Last year I wrote a post encouraging trainers to think like a citizen scientist and run a series of small experiments as a way to enact small incremental improvements in training. I was reminded of that philosophy last week while listening to an AMA episode of Peter Attia MD’s podcast The Drive. In that episode Attia was asked about his response to people who are frustrated with the fact that he has changed his opinion on certain topics over the years. As part of his response, he made the statement, “If you can’t change your mind in the face of new data by definition you are not a scientist, you are an advocate. Advocacy has its place, but not without science.”
Earlier in the podcast Attia made the statement, “You can’t prove anything in biology. In biology there is no such thing as proof. This is not physics or mathematics. In biology, it’s all probability.”. That quote reminded me of a recent blog post by Seth Godin on Demanding Certainty. In that post Godin wrote: “The defenders of the status quo often demand certainty when facing decisions about the future. It sets up the conditions for doing nothing because certainty never happens until the future arrives. It’s much more useful to look at probabilities.” I believe that training, like biology, is all a matter of probability. That is why I talk about the fact that training needs to be grounded in and informed by the research, and is not “evidence based”.
Putting all this together, we, as a community of trainers, need to ask ourselves, “Am I advocating for ‘the way we do things here’, defending the status quo, and demanding certainty when making decisions about the future of our training programs?” I am sure we have all been guilty of that at some point in our training journey, I know I have.
If you are looking for absolutes and guarantees, then policing is not the profession for you, and training is not the specialty career path for you. Everything we do in training, and in the profession is based on probabilities. Perfect practice is an unattainable standard, as is perfect performance. There are principles and concepts that when utilized effectively will enhance the probability of making learning stick, but there are no guarantees. Every tool and tactic we teach will fail at some point. Everything works some of the time, but nothing works all of the time. No model, philosophy or theory of teaching and coaching will always be effective with every learner. It is based on probabilities, on the learner(s), the task you are teaching, the learning environment, the stage of learning and the time you have available to work with the learners. This is why I am a supporter of the concept Professional Judgement and Decision Making (PJDM) in coaching. PJDM is also known as, “It Depends Coaching”. While some use “It Depends Coaching” as a derogatory term and suggest you need to pick a model or theoretical framework, I believe it is an important, and completely appropriate concept for trainers to embrace. (You can check out the blog post from November 28, 2023 titled, “Adult diapers, use of force, and training.” for more on this.)
This is what the screamers and yellers and the special interest groups fail to understand. They think there is some magical set of words that will always work to “de-escalate” every subject and situation. They want guarantees of 100% certainty with our decisions, tactics and use of force. With the wisdom of 20 / 20 hindsight they are quick to point out what you should have done, as if there were a guarantee that somehow their tactics would have resolved the situation in what they believe is the ideal manner.
This whole discussion speaks to the art and the science of training. The “science” component requires you to look at the vast body of research on learning, teaching, coaching, psychology, human performance, and human factors and let that ground and inform your training. The “art” component is about the application of that information, understanding that training is all about probabilities, and about the willingness to embrace uncertainty by running a series of well thought out experiments to help the men and women you train to become dextrous, adaptive, and resilient problem solvers.
The challenge for all of us is to embrace the uncertainty, continue to run a series of small experiments, and avoid becoming a defender of the status quo.
Take care.
Brian Willis
Winning Mind Training – Providing practical training to law enforcement professionals in the areas of instructor development, Performance Enhancement Imagery, leadership and mindset.
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