 What makes an Effective Incident Commander?  What is the best way to develop & practice command skills?  When should that development start?  How should competence be assessed or measured?

Risk Based Approach Operational Discretion Professional Judgement Inter & Intra Operability Organisational Assurance Operational Accountability Assertive, Effective & Safe Commanders Public Expectations

An Effective Commander can be defined as: The Right person & With the Right technical proficiencies & knowledge & Making the Right Decisions at the Right time

When facing pitchers at 95 mph + batters have around 0.4 second to read the pitch and swing. Above 100 mph they have to start the swing before the ball is pitched. How do they ever hit the ball? Answer: By facing thousands of deliveries it has become intuitive. But, do we get close to these levels of practice and repetition?

START UNCONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE (you don't know what you don't know) CONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE (you know that you don’t know & in the process of learning) CONSCIOUS COMPETENCE (using new skill consciously but only with effort) UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE (performing the skill is automatic)

Unconscious Incompetence (unaware of limitations) Conscious Incompetence (during training & development) Individual presented with a new job or task, or assessed as not competent Unconscious Incompetence (develops bad habits or lapses) Unconscious Competence (develops good habits) Conscious Competence (trained & assessed as competent)

Blissful Ignorance Painful Awareness Know How Second Nature

Know What Know How Know Why COMPETENCE  The ability to undertake responsibilities and to perform activities to a recognized standard on a regular basis.  Combination of  Skill  Knowledge  Experience

RPD (personal experience) Plan Explicit objectives Action Implement decision Review Evaluate decisions Situational Awareness Find and interpret cues Value-based (emotive trigger) Procedure (shared experience) Formal (consideration of options) Adapted from Launder & Perry 2014

 Create thinking individuals  Develop decision making behaviours rather than focus on specific competencies  Apply the philosophy throughout the service from operational to strategic management.  Effective and accredited training, compensates for skill fade and provides organisational assurance

 Appropriate to role  Complex incidents  Time critical actions required  Scripted injects  Reactive scenarios leading to variability  Appropriate actions – appropriate outcomes

 Sector Competent Facilitators and Assessors  Structured debrief  Decision Rationale explored  Candidates self assess - metacognition  Progress to an ‘All Hazards Commander’

Lamb K et al. 2015

 Practical training scenarios  Simulation based command training and assessment  Live incident monitoring or mentoring  Case studies & Post incident debriefs (PIAs)  Embed decision making behaviours throughout the organisation – cohesive, progressive and dynamic workforce

 Confident & Self aware  Well trained & competent  Good situational awareness  Able to lead  Plan & Implement actions  Sound judgement  Good decision making  Adaptable  Calm & controlled

‘Right Person, making the Right Decisions, at the Right time for the Right reasons’

Any Questions?