Last week I wrote about the power of 10-minute training blocks to micro dose and slow drip training throughout the year, year after year. Those 10-minutes daily training sessions should become part of the agency culture and not just for patrol personnel. Part of the shift to making it a key element of the organizational culture is to get people to think of training as an agency wide responsibility, and not just the responsibility of the small cadre of people assigned to the Training Section.
Some of the possibilities to expand the Tribe of Trainers could include:
- Experienced investigators developing short investigative and crime scene management training tips.
- Canine officers providing tips on area containment as well as tips for patrol personnel assigned to accompany a canine officer and his or her dog on a track.
- Prosecutors or judges providing tips on effective note taking and court testimony.
- Former collegiate, professional, or Olympic athletes on the department sharing insights on how they apply mental skills from their sporting careers to their law enforcement careers.
- Sport and performance psychologists sharing tips on keys to performing at your best in pressure situations.
- Professional Standards personnel sharing career survival tips.
- Crisis negotiators sharing tips on effectively communicating with highly emotional people.
- Peer support personnel sharing insights into how they can be of service.
- Fitness professionals sharing insights into how to train in condensed time, with limited equipment, to be fit to be useful while working shifts.
- Financial experts providing tips on financial planning.
- Mindfulness experts sharing tips to develop a mindfulness practice.
- Mental health professionals providing tips on self-care strategies.
- Officer safety instructors reviewing tactics such as hallway movements during an active killer event with 1, 2, 3 and 4 officer elements, managing doorways during building searches, using flashlights effectively in low light environments and a host of other topics.
- Control tactics instructors reviewing handcuffing, search patterns, etc.
- Legal instructors or legal council providing brief explanations on case law decisions and key legal issues.
- Respected leaders in your agency sharing leadership tips.
- Respected leaders from your community sharing leadership tips.
- Members of your agency sharing tips and insights from their favorite leadership books.
- Local physical therapists or athletic trainers sharing tips on simple stretches or exercises to deal with low back and other common physical issues.
- Community members sharing stories of positive interactions with members of your agency.
- 9-1-1 operators and dispatchers sharing insights from their world after the phone rings.
- Crime analysts sharing information on what they do, how they can help and some of the trends they are seeing.
- Senior leadership doing a “What the hell were you thinking?” series on what they were thinking and the factors they considered when making recent decisions.
All the above listed trainings could be recorded in 10-minute segments and then stored in a learning management system so people could access them on their own, and supervisors could access them to use as training modules at the start of shift.
Make it easy for people to suggest new training topics and make it easy for them to get involved in sharing their expertise.
With the technology available today and with most people having a high-quality video camera on the phone it is easier than ever to develop and record content.
Remember that there is a need for the relentless, consistent repetition of the message and that continually and consistently repeating the message is a mechanism for competence and culture. The best way to do that is to grow your tribe of trainers, get as many people as possible involved in the creation and delivery of training and make training part of the culture.
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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