On Journeys

Preface: First, it has been a good while since I have written. Uninspired and busy is a poor combination and for those who read and follow this blog I have endeavored to give you the best quality that I am capable of. So, writing just to write and churning out sub-par material seems counter productive. Secondly, the topic of this blog is leadership. Before I dive into this, I want to say up front that I do not profess to be a great leader of men. I do profess to have made many mistakes along my journey have found myself in a somewhat unique situation now where I have been able to humbly reflect upon those mistakes, share what I have learned with others and thusly create a better version of myself.

The assignment: Although retired, I work part time at a public safety communications organization. My primary capacity in this organization is wellness. In that mission, I take care of the dispatchers. I assist in providing peer support, critical incident stress debriefings, and other things that help the dispatchers thrive. The director of the organization (a long time friend and coworker of mine ) believes in this mission and wholeheartedly supports it. That said, he also believes in utilizing his staff to the best of their abilities. To that end, many months ago he approached me and challenged me to put together leadership training for the entire agency. Knowing that I had a strong background in training, some leadership experience, had assisted with training previously around the agency and knew most of the issues the agency faced, I suppose he felt I was right for the job. I, on the other had found the assignment daunting on many levels.

I ran at the assignment from a couple of different angles. Each time, I found myself stymied. Finally, I came up with what I believed would be the right fit for our agency. A custom built, tailor made nine hour training session with two guest speakers (our prosecutor and sheriff). It was a heavy, heavy lift.

The Build: It took me several weeks to build the class. The PowerPoint is over sixty slides long (plus accompanying lesson plan). There are handouts, coordinating and scheduling the guest speakers, classrooms, shift worker students and making certain that the content met the needs and expectations of the director of the organization. Aside from building the training, there were meetings, practice run throughs, a bit of pre-game drama and some concern about my syllabus and the time allotted. Since I had never taught this, was it too much? Too little? How would it work? Could I deliver it with the energy and focus that it warranted?

Game Day: As of this writing, I have presented three of the predicted five classes for the agency. The first of which was a condensed version for the administrative personnel which allowed me to do a run through on a faster timeline with a live audience. The next two classes were live nine hour long classes with the guest speakers and all. I learned an awful lot. First of all, I learned that apparently, I am not as young as I used to be. After nine hours…I was done. After two nine hours classes in one week, I was exhausted. I brought my best to the classroom. At the outset of the class I challenged the students with three things: 1. Be polite to me and each other. 2. If I agree to give them everything I had, all I asked in return is that they participate actively. and, 3. As we discuss the various aspects of leadership to reflect inwardly and see if there was anything we talked about that they could utilize in their lives to improve their leadership skills. Almost without exception (there are always one or two) I was delighted by the stunning level of engagement and professional demeanors during that engagement.

The Teacher Becomes the Student: I became a law enforcement instructor in the early 90s. I’ve been an FTO, a high liability trainer, taught academy classes, lectured civilians, had recurring teaching roles at a high school, and guest lectured for university classes. Each time I taught somewhere, I learned from my students/audience so it was no surprise when the employees at the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) where I work took to me to school. Here are a few things I learned and am grateful to have been present in the classroom for:

Never underestimate the ability of the students to surprise you. There were multiple surprises all throughout the classes, but here are some of the highlights. Most of the employees were grumpy about attending this compulsory training. It was long, came on some of their days off and some of the other employees had spread rumors about lack of breaks etc. that made it even less appealing. Even after all of that, I had numerous people in person and in writing (course evaluations) tell me that although they were not looking forward to the class and didn’t think the material had anything to do with them, they were now excited about it!

Personal growth sometimes happens in class right in front of you. A portion of the class has to do with discipline/corrective action as it relates to leadership. During the discussion of that during one class, a student who had not had much to say raised their hand and quietly said something to the effect of “I used to think I was being targeted, but then I realized that it was just me.” I was stunned, asked them to repeat this and we discussed it as a class. That was an amazing realization to come to and an even more amazing thing to share with the class!

There were also lessons that I learned from side discussions, classroom banter and exercises that disturbed me. One is that to divide is not to lead. Leaders by definition unite and inspire people to action. Divisiveness, should not be a part of en effective leader’s lexicon. Note-this was some of the stuff I overheard, not any agency practice. Finally, I learned that there are people who are under the impression that learning is finite. Education ends. Whether this is hubris, ignorance, or wether they actually are leadership experts who “didn’t learn anything new” in the nine hours of class with two exceptional guest speakers or not, only they know. What I know is that after all these years of teaching, I learn something every time I set foot in front of a class.

I may never have an opportunity to experience positional leadership again in my career. That’s okay with me. I grateful for my time behind the wheel and I am even more grateful for all the students over the years who taught the teacher.