Have you ever wished you could have handled a pressure situation better? Did you ever say to yourself, what was I thinking? The answer is, you weren’t thinking… you went right into reaction.
The problem in today’s public service, most likely the damage has already been done. In our world of social media, the news may be out before the Chief can even begin to investigate.
Most unnecessary use of force (caught on camera), gets escalated due to the officer’s own elevated emotions.
We LOVED being at the 2022 NAWLEE Conference in Miami! While many of our discussions were light, we also talked about unnecessary use of force, and how emotions play a big part in the de-escalation.
With this year’s powerful conference theme, ‘the Sky is the Limit,’ we knew the women leaders would want to be ‘lifted up’ with a session that they could use back home.
In RITE Academy’s presentation, Friedman and Webb taught points on Emotional Intelligence (EI) for Leaders that inspired a new way of thinking. The lessons, tips and tools, are about helping leaders professionally and personally.
“When you learn to control your emotions, you will learn to control every situation.” ~ Randy Friedman
RITE Tools like the LADDER, help officers work on themselves, to better control their emotions especially under pressure situations.
Everyone received a FREE Ladder Tool to use in the class, and beyond. The Ladder is one of many tools RITE gives out in our full-day classes.
The feedback from attendees:
- “What priceless information… I could have used this years ago!”
- “I wish it was a longer session!”
- “I can’t wait to share the Ladder with my family!”
The powerpoint used during the session (converted to video for sharing purpose) is a mini version of the RITE full-day leadership class.
- Presenters: RITE Founders, Linda Webb and Randy Friedman
- Title: Emotional Intelligence for Leaders – Aim High and Follow Through
- Conference: NAWLEE 2022
- Location: Intercontinental Hotel in Miami, Florida
Presentation Discussions
The RITE Formula is EI+SI=RI. This starts with each officer’s own Emotional Intelligence (EI). You must be in tune with how you feel before you can connect with others, Social Intelligence (SI).
As for adding Value to others… You cannot VALUE others until you first VALUE yourself.
This is not being self-serving, but instead simply asking yourself to stop and think… What am I feeling?… before I engage in a negative manor. Better decisions mean better outcomes for yourself as the officer, as well as those you connect with, like community members.
At NAWLEE, RITE Academy taught to better lead yourself and others, you must aim high, and follow through. Having Emotional Intelligence Awareness plays a big part of leadership.
As we teach in all of our classes … nothing good happens at the bottom of the Emotional Intelligence Awareness Ladder (EI TOOL).
Most of us start our police career loving our job, TOP of the Ladder. But over time repetitively being exposed to traumatic events, we either hold on to stress, learn an outlet, or take it out on others or ourselves. This could lead to Cumulative Career Stress Trauma.
If you find yourself spending more time living at the bottom of the ladder, this could be dangerous for you and everyone around you. You may even become the Ticking Time-Bomb Cop. This is where you need mental health or counseling, but afraid to ask.
We can do better in public service ahead of any situation to be better prepared with the use of “Emotional Intelligence Awareness Techniques”, so there are no regrets, or missteps with community members.
It may just save a career, as well as an agency from costly litigations from lawsuits.
Emotional Intelligence Tools
Public service employees are given a lot of tactical training and tools, but never any Emotional Intelligence Tools, until now.
Emotional Intelligence Tools Can Help the Officer in many ways:
- Officer Wellness – By checking in daily with their emotions
- Communication with Others – Inside the agency and community
- Making Better Decisions – Home and Work
- Knowing when it may be time to seek mental help
- Understanding personal goals, and job performance
- Career Resiliency and Retention
- Enhanced Professional Workplace Culture
Public Servants are the VALUED backbone of public safety. In order for our public servants to ‘Aim Higher’, leaders can ‘Follow Through’ by giving officers the Emotional Intelligence Tools and Training needed to succeed.
Emotional Intelligence Tools that officers can take with them to use at work and home, gives them the ability to continually work on their own emotions. For the Department, it is a WIN-WIN, because the agency is now providing accountability EI Tools to establish higher standards for a professional workplace culture.
RITE Academy Stats
- Trained 950+ agencies on Professional Workplace Culture
- Created over 930 RITE train-the-trainers
- Gave out more than 550,000 RITE Tools for employees
- Provided over 100 newsletters for agencies to give to their employees
- Helped agencies reduce their use-of-force incidents by 65%
- Educated local governments, state, and federal representative on public safety reform
About RITE
At RITE Academy, we have provided training to fire, police, EMS, 911 operators and corrections officers, EI Tools and Exercises that help each person personally control their emotions. It’s a huge Ah-ha when you finally ‘wake up’ and realize that you have been holding yourself back.
With every class, the LADDER, Stop-Light, and NEW DAY Tools and Banners are included in the training, and left behind for the agency to use. RITE is not a one and done class!
See many more photos
