The Maryland-National Capital Region Emergency Response System (MDERS) has offered countless training events in recent years. Some of the most popular include the Annual Maryland-National Capital Region Emergency Response Symposium and the 2019 Fall Leadership Seminar. Participants in these programs consistently requested more opportunities for leadership education and development. These requests drove MDERS, in partnership with Harvard University’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI), to recently host a four-part Virtual Emergency Response Leadership Seminar Series for leaders in the National Capital Region (NCR). The series included essential tools and techniques of Meta-Leadership.

Meta-Leadership is using one’s influence, rather this his or her authority, to drive action and change. This technique cultivates leadership at all levels and allows leaders to impact far beyond their established span of control.

The seminar series was led by NPLI Associate Director and co-author of the book You’re It, Eric McNulty. The series focused on three dimensions of Meta-Leadership—the Person, the Situation, and Connectivity—to help one better understand themselves as a leader, the challenges one faces, and how to bring stakeholders together to achieve cohesive action. The program was tailored to the emergency response realm, specifically the unique characteristics and nuances of the Maryland-NCR.

The program was well received by attendees and highlighted the need for further leadership development opportunities for emergency response leaders in the Maryland-NCR. As such, MDERS will again partner with NPLI to host the next portion of the MDERS Emergency Response Leadership Seminar Series: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, which will start in March 2021.

This four-part, interactive program will explore the dynamics of conflict and present pragmatic tools for managing and settling it. The series will focus on the roots and accelerants of conflict. Participants will develop an understanding of the five different approaches to engaging in conflict, as well as the two principal approaches to negotiation. To wrap up the series, participants will work through a simulation on conflict and negotiation, drawing on the lessons they have learned in the first three sessions to solve the case.

To register for the for the MDERS Emergency Response Leadership Seminar Series: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution please contact MDERS Training & Exercise Specialist Hannah Thomas at Hannah.Thomas1@Maryland.gov.