#1stresponders... What are your Core Values???

By Safe Call Now®'s Steve Gutzler

I often take first responders, teams and personal leaders through a values clarification exercise. You start by listing to all the values that are vitally important to you. For example:

• Life-balance
• Spiritual peace
• Health and vitality
• Personal drive
• Goal-setting
• Family relationships
• Recreation
• Personal development
• Friendships
• Dreaming big
• Being purpose driven
• Humility
• Lifestyle quality
• Adventure

Sometimes the list grows to over 25 values. Then you narrow it down to your top 15, then your top ten, and finally your top 5 values. It is powerful to watch a first responder, person or a team decide what values they will embrace, what they will live for and what they will die for. 

Those values come from the core of their beliefs and faith. I won't address those here, because I believe you must wrestle them down personally.

Instead, I'd like to suggest five values that empower personal leaders:

The Psychologist & the #1stresponder... Hmmmmm

My Dear Friend & Forensic Police Psychologist - Dr. Laura Brodie

I always enjoy seeing my dear friend and co-presenter Forensic Police Psychologist Dr. Laura Brodie (I’ll talk about her later).  As many first responders know, being ordered to visit the psychologist is usually not a career enhancer.  First off they’re commonly sub-contracted by the department and the perception is that they may be biased for the department because that’s who’s paying the bill.  Right, wrong or indifferent the door is wide open to challenge this as the first responder knows that some kind of report is going back to their agency.

With that in mind, do you really think the first responder is going to reveal their deepest, darkest secrets that may jeopardize his/her employment and their ability to provide for their family?  Hence the double edged sword.  If I do reveal myself I could potentially be impacted in a negative manner with my employers.  If I don’t, I suffer inside.  Either way it’s a system set up to fail.  There are going to be a lot of police psychologist out there that are going to “rip” me over this post but I can only tell you about my experiences and those that are reported to me throughout the country by first responders and their experiences with fitness for duty evaluations.

I speak at many conferences around the nation and we address the departmental psychologist at great length.  The overall consensus from the first responders is that you’re not trusted, you’re arrogant and egotistical and the only job of the first responder is to “beat you” in all aspects of the session.  Let me explain further.

The Emotionally Intelligent Leader

By Safe Call Now®'s Steve Gutzler

Great leaders inspire us. They ignite the best version of ourselves. Most importantly, they motivate us to accomplish our best work and they make us feel important.

A leader who is capable of that inspiration and motivation has a high degree of Emotional Intelligence. Here are the basic competencies:

• Emotional Self-awareness – Leaders with high self-awareness are attuned to their inner signals, recognizing how their feelings and moods affect them and those they interact with daily.
• Self-confidence – Self-confident leaders take on challenging assignments. They possess a sense of presence, poise and self-assurance.
• Emotional Self-management – Leaders with emotional self-control find ways to manage their challenging emotions and impulses. Staying calm and clear-headed is a hallmark of a great leader.
• Transparency – Leaders who are transparent communicate their values and live them. They are open about their feelings, beliefs and choices. They are leaders who can admit fault, apologize… and move forward.
• Optimism – A leader with optimism can quickly shift from a problem and convert it into a challenge to be solved. They see life through the lens of possibility and positivity. They believe the future can and will be brighter.
• Developing Others – Leaders who are adept at cultivating abilities show a genuine interest in the success of others. They ask about their goals, strengths, what they enjoy. These leaders provide constructive feedback and lift the vision of those around them to see the next level of what’s possible.

Working with leaders, I find the number one enemy to personal leadership effectiveness is their ability to manage their emotions. This is a challenge because of the stress hormone cortisol.