Training is Essential
Everyday, I read the headlines for news across the country and around the world. Often, non-work-related articles make me think of things that are important to the work-world. (And, even more frequently, they actually are work-related; it’s just that no one knows it.)
This article discusses the reaction of police leadership (New York State’s attorney general) to a lack of training by the officers involved in a fatal incident. In short, the officers are facing charges for the death of someone with mental illness. In reading this write-up, it seems to me the officers handled a situation for which they were not trained in a way that made sense to them at the time.
Disciplining the officers would be a short-term solution to a long-term problem. These officers were not malicious. They were just not appropriately trained. They probably aren’t even the right service to respond to these kinds of calls. Punishing the officers isn’t the answer; making sure we have trained professionals who can effectively respond to these types of calls is.
Are your people actually trained for the jobs they are expected to do?
What additional training and resources could your people use? How do you know? How could you know? Who would tell you? In what settings/ways?
How else can you show your people you support them and want them to be able to do a great job?