Commitment to Learning

In the last blog I talked about the important of a commitment to training. When I talk about training I am generally referring to the physical aspects of skills, tactics and fitness. This week we will discuss the importance of making a personal commitment to the quest for knowledge. As a trainer I have had many mentors over the years. One thing they all possessed was a powerful desire to learn as much as they could about as many things as they could that were relevant to their job as a trainer as well as to the job for which they were preparing people. That meant learning about skills, tactics, fitness, anatomy, physiology, sociology, psychology, communication, adult learning theory, sales, history, marketing, leadership, management, design, the law, the criminal mind, crime trends, and any other topic that MAY be relevant in some way. Over the years I have learned the importance seeking knowledge from both inside and outside of the law enforcement community.

Knowledge is available through a variety of mediums which includes, but is not limited to, books, audio recordings, seminars, conferences, interviews, training courses, videos, brain storming sessions, observation, magazines, articles, websites, debriefings, trial and personal experience.

Conferences such as The Legacy of Excellence and the ILEETA International Training Conference and Expo provide the opportunity to get exposed to a vast amount of knowledge and experience in a single event. In fact, the reason I compiled, edited and published the books W.I.N. – Critical Issues in Training and Leading Warriors and W.I.N. 2 – Insights Into Training and Leading Warriorswas to bring together some of this vast knowledge and knowledge into easy to read books for trainers and officers.

W.I.N. 2 Insights into Training and Leading Warriors

I then created the Warrior Spirit Books website to provide a website where people could go to access a wide selection of great resources to enhance their knowledge.

The internet provides a gateway to knowledge from a wide variety of sources as does your local library. Team up with the people on your squad or training team to create a library of resources that you can all share and grow from. If you have five people on your team and each one subscribes to a different periodical which you read, then circulate then for an investment about $25.00 a year you get access to five different magazines. There are a lot of great magazines out there. In addition to the many great law enforcement magazines consider subscribing to Success magazine which is one of my favorites. Getting each one of that same group of five people to invest in an audio book twice a year, listen to it then circulate it creates access to 10 audio books a year for each group member for an investment of about $50.00 a year.

Just as with training it is critical to make the time to learn. Here are some thoughts:

The research suggests that the average person spends an hour a day in their vehicle (or on public transportation) commuting. Take that hour to listen to educational and motivational material. An hour a day six days a week converts to 312 hours of learning a year. Over a 25 year career that is 7800 hours of learning.
Find an hour a day to read. That hour a day of reading is 364 hours of learning a year. Over that same 25 year career that is another 9100 hours of learning.
Combine the two and you have created 16,900 hours of learning over a 25 year career. Add the 800 hours you created from training 10 minutes a day and you have 17,700 hours of learning in that 25 year career. If you attend conferences and other training courses regularly you will have experienced over 20,000 hours of learning over 25 years. That will help you to be at the top of your field through your career, set a great example for others, and put you in a great position when you retire and move on to your next career or the next phase of your life.

Understand that knowledge is not power, Knowledge is power potential. By power potential I mean that it has the potential to empower others when it is shared, and it has the potential to empower you when you put it into action. When you combine the commitment to training and the commitment to knowledge the result is a lifelong commitment to learning that results in tremendous personal growth and development. It has results in the ability for you to provide the best possible learning experiences for your personnel.

Take care.

Brian Willis

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