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Consultant Services
There are a number of ways that FitForce and its consultant team can be of assistance to your agency. We recognize that nobody knows your agency like you do; and therein may lie some of the difficulty or resistance you've encountered in trying to move the program or elements of the program forward. Some people may become territorial and subsequently, a little less likely to change or to consider change. Others may have a limited understanding of the issues, while still others may be operating under the illusion of a misunderstanding. Our experience, over 60 person years in the field, has well prepared us to assist you as you venture forward.
Program Development
Understanding the need for a program and or standards is the obvious first step. We have made a number of presentations to governmental bodies, executive boards, command and administrative staff, as well as rank and file personnel. The value of an outside group at this juncture stems from our understanding of the issue, insight into what is happening around the country with your counterparts, and the objectivity we bring as a third party.
Training can fall into the program development category as well. We outline many of the legal implications as well as the hows and whys of physical readiness programming in the FitForce Coordinator Course. In addition, we've gotten great feedback on our Administator Course. In that session, we take the participants through most of the Nine Initial Planning Steps of developing a program. (If you or your agency would be interested in hosting an Administrator Course, please contact us.)
Program Review
All too often we have a tendency to fly by the seat of our pants or to allow precedence or complacency dictate the content and direction of our program. This can allow the health and fitness program to become a black hole that resources get funneled into with little apparent benefit. The perceived soft nature of health and fitness contributes to this phenomenon. We would argue that a parallel can be drawn from the private sector. Human resources professionals from industry point to an return of $3.14 for every dollar invested in an employee focused, health and fitness program.
Some of the areas to consider for review are:
- absenteeism
- disability costs
- health care costs
- health statistics, e.g. blood pressure and cholesterol levels
- fitness levels of incumbents
- perceived needs of the workforce
- per employee rate of investment in managing health-related costs
Whether we assist you or not, a program review should be a regularly scheduled department event with the results made available to the interested parties, including those paying for the program!
Curriculum Review
Recruit academy content should be linked to both short and long term learning objectives. For instance, the primary function of physical training in a recruit training environment is to ensure safety and performance while acquiring the skills and abilities to do the job. Does your curriculum (and practice) reflect that objective. We also have a unique opportunity in the recruit environment to instill a sense of control and direction over career- and life-long health and fitness that we frequently squander. Instead, we allow some of the worst elements of the public safety lifestyle to indoctrinate the recruits into their chosen profession.
Incumbent training is arguably the most important, and most overlooked, piece of the training agenda. In-service, roll call, specialized, and intranet options have all been used to great advantage in many agencies.
From the Field
One of our clients conducts an annual review of their entire training goals and objectives as well as their success in achieving them. This has produced significant changes in the recruit curriculum over time at the same time it has resulted in continuity between entry and incumbent training. During this review we consider illness/injury rates in the academy, participation rates in the voluntary aspects of the in-service program, and questionnaire results focused on the expressed needs and desires of the incumbent workforce. The long-term goal is demonstrate the efficacy of the program to insurance providers and risk managers to bargain for discounted rates to the agency.
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Policy Analysis
Often overlooked in the development and ongoing review process is the inclusion of an analysis of agency policies and procedures. These support and enforce many of the desired or ongoing elements of the program. For instance, we recommend an evolutionary approach to the implementation of standards. This phase-in period may last 1-3 years or more. During this period, we recommend a change in performance evaluation to include a subjective observation. This is particularly important for those agencies that need to strengthen their performance review process. An ineffectual evaluation process results in every employee receiving highest marks; those same employees may eventually require job action when the standards become mandatory. A track record of job performance, particularly as it relates to physical readiness, should be developed.
We provide these and other recommendations with our validation reports. As part of the validation study or as a separate service, we can conduct an analysis of existing policy and procedure. At the request of our clients, we have broadened the scope of this analysis to include a full legal review with our attorneys. Please contact us directly if we can discuss this process with you.
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