Beating the Elements: How to Make Weather Preparedness Training a Priority

I’m obsessed with weather preparedness training. OBSESSED! ??

Living in Florida, weather is always top of mind - especially when you’re an Ops manager. When back-to-back-to-back hurricanes hit Central Florida one summer, my movie theatre was the only business in the area with power. We had to staff up to handle the crowds while taking care of team members who were struggling with the storms’ aftermath. At Disney, I was constantly responding to heat-related illnesses as visitors struggled with the Florida humidity. ??

When I landed in L&D, I was curious to see how companies prepared workers to deal with weather. I didn’t find much. Weather is a local thing. The challenges people face in Philadelphia are wildly different than those in Phoenix. L&D typically doesn’t have the time or resources to get involved. Corporate communications may push out reminders about “beating the heat” during the summer or send alerts to locations in the path of oncoming storms. But it’s mostly up to local teams to prepare their people. They already have too much to do, so preparation falls to the bottom of the list - until something happens. ??

Unfortunately, that’s often too late, especially in the case of sudden weather events. People need the right knowledge to make smart decisions in the moment to keep themselves, peers, customers and family members safe. After all, knowing how to deal with weather-related emergencies is valuable both at work and at home. It’s also an increasingly important topic in the face of climate change.?

There may be resources available from the local government, but how many people can actually find them when needed? People spend 8+ hours per day at work. They know how to access information and training on the job. Companies have a chance to leverage this access and make weather preparedness an ongoing priority. They just need an easy way to connect employees with the right information - without disrupting the operation or piling onto L&D’s already-overloaded to-do list.?

This is why I’m so excited about Axonify 's weather preparedness tools! ?? Our stellar Content Marketplace team built a collection of weather-related topics covering need-to-know info for emergencies like wild fires ??, winter storms ???, hurricanes ?? and tornados ???. For example, the super timely winter storm collection addresses:

?? Storm prep

?? Clothing tips

?? Frostbite avoidance

?? Snow and ice clearing

?? Frozen pipe solutions

?? Driver safety

But it’s not just a bunch of one-and-done videos. Axonify drives long-term knowledge retention through ongoing training and reinforcement. Every Marketplace topic includes reinforcement activities that challenge your ability to remember and apply what you've learned. ??

Axonify admins can target the right topics to the right employees based on the likelihood they’ll face a particular weather event. The content mixes with other job training topics so it’s consistently reinforced during daily microlearning sessions. Then, at the start of hurricane season for instance, admins can boost the priority of related topics for the right audiences to make sure employees get the practice they need to feel prepared. L&D can also make weather content available on-demand so people can boost their own knowledge. ??

It only took 15 years, but I finally found a way to help organizations make weather preparedness a priority - thanks to my Axonify team!?

How does your organization approach weather preparedness????