It will focus on the core competencies to provide new practitioners with broad and generalized knowledge and skills
in the field of emergency management that meaningfully correlate to job performance. It will also build on executive level
programs that build strategic leadership competencies and foster collaborative action among current and future emergency management
leaders.
- Center for Domestic Preparedness
- Center for Homeland Defense and Security
- Naval Postgraduate School
- FEMA Innovation Council: FEMA will create structured mechanisms, including establishing an innovation council, to promote and enable development of
creative solutions to emergency management challenges. We will create opportunities to bring together leading entrepreneurs,
technologists, academics, stakeholders, and subject matter experts from diverse fields to offer fresh perspectives and alternative
approaches. We will also continue our efforts to understand the future environment and develop strategies that will allow
the emergency management community to address upcoming needs.
- Entrepreneurs
- Technologists
- Academics
- Subject Matter Experts
- FEMA Employees: The best ideas, whether generated internally by FEMA employees or through a synthesis of collective brainstorming sessions
and workshops, will help the national emergency management team adjust operating concepts and approaches. By doing so, the
team will be able to achieve more effective outcomes and enhance the Nation's resilience to disasters. FEMA will foster an
innovative culture that accepts and integrates fresh ideas to resolve longstanding challenges, encouraging FEMA employees
and our partners to examine a situation, apply a broad set of shared experience, and make decisions that are in the best interest
of the American people.
- National Emergency Management Team
Objective(s):
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