In large-scale organisations, determining who the right people are to send on conflict resolution, personal safety or physical interventions training programmes is critical.
In this article, Dynamis offers insight into why this is the case, as well as posing some questions that will help you partner with training providers to develop an efficient, engaging and effective training strategy for your people.
Can’t we just source an “off the shelf” conflict resolution package for all our staff?
These can be useful in certain contexts, for example if there is a need for staff to have a solid overview of their legal rights and responsibilities in relation to conflict.
However Dynamis would typically urge against staff being offered a ‘one-size-fits-all’ conflict resolution, PMVA of personal safety programmes for several reasons:
1. Different staff support different service users and client groups
Service users are not a homogenous group but have different needs, preferences, and behaviours. Their varying needs mean staff members will encounter and need to manage a range of behaviours, some of which may be challenging or potentially dangerous.
In addition, the client groups that staff work with in an organisation can be very diverse. For example, the challenges and risks associated with working with elderly frail people are significantly different from those related to working with young people with a dual diagnosis. Each of these groups require a different set of skills and understanding and this is best delivered via specialised, role-specific training.
2. Different staff members are exposed to varying levels of risk
Another layer of complexity is added by the different levels of risk that need to be controlled for different staff members. These risk levels depend on several factors, including the staff member’s role, the context they operate in and the specific service user group. Providing staff with the tools and techniques they need that are adaptable to these varying levels of risk is hard to achieve in a one-size-fits-all training course.
3. Different staff have learning needs that require differentiated training
A significant and sometimes overlooked factor when considering how to effectively train your staff is the diversity of learner needs in a given training setting. The trainer and the training programme might have difficulty addressing all these requirements equally and effectively.
This challenge stems from the fact that roles within an organization are not uniform but rather are diversified, each with its own violence risk profile that needs to be understood and addressed.
The scenarios in which staff members are exposed to violence or potential conflict also differ, adding another level of differentiation in training needs. For instance, the challenges and risks facing lone workers are different from those encountered by workers in a care home. The training course needs to take these differences into account, providing skills and strategies that are relevant and applicable to the specific scenarios that the employees are likely to face.
How do we develop the best training strategy for our people?
1. Do a deep dive into the training needs of your people
It’s essential your organisation develops a comprehensive overview of your staff’s training needs. These may differ by role, department, level of risk and learning needs – as we saw above.
Questions to help you accurately identify training needs and shape the design of effective training across your organisation include:
- How did we come to know training is needed? Was it through checking risks, talking to staff, or because of more reported attacks?
- Who needs the training and why? Are they specific people, job roles, departments, or people working alone?
- What are their job roles – when and where are they at risk of conflict or violence?
- How often and how serious is the risk for each role and what is expected of staff in dealing with this?
- What problems do the users of our services and the environment bring?
- What data do we have to help analyse risk? For example, data on types of attacks, times of day, places.
- What research is needed to find out the specific issues for each role? For example, interviews, focus groups.
- What should each employee learn from the training? What should they understand, appreciate, be able to do, or do differently?
3. Ensure you have a thorough grasp of risk assessment implications associated with staff roles:
A Role-Specific Risk Assessment for each role in your organisation that carries a risk from work-related violence should be carried out. All the activities commonly associated with the role should be analysed, identifying the possible risks and making judgements about the likelihood of the perceived risk and the severity of the consequences. Measures to eliminate, minimise, or control the risk should then be examined, and the most appropriate solutions for that role implemented.
Once this assessment and the resulting control measures have been established for a role, everyone performing that role should be required to have the appropriate equipment, conform to the procedures and undertake the training required.
Leadership should ensure that the generic violence risk assessment is carried out on all roles where there is a potential danger and that the control measures are clearly stated and understood by everyone in each role.
3. Consider how to order the rollout of any training programme
The rollout of any training programme requires consideration, especially the order of training. For instance, line managers – who often deal with conflict and manage those involved in incidents – might be prioritised. However, the needs of frontline personnel handling difficult issues must also be considered. Developing a cohesive, prioritised strategy for implementation is crucial. Useful questions to consider include:
- Has the training been tailored to the roles and tasks performed in our organisation?
- How will the programme be rolled out? Who will receive it first – or will it be a mixed rollout? Can some groups, roles or individuals be trained together, based on our role-specific risk assessments and our learners’ needs?
Remember, generic and ‘off the shelf’ courses may not meet the needs of staff working in different roles with diverse problems and concerns.
4. Partner with a training provider who will support and guide you through the process
Dynamis has seventeen years of experience developing training programmes that are tailored to the specific needs, roles, and risk profiles of different staff members. We know that broad, generic training courses are unlikely to meet these diverse needs effectively.
We are experts at helping organisations identify training needs and create training that responds to your unique settings and people. If you need assistance with the logistics, structure or layering of your organisations’ training, please set up a call with us. We will leverage our experience to help you get the most efficient and effective result from your training budget.
