Course Description
Prepare to safeguard your agency by elevating your skills in this intensive one-day refresher course. It’s been designed to sharpen your critical skills in legal defense, objective evaluation, and next-generation coaching, preparing you for the challenges of modern field training.
Learning Outcomes
Module 1: Foundation and Ethical Framework
- Reiterate the FTO’s critical role in the agency’s training and socialization process, focusing on the transition from academy theory to practical application.
- Identify and articulate the key ethical and legal responsibilities of an FTO, including adherence to agency policies and legal standards regarding equal employment opportunity and liability.
Module 2: Evaluation and Documentation
- Identify various forms of cognitive bias in field training assessment and evaluation narratives.
- Analyze hypothetical daily observation report (DOR) narratives and determine the accuracy and defensibility properties of the reports.
Module 3: Learning Strategies
- Mastering the Kolb Cycle: Learn to align specific, proven instructional activities with the four distinct stages of the learning cycle to maximize knowledge transfer.
- Develop Probing Questions: Create and use effective, analytical questions during the reflection stage to move learners beyond simple description and into deep analysis of their experiences.
- Apply the Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) Feedback Model: Define, communicate, and construct feedback statements (both positive and constructive) using the SBI Feedback Model for defensible, objective, and non-judgmental evaluations.
- Enhancing Coaching Outcomes: Utilize the SBI Feedback Model to create a professional coaching environment that effectively reduces recruit defensiveness, improves learning, and requires you to revise common, ineffective feedback examples.
Module 4: Training the Next Generation: Understanding and Coaching Gen Z Recruits
- Identify key characteristics that influence how Generation Z recruits learn, communicate, and respond to training.
- Recognize common challenges Field Training Officers face when mentoring Gen Z recruits and how to address them constructively.
- Apply effective communication and coaching strategies tailored to Gen Z’s learning preferences, including frequent feedback and clear explanations of purpose.
- Incorporate motivational techniques that build engagement, accountability, and team connection among younger recruits.
- Commit to one actionable change in your own training approach to better connect with and develop the next generation of officers.
- Reflect on your own training styles and how these align (or clash) with Gen Z expectations.
Module 5: Coaching, Remediation, Documentation, and Mentoring
- Identify early warning signs of a “problem recruit.”
- Apply a structured coaching approach to correct performance or attitude issues.
- Demonstrate professional communication skills that maintain accountability and respect.
- Differentiate between unacceptable subjective feedback (opinion-based) and acceptable objective feedback (behavior-based) using examples relevant to policy violations.
- Design a targeted, phased training intervention plan (separate from the standard curriculum) for a recruit struggling with a specific, recurring performance deficiency.