The ‘Minimum Standard‘ is a starting point, not a goal or a desired end state.
It is easy to get sucked into believing the minimum standard is the goal. After all, that is what is required by the province, the state or the governing body for your training. Some administrators will use the minimum standard to determine how much time you get for training. Some trainers pat themselves on the back because they got everyone to the minimum standard within the allotted time.
The reality however, is that there will always be slippage in the field. If you only get people to the minimum standard in training you run the risk they will perform below that level in the field. When that happens too many people like to blame the officer who “failed to perform to the level to which they were trained” – the minimum standard – when we should be looking in the mirror and asking how we failed that officer.
Strive to get everyone to the minimum standard as quickly as possible in your training, then spend the rest of your time taking them well beyond that point. Strive to build their competence, confidence and understanding to a point that when slippage in the field does occur, they still perform at an exceptional level.
Take care.
Brian Willis
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