Books have been written, sessions have been conducted and papers have been researched, all in pursuit of the same elusive answer to the ultimate question about a career in 911:

How do you continually find and model positivity in an atmosphere that often seems so hellbent on sucking every ounce of it out of the room?

To manage your stress and nurture your wellness while working in a job that throws anxiety directly at your head seems like a huge ask. To be honest, there really isn’t a definitive answer around which the industry can easily coalesce. But there IS an answer, and, ultimately, it’s up to each of us to find our version of it (or not to).

The answer is found in the choices that we make, the paths that we choose and the way we treat each other.

It’s found in the way we see ourselves through the eyes of our coworkers.

It’s found in the way we see ourselves in the eyes of our customers.

It’s found in the way we define service to others.

It is there. You just have to be willing to put the work in to find it.

When I retired from Springfield-Greene County (MO) 911 in July of 2023, I was presented with a positivity award that will be given in my name to an employee there each year going forward. This incredibly humbling and deeply personal recognition from peers who I genuinely love represents the culmination of a nearly three-decade effort to persistently work toward discovering the answer to the question for myself.

I like to think I found and embraced my version of it. I carry it in my heart to this day.

As a 26-year-old new employee in 1994, I stumbled into 911 before ANI/ALI. There weren’t computer screens of any significance (the few we had lit the dim room in an ominous, avocado-green glow) and CAD was . . . less reliable than we would have liked. Paper maps were obligatory, phonebooks were essential and legitimate knowledge-on-demand of even the most remote geography was crucial. Training programs weren’t a thing and expectations differed, depending upon who you sat with to train and how much they cared to do the extra work associated with being an instructor — without any guidance or a penny of extra money.

But the stress and the expectation of perfection was exactly the same then as it is now. The negative elements still lurked on the dark side of the dispatch floor, the turnover was extreme, and the work hours were tortuously long. As I slowly gained my footing, I learned to reach out to my coworkers and allow myself to be vulnerable (a particularly difficult thing for people in 911 to do). I found reciprocation in this vulnerability. I learned that what I received in return strengthened me – and when I shared that same support, it reinforced my coworkers’ belief in themselves. I learned to laugh until I couldn’t breathe, even in the face of often terrible tragedy and raw emotion.

I became exactly what I needed.

As I promoted over the years – to trainer, supervisor, manager and director – I held on to the things that made my world better, my light brighter, and that warmed and illuminated the world of those around me. As my influence grew, so did my effort to be the person that I needed for those who needed it from me.

I found immense pleasure in a smile, a pat on the back or an email of support.

I found immeasurable satisfaction in being kind.

I found infinite reward in choosing positivity for positivity’s sake.

No promotion or raise ever approached the gratification of looking into the eyes of the people I so deeply cared for and seeing how they saw me in return.

No complement ever meant more than hearing from the police officer who offered thanks for my efforts to keep him safe on the radio.

No achievement will ever replace the feeling of being of service to the people I worked with.

I occasionally worked with people who refused to try to find the answer for themselves. The result was either a different job or a long, slow descent into profound discontent. The answer was there for them, too – they just stopped looking for it.

How do you continually find and model positivity in an atmosphere that often seems so hellbent on sucking every ounce of it out of the room?

For me, the answer became clear: The way I treat people is the way I want to be treated. It became a cycle of necessity that continues to fuel my every interaction and defines me to my core.

It’s easy to model positivity in any atmosphere when it’s the thing that fuels you.

Have you found YOUR answer?

It is there.

You just have to be willing to put in the work to find it.

 

About Kris Inman:

Kris Inman is the Director of Program Development for The Healthy Dispatcher. A 29-year veteran of 9-1-1, Kris retired in July 2023 as Director of Springfield Greene County 9-1-1 in Springfield, MO. An awarded speaker and instructor, Kris has delivered standout educational sessions, keynotes, motivational talks and yoga instruction to dispatchers across the country. He is also a long-time college adjunct instructor, teaching courses in communication and public safety leadership. Kris holds a Master of Arts in Communication and a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Media from Missouri State University. He is also a registered yoga instructor.