Blogs

Staffing issues FMLA/8 Hour work restriction

By Donald Panarello posted 07-19-2019
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​We are having difficulties filling our daily correctional officer staffing levels. Part of the problem is short staffing; however, a compounding issue is the number of staff invoking FMLA and producing doctors notes stating they are restricted from working more than 8 hours. Have any of your agencies or states developed a remedy to fix this problem? Any ideas to address this issue will be appreciated. Thank you, Don Panarello Captain, RIDOC
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Training Tip 116: The 15 Greatest Mistakes in Training

By Edwin Pauzer posted 09-07-2018
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With almost 30 years of experience in training, I have come across mistakes of all kinds, shapes, sizes and costs. I’ve managed to narrow them down to 15, in which I can find an experience of mine or someone else’s for each one. Mistake No. 1: Non-Training Personnel making Training Decisions Non-training personnel often see training as penicillin, a universal antidote to crises or simply poor performance. We have seen such knee-jerk reactions after the death of Eric Garner, the Staten Islander who was taken down in a chokehold by NYPD. His last words were, “I can’t breathe.” The coroner ruled his demise as death by asphyxiation. In a Starbucks in Philadelphia, ...
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Training Tip 68: Sell the Benefits, Not the Training

By Edwin Pauzer posted 07-02-2018
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​ There are four things you need to do to sell your training. First publish a description of your training by stating the benefits, not what the participants will learn. Course descriptions without benefits sound like prison sentences. (Bad choice of words—sorry.) Participants will be much more agreeable to attend the training if they know the benefits rather than what the course is about. Second, speak to the managers of the participants destined for the training. They will give a positive or negative first impression of the training that they will communicate to their employees who are sure to pick it up. Show them how the training will benefit their department ...
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TRAINING TIP 57: Snowball Fight

By Edwin Pauzer posted 05-30-2018
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​ Materials Required: 8 ½ x 11 sheets of paper Pencil or pen One way to practice or summarize learning is to ask your participants to write down what they have learned in the form of a question, roll it up into a ball, and throw it at someone—gently. The person who catches it or is hit with it has to answer the question. It keeps your participants active, reinforces learning, and they have fun doing it. ​
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TRAINING TIP 16: Dealing with Latecomers

By Edwin Pauzer posted 02-13-2018
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There will always be extenuating circumstances when people arrive late. In a uniformed agency it is easy to be strict about time, and demand explanations. If you find yourself training in a private industry or a non-uniformed environment, it will be an entirely different story. Let’s look at the “entirely different story.” 1. Set up the room to minimize interruptions. 2. Ensure that you start on time. If people see that you are starting late, they will soon get the message and start coming in late too. They will model you . 3. Don’t take it personally if people arrive late. There could be a multitude of reasons other than not ...
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​ TRAINING TIP 115: The Olympic Flag

By Edwin Pauzer posted 02-13-2018
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Here’s an energizer that might be appropriate while the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang are ongoing. What do the colors and rings of the Olympic flag symbolize?
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TRAINING TIP 55: Getting Bad Advice

By Edwin Pauzer posted 02-02-2018
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​ There have been many well-meaning people who offer terrible public speaking advice in the same fashion as people who suggest putting butter on burns. Here are some of the most egregious ones: Look at the foreheads of your audience or look at the clock in the back of the room. This is not going to fool anyone. The only things they will be thinking is, “why is she looking at my forehead,” or “what’s so interesting in the back?” 2. Imagine your audience is naked. Even Ron Hoff who wrote “I Can See You Naked” said in his own book that this is a bad idea. He used the phrase as a gimmick to sell his book. ...
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TRAINING TIP 113: Holy Helsinki!

By Edwin Pauzer posted 01-02-2018
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​ Sandwiched between Sweden and Russia and a border with Norway lies Finland, a fiercely independent country that was ruled by Sweden for 600 years, and then by Russia until 1917 when they declared their independence. In the winter war of 1939-40, Stalinist Russia invaded the tiny country, but the Finns fought back and sent the Russian forces in full retreat until they were overwhelmed by numbers. They sided with the Germans when they invaded Russia under the principle of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” When Germany was defeated at the end of World War II, the Finns had to pay dearly for losing to the Russians once again. That meant the Finns had to move ...
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Training Tip 91: Death by Bullet Points

By Edwin Pauzer posted 11-29-2017
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​ Simple question: What is the purpose of PowerPoint? Isn’t the reason we use it is to enhance your message or to bring some new information to long-term memory? So it naturally begs the question why so many people create PowerPoint slides that will have exactly the opposite effect. You’ve heard of death by PowerPoint. It starts with death by bullet points. Sex, death and PowerPoint remain the most potent natural cures for insomnia, and the bullet point is the father of the boring offspring. The bullet point tells your audience that you have too many words per slide. The cognitive brain begins a mighty struggle to focus on the slide and its meaning, to find ...
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Training Tip 51: Round Robin Buzz Groups

By Edwin Pauzer posted 11-29-2017
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​ I find this very helpful as a summary to the day or the training course. I ask each table to work as a group and record on Post-It flip charts all that they have learned or were taught that day or at the end of the course. I ensure that they each have a permanent marker of a different color. At the end of the buzz group, I ask one person from each group to read their list to the class. Then, I ask each group to rotate to the other charts and add to that chart what they had on their own chart that was missing from the one they were now standing in front of. I ask that they use their own markers. This has numerous advantages. You ...
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​ TRAINING TIP 112: A Jug of Water, a Dixie Cup and Me​ ​

