You’ve been working hard to set the stage for success. Now, you and your employees can start writing your center’s new story, together. If you’ve been following this article series based on my book, “People Driven Leadership: How the Best 9-1-1 Centers Inspire Positive Change,” you know that this is the final installment. Over the…
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9-1-1 work takes a toll on those under the headset. Are you giving your employees the resources to thrive? In 2007 a study was published—the first of its kind—exploring the connection between duty-related trauma in 9-1-1 and PTSD symptoms. This was the first conclusive evidence that proved what 9-1-1 professionals have known all along: This…
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Appreciation inspires commitment — but it has to be genuine, and demonstrated daily. I began this article series with one simple premise: the best comm centers in this country share several common characteristics. Throughout the series, I’ve discussed these traits at length. We’ve seen, for example, how good communication helps centers succeed, and how the…
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By Jeffrey Vilk, Guest Writer In the closing scene of the 2000 movie “The Patriot,” General Lord Charles Cornwallis is staring with despair out his window as he watches American colonists win another battle over British troops. In this moment, he utters to his assistant, “Everything is changing…everything has changed.” This is the perfect metaphor…
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Employee engagement isn’t just about who’s a “good worker” and who isn’t — it’s about building successful teams. Last week, I discussed why regular feedback is critical to being a successful comm center. Feedback conversations are an opportunity for employees to gain insight for course correction. They’re also a good way to build rapport and…
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When done right, coaching can help your employees improve, and it can make you a better leader too. In a 2018 Harvard Business Review article, Julia Milner and Trenton Milner shared research that came as a shock to many managers and supervisors: Most people in a leadership role don’t actually know what it means to…
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Good feedback provides course correction, establishes trust and emphasizes employees’ strengths before weaknesses. Too often, telecommunicators take call after call and work shift after shift without receiving one key piece of support: supportive feedback. In comm centers across the country, these employees do their part by working hard and saving lives, but they don’t receive…
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If you’re struggling to get the right people in the seats (and keep them there), your hiring process could be to blame. More and more directors are bemoaning the fact they can’t seem to get the right people in the seats. Low staffing and high turnover drag down even formerly successful centers, and leadership teams…
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By Jeffrey Vilk, Guest Writer “9-1-1, where is your emergency?” It seems like such a simple phrase now — a phrase that’s almost taken for granted. You dial those three numbers and expect the same response when calling. However, it has taken decades to get to this point. Emergency dispatching has gone from simply a…
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Accountability is the key to changing your center’s weaknesses into its strengths. In the 1960s, behavioral psychologist John Stacey Adams made an interesting statement about fairness in the workplace. He theorized that when employees perceive inequity, they will seek to reduce it in one of two main ways: by directly altering inputs (what the employee…
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