UC Futures Learning Legacy

Natural disaster is a risk that every organisation needs to manage. We learnt that effective recovery begins before a disaster happens, and that the CEO should focus on five key areas. While there is a degree of chronological progression from one area to the next, clear breaks are unlikely and they are likely to overlap and run concurrently. 

1. Before the disaster 

The CEO should focus on building networks. This means having relationships of trust and confidence with government and other advocates. Strong networks with other universities are particularly important when disaster strikes. After the earthquakes, we needed temporary homes for students to avoid study interruption, and several colleague institutions stepped up to provide places. Relationships like this take time to mature, but you will need to move quickly when disaster hits. So, begin now to build a network of stakeholders who will be ready to go into bat for you when you need them. 

2. Immediate response 

In the immediate crisis the CEO needs to take charge, and be seen to be in control. On the day of the largest earthquake, the UC Council delegated authority to the VC to take any action that was legal in support of the organisation. Normal decision-making processes were suspended during the four-week period in which this delegation was effective, meaning the VC could act promptly and with confidence as issues arose. 

3. Recovery 

Disaster can create an opportunity for significant organisational improvement. In the recovery stage, the CEO should facilitate the strategic forward vision and sow the seeds of desired change. Recovery should begin as soon as the immediate response phase has passed and can occur alongside facilities repair. For us, the recovery stage lasted over seven years. 

4. Transformation 

Change will be a necessary part of the recovery phase, with altered working and teaching environments driving different styles of day-to-day operation. But, once facilities are repaired and the organisation is on a more stable footing, it is time for active implementation of the change plan.We entered this phase eight years out from the major earthquake, embedding the organisational vision that was articulated when recovery began. 

5. Growth

Next, the CEO’s focus turns outwards, to ensure the organisation contributes to and benefits from the growth opportunities presented by recovery in the surrounding region. Networks become a priority again as the organisation adjusts to a new business as usual. 

After a major disaster, everyone is in a state of shock. The physical and financial risks of operation are increased, and staff and students will be stressed by events in their home lives as well as what is going on at work. One of the first big questions you are likely to face is whether to keep operating, or to go into hiatus until you can come back repaired and ready to operate business as usual. 

Our first strategic priority was ensuring the long-term survival of the university. With this in mind, we consulted internationally and the unequivocal advice we received was to stay open. If students drop away and enroll elsewhere, they won’t come back. Staff and programmes will follow, and the work required to rebuild that pipeline will likely kill the organisation. 

We re-opened three weeks after the February 22, 2011 earthquake, initially teaching in tents, and we have remained open ever since. Student numbers did drop, but they stayed at a viable level. It was a difficult time with limited resources requiring compromises from students and staff, but it was the right decision for us. We signaled early that replacing and repairing damaged facilities was a top priority and this helped us remain competitive in the short to medium term.  

We investing consciously in supporting continued quality of learning during recovery and, for our Engineering students, the campus even became a “living laboratory” offering a unique opportunity to engage with real world professional issues. 

This strategy took courage and required us to make major decisions more rapidly than would normally be the case. We were operating in a higher-risk environment than universities are accustomed to, and we needed to acknowledge the risk but back ourselves to succeed. It’s a downward spiral otherwise. Now, with new facilities on campus designed for today’s teaching, research and learning requirements, our position is stable and student numbers continue to grow towards pre-quake levels.