By Edwin Pauzer posted 11-09-2017
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Even today, many people still believe that the brain is an empty vessel in which you can open the lid of the skull and just pour in the instruction that will be magically recalled at a later date. Even people who claim they do not believe this fantasy will design instruction with almost no break in the amount of information they are trying to impart. I resorted to a more dramatic scheme to drive home the point that there is only so much the brain can take. During my lecture about chunking, I will offhandedly announce that I am thirsty as I grab a chilled jug of ice water and a small Dixie Cup. I then resume speaking as I begin to pour. As the water ...
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TRAINING TIP 73: The Hardest Thing to Do

By Edwin Pauzer posted 10-30-2017
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​ We have covered several kinds of disruptions in the class, but probably the most difficult to address is a report from participants that one of them has bad odor or bad breath. It cannot go unaddressed, just as a flickering light in the room has to be fixed, and it must be done privately. Privately: “Bob, this is not easy to share, and it feels very uncomfortable to do so, but it appears that you have body odor and it is a bit of a distraction. Is it a medical condition or something preventing you from freshening up more often?” If he tells you that it is a medical condition, there isn’t anything more that you can do. You cannot pry by asking what is ...
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TRAINING TIP 40: Tic-Tac-Toe

By Edwin Pauzer posted 10-25-2017
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​ Here is a great way to review the instruction you have just delivered. This works with as few as two participants to numbers unlimited in teams and it only takes a few minutes. Create a list of questions about the topic. Draw a tic-tac-toe square on a white board, flipchart, or slide. Read the questions. The first person or team to answer correctly gets an X or an O on the square. ​
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TRAINING TIP 108: The Amygdala Hijack

By Edwin Pauzer posted 10-13-2017
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​ Have you ever had the sad school experience when the teacher browbeat you for an answer with a phrase like, “I suggest you think”? If you were like me, you froze, you couldn’t remember your own name, and you couldn’t wait for this shattering, agonizing humiliation to be over with. It’s no accident that you froze. You (and I) were experiencing the Amygdala Hijack. It’s where the amygdala, in the limbic system of the brain (also called the lizard brain) takes over, numbing the frontal lobe of the brain where reasoning, calculations, analysis and problem-solving takes place. It hijacks your brain. After all, if you’re so scared that you have to fight or run, ...
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​ TRAINING TIP 80: Breaking the Vicious Cycle

By Edwin Pauzer posted 10-06-2017
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You may have been down this road before. A very intelligent, accomplished and articulate manager or director tells you that he wants a training program and wants it done in an arbitrarily-chosen time frame. The good troop that you are, you salute, and do your darnedest to create a viable training program in an absurdly ridiculous time frame. You might have packed in a great deal of information which left the instructors or you very little wiggle room other than to lecture your way through it. You go into the classroom, give it your all, train dozens or hundreds of people, and the training does not alter performance or behavior. Who gets blamed, the manager ...
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TRAINING TIP 27: Time Marches On

By Edwin Pauzer posted 10-02-2017
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​ Time can be the great scourge of training. How can I start on time if only a few people have arrived? How do I get them back from the break on time? How do I finish on time? Starting on Time: If you don’t start on time, you are punishing people who are punctual and you are rewarding people who arrive late. Your other dilemma is starting on time and having to repeat it for the late arrivals. Start with an energizer or an exercise. Ask the on-time arrivals to fill out a sheet with their names, favorite movie, food, hobby, sport, vacation spot, or how many years they are with the agency Have “worry envelopes” available for people who don’t want ...
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TRAINING TIP 24: Traveling with Flip Charts

By Edwin Pauzer posted 09-29-2017
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​ Travelling with your flip charts is not as difficult as you might think. First, cut the cardboard spine off the back. Roll the flip chart up with the front facing outward. Start from the top, not the bottom. If you roll it up facing inward, you might have “split ends” when you hang your chart on the stand. Second, buy a waterproof quiver in plastic or vinyl. You can usually find them at an arts and craft store. Drop the flip chart into the quiver and give the quiver a shake so the flip chart can unfurl as much as possible. Seal the quiver with whatever locking mechanism it has. Adjust the sling, and throw it over your shoulder. Now you’re ready to ...
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TRAINING TIP 7: Participants as Valued Customers

By Edwin Pauzer posted 09-28-2017
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​ Objectives are critical to training. They are what the learners must be able to accomplish by the end of the training that they cannot accomplish at the start of it. Here is something else you can do besides simply stating what the objectives are and make your participants feel valued at the same time. Ask the learners at the beginning what they would like to get out of the training. You can do this in several ways. You can ask them to come to the front and write what they would like to learn on a flip chart, (which will be posted to the wall), or write it on a post-it and post it on the flip chart at the front of the class. You can also have them ...
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TRAINING TIP 60: Fruits and Veggies

By Edwin Pauzer posted 09-21-2017
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​ This is an energizer I usually give right after lunch when the learners would love to let their minds relax on a full stomach. I start out by telling them I am giving them a quiz. "A quiz?!" It's a word that usually strikes terror in the hearts of anyone who's been through school. I tell them they have to fill in the blanks with a fruit or a veggie that makes sense e.g. "Dearest Bunny, I have loved you since our first date . (Get it? Date?) You cannot say, "I have loved you since our first tomato ." Dearest Bunny, I have loved you since our first ____________. I want you to know my heart ____________ only for you. If you _____________ all for me, ...
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TRAINING TIP 11: Dealing with Prisoners

By Edwin Pauzer posted 09-21-2017
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You will encounter three types of participants in your classes: vacationers who view the training as a nice little getaway from the hum-drum of work; explorers who came to learn, and the prisoners who have to be there and make it clear that they do not want to be there. You can feel the tension coming from them, and it can be a killer to the kind of energy you are trying to foster. Ask every person to write down 10 reasons why they don’t need to be at the training or why they should be someplace else. They can: a) write it on post-its and stick them on a flip chart, or b) add them to the flip chart themselves or have a scribe do it. Take the time to read ...
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