Performance Enhancement Instructor Development Course
Law enforcement instructors have tremendous power to develop and prepare new officers for the challenging and rewarding career as law enforcement professionals. Their goal is to inspire the pursuit of personal excellence in each and every recruit and provide him or her with the skills and tactics necessary to perform their duties in a safe, effective and professional manner. Law enforcement trainers are also given the unique opportunity to provide valid and reliable ongoing training to officers throughout their careers to ensure they maintain a level of competence and confidence in their professional skills and tactics. Additionally, with this power, authority and opportunity comes great responsibility and accountability; this program is about that responsibility and accountability.
This forty-hour instructor development course is the result of lessons learned from thousands of hours of instruction by some of North America’s top law enforcement instructors, as well as the hard earned lessons of officers from numerous law enforcement agencies. The course will provide law enforcement instructors with an in-depth understanding of how the minds works to process information, store information, retrieve information and an understanding of how programs are established at the subconscious level. This understanding will form the foundation for the program, which is focused on providing trainers the skills necessary to conduct effective training programs for law enforcement professionals at both the recruit and in-service level.
Course material will cover a variety of instructional methods including lecture, case studies, group discussion, video review and experiential exercises. During the course the participants will get numerous opportunities to practice teaching the material so they develop confidence in the material and their instructional abilities. Candidates will also be provided with materials in both written and electronic format that they can utilize to immediately implement the training material and methodologies at no additional cost to their agency.
Thecourse curriculum includes:
1. The Performance Pyramid: The Performance Pyramid is a concept that examines total preparation for law enforcement professionals. This presentation looks at the rationale behind the pyramid analogy, the structure of the pyramid and the four sides of the Performance Pyramid. The strategies addressed throughout this course will allow trainers to enhance all sides of their personal pyramid as well as those of the personnel they are entrusted to train.
2. The Mind Model: This component forms the foundation of the program and will explain how the mind works to process, store and retrieve information. It provides an in-depth understanding of the roles of the conscious and subconscious mind. Often training programs are focused at the conscious mind level however; in high stress events it is the subconscious mind that determines our response. This program provides participants with the tools to assist them in creating the most desirable subconscious mental programs.
3. Self-Talk: The most important conversations we will ever have are with ourselves, about ourselves, in the privacy of our own mind. It is important that people become aware of their self-talk as it can be either positive and productive, or negative and destructive. Self talk helps to establish and reinforce programs in the subconscious mind. Once people become aware of their self-talk they can change it to ensure it is most desirable.
4. The Winning Mind: This dynamic presentation addresses the multi-faceted issue of winning. Winning for law enforcement professionals covers the entire spectrum of force response options from professional presence to the use of deadly force. Winning not only refers to the specific outcome of an event or confrontation but Winning also refers to the lifelong pursuit of personal excellence. Aristotle once said that "Excellence is not a single act, but a habit." This course explores methods for creating the Winning Mind in officers to benefit them in any situation.
5. The Warrior Spirit: The Warrior Spirit resides within each and every one of us. The attributes explored during this presentation include courage, honour, integrity, strength of character, commitment, conviction, and humility. The use of case studies and video review will be used to bring the teaching points to life. These valuable lessons apply to trainers, officers, and leaders in all organizations.
6. The Power of Words: This component of the course examines the power of the language we use to communicate to recruits, other officers and family members. Much of the language used in our everyday communication is negative based and although the intentions are good, it may be creating disastrous programming at the subconscious level. The focus throughout the course will be the use of positive based language to create expectations of success in the course participants as well as those they train and mentor.
7. The Power of Expectation: Often what we expect to happen becomes reality. If we expect people to fail, those expectations will be reflected in our body language, our tone and our attitude and will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Likewise, if we expect people to succeed, that too will be reflected in our verbal and non-verbal communication and will usually result in success. This program will examine the power of expectation and provide strategies for success.
8. Performance Enhancement Imagery: This component will begin by examining exactly what imagery is, and why it is so effective in enhancing performance. The key elements to conducting successful Performance Enhancement Imagery sessions will be covered in depth. The course will address the wide variety of ways Performance Enhancement Imagery can be used in training for both groups and individuals. In addition to learning how to use basic imagery for themselves participants will be provided scripts to use as a framework and guide them through imagery sessions. Participants will also be provided the opportunity to develop their own scripts and practice all the elements in a safe and supportive learning environment. The course will explore the use of imagery in conjunction with skills training, debriefings and training videos.
9. Maximizing the use of Training Videos: Law enforcement trainers have historically used videos from in car video cameras, or recreations of actual events to make an impact on officers in an attempt to make them safer. Too often though, the message is negatively based and focuses on what types of behaviours will get you killed or injured in the line of duty. Trainers need to be aware of the power of these videos and the fact that the method in which they are used may in fact be setting officers up to fail in the field. This component of the course will examine the power of video images and the most effective way to utilize videos as a positive training tool.
10. Conducting Effective Debriefings: Debriefings, if conducted effectively, provide the greatest learning opportunities. The US military estimates that during training exercises as much as 75% of the learning takes place during the debriefings. This component of the program will provide the participants with the skills to conduct effective debriefings during reality based training exercises, confrontation simulation drills, video interactive judgemental use of force systems (FATS/Prism/IES) as well as out in the field.
11. Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement Trainers: This component of the course is based on the work of Dr. Kevin Gilmartin and his powerful book ‘Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement’. It will examine the key issues of Emotional Survival that trainers need to address in their programs. It will also examine the critical issue of how Dr. Gilmartin’s research applies to law enforcement trainers and strategies for combating the biological roller coaster.
12. Living Your Role and Leaving a Legacy: Law enforcement trainers perform many roles such as trainer, coach, mentor, role model, leader, and motivator. In each of those powerful roles we leave a legacy. That legacy can be positive, or negative depending on the individual. This presentation examines those roles and the legacies we leave through the way we live out lives, and train our officers.