"We are not what we know, but what we are willing to learn." Mary Catherine Bateson If you are going to be an effective trainer you need to be a continual learner. As a continual learner you will spend time being a student in someone else’s training class.  When you are in the student role you need to strive to be an ideal student. What behaviors are consistent with being a good student? Show up with the mindset of an open, active, and engaged learner. Bring a notebook and a pen for taking notes.Take notes. Be on time; at the start of the day, coming back from … [Read more...]

I see demonstration videos with law enforcement trainers showing techniques in a controlled setting, on a matted surface, with a compliant partner, while wearing a gi, or workout gear. That is fine, but the question on many people’s minds is, “Does it work in the real world?” Does it work for an officer wearing full duty gear including a pistol, knife, baton, OC, CEW, radio and external body armor with all the gear they carry on patrol including extra rifle mags, trauma kit and anything else they carry? Does it work while they are carrying a slung rifle? Does it work for a detective … [Read more...]

Every law enforcement trainer needs to read the book Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of REAL TOUGHNESS by Steve Magness. In fact, this book should be mandatory reading for every law enforcement academy trainer and every person in the chain of command at every law enforcement academy in North America, ideally before they assume those roles. If your reaction when you read the book is, “This is crap. He is suggesting we make our training soft and all touchy-feely.”, or the classic, “He doesn’t understand the realities of our profession.”, then it may be … [Read more...]

I am a fan of James Clear’s book Atomic Habits and his weekly 3-2-1 Thursday Newsletter. The below is an excerpt from his August 11, 2022, newsletter.  "In the beginning, your skills are raw, your knowledge is sparse, and you lack experience. At best, you will be able to produce work that is "just okay." And even then, you'll only manage to reach "just okay" by giving your best effort. Nobody wants to produce something that is "just okay." You'll feel like it's beneath your standards. You'll worry about what others think of you. You'll wonder whether you would be better off taking a … [Read more...]

Law enforcement is a profession of humans, who interact with other humans, both within their organizations and out on the street. Humans are imperfect. Humans memory is flawed. Humans are subject to biases. Humans are impacted by stress and trauma. All humans are impacted by sleep deprivation. Humans are affected by internal and external physiological, psychological and environmental factors.  What is the point of all this? Too often in training we forget about the human and the factors that impact humans. We make it about the latest tool, gadget, or piece of equipment. We seem to be … [Read more...]

Most trainers have likely heard about the importance of asking questions during training to engage the attendees and shift them from attendees to participants. If you are going to ask a question however, you need to wait and allow people the opportunity to answer. Their answer will likely open the door to additional questions to explore their thought process or to bring other people into the discussion. I have seen a couple of video clips recently of experienced and extremely knowledgeable instructors who were asking rapid fire questions to the class without waiting for anyone to answer. … [Read more...]

Over the years I have had trainers reach out to me and ask, “How do I get my name out there?” My initial response is to ask three questions, “What does ‘get your name out there’ mean to you?”, “Why is it important to you to get your name out there?”, and “What are you seeking to achieve?” Usually, they have just started a training business and want to know how to create name recognition in the market to generate business. My best advice is simple, “Do the work.” Do the work to learn, study and continually grow. Continually work on your craft. Develop great content that serves a need and … [Read more...]

Tom House is a former major league baseball player who became a sought-after coach in baseball and football for teaching throwing mechanics as part of the total development of the athletes he worked with. Tom has worked with many of the biggest names in MLB and the NFL. He also has a PhD in Sport and Performance Psychology.  In his interview with Michael Gervais on the Finding Mastery Podcast House talks about the importance of long-term adaptive learning. He describes it as three stages,  We learn to learn. We learn. We learn to relearn. As a trainer you need to … [Read more...]

What we are currently seeing in many agencies around North America is the illusion of preparation. They brought in some training company to put all their people through a one or two day training program on to respond to an active shooter at a school. Some agencies have purchased rifles for their schools. Some have also purchased ballistic shields. All these things can create the illusion of being prepared.  Granted, you might be prepared if an “active shooter” event takes place in a school in your jurisdiction the first week or two of school. What happens however, if the active killer event … [Read more...]

No AssholesNo BulliesNo Dickheads No EgosNo Malcontents Take a step back and have a long hard look at the people in all positions in your training section and your training cadre. If you have people that fall into the above listed groups then have a courageous conversation with them and let them know this behavior is unacceptable and if they want to continue in their role as a trainer they need to change their behavior. If they are unwilling to change their behavior, then move them out of training positions. This goes for the leadership group as well as the trainers.   It … [Read more...]