Academy Staff Development

Want your retention rates to climb! Reward your training and recruiting staff by giving them the tools they need!   Whether assigned to a regional, or an independent academy, training and hiring staff are perhaps the most overworked and undervalued employees on our agencies.  Give them the tools they need to perform their critical role at the highest capacity, while also setting the agency’s future in the right direction!

Many of our most talented officers/deputies have been assigned to training and recruiting positions because they were good at what they did in the field as an operator. In most instances these officers have been selected because of their outstanding street skill-sets and reputation. However, it is not uncommon for these exceptional officers to become frustrated, as they find the skills they developed as operators did not adequately prepare them for the demanding nature of an academy training environment.

As an example, the role of the basic recruit instructor is complex and requires a variety of skill sets ranging from; supervisor, mentor, evaluator, technical expert to classroom presenter. The Academy Staff Development Course is specifically designed to assist these critical staff members in developing the necessary skills to excel in this important role. 

This is not a typical classroom instructor development course. This intense course will provide new and experienced training staff the opportunity to focus on interpersonal skills necessary to excel in their unique positions.

Attendees will: 

  • List the impact of leadership on trainees, co-workers and agency
  • Clarify principles of basic supervision needed to manage squads of trainees
  • Relate personality traits and their influence on learning and training team dynamics
  • Label legal issues associated with training and hiring
  • Define principles of adult learning
  • Describe methods to overcome stress, avoid 3rd attempts and control emotions
  • Solve what breaks down interpersonal communication
  • Develop a plan for improving questioning, listening and coaching skills
  • Clarify the difference between telling, showing, doing, and coaching
  • Name practical methods of providing effective feedback
  • Demonstrate ways to handle conflict, difficult people & work as an effective training team
  • Outline methods to create documents that improve performance and protect the agency
  • List remedial training strategies
  • Relate the trainee’s viewpoint
  • Design training environment that motivate employees of all generations
  • Defend the need for learning objectives within training scenarios