#OptionsCreateOpportunities: a product of drivetime learning
I started listening to Books on Tape in 2015 while attending graduate school. The term “Books on Tape” is a bit dated, I mean, who has a tape deck in their car anymore? Some of you probably don’t even know what a tape deck is. A more appropriate term might be “Books on CD”, which was the form factor I chose for my in-vehicle listening, however CD players (CD stands for Compact Disc) also seem to be going the way of the Dodo. Oh, in case you were wondering, the newest term I was able to find for this type of listening is “Premium Audio Storytelling”; definition courtesy of Amazon Audible.
With higher learning comes a great deal of reading. One of the phrases my classmates and I commonly heard during grad school was “it’s only a lot of reading if you do it”. As you can imagine, we had a lot of books to read. This didn’t include the reading we had to do on an individual level for thesis research. With a full time family and a full time job, trying to set aside time to complete required reading proved to be quite a challenge. This made Books on Tape an appealing option.
When you consider the average American spends an hour behind the wheel every day (Steele, 2020), it made sense for me to tackle some of my required reading during my work-related back and forth. I visited the local library (yes, people still go to the library), checked out a few CD’s, and started listening. Most of the titles I was required to read weren’t available at the library, so I had to purchase those outright, but it was worth it. I was hooked. Today, I average at least one new title a week through Amazon’s Audible library. Great selection with an incredibly easy to operate interface. I highly recommend.
A few days ago, as I prepared for another lengthy drive, I found myself in between titles, with nothing in my library to listen to. Wanting to make productive use of my time on the road, I jumped on Audible to see if there was something quick I could download prior to my journey. Nothing peaked my interest. Leave it to social media to save the day. As I aimlessly scrolled through my Facebook feed frustrated my upcoming drive would be limited to whatever entertainment SiriusXM could drum up, I happened upon one of Tracy Eldridge, ENP’s “On Scene First” posts where she introduced her latest podcast with Orleans Parish Executive Director Tyrell Morris, CPE. Yes, a podcast featuring two of 9–1–1’s best in the business would be the soundtrack of this excursion.
There are a number of great podcasts out there focusing on 9–1–1 and the emergency communications community. Following are a few of my favorites:
Mark Fletcher, ENP, VP of Public Safety Solutions at 911Inform, has a variety of audio blogs, industry leader interviews, audio/video podcasts, and YouTube videos available on his page. One of Mark’s newest series is NG911FutureMakers, a must listen.
Ricardo Martinez II, CEO and Founder of Within the Trenches Media, hosts the popular Within the Trenches podcast, with guests from all levels of the public safety, private sector, and industry partner spectrum. His latest initiative is the Dare to Be Great 3 Virtual Conference, which will be held June 7–10, 2021. Registration will be opening soon.
As previously mentioned, Tracy Eldridge, ENP, CEO and Host of On Scene First with Tracy Eldridge, has a wonderful new podcast featuring difference makers from all walks of the public-safety community. Tracy also offers a variety of training options for the nation’s 9–1–1 community.
Its funny what one picks up while listening to a podcast. The two sessions I happened to be listening to during the trip in question were both offerings of Tracy’s — one with Tyrell, and one with what3words US Director Ashley Cashion.
In Tracy’s discussion with Tyrell, a number of topics were discussed. Part of the inspiration for my story however came from a point in the recording where Tracy and Tyrell were discussing “tools in the toolbox”. Speaking to newly appointed team members in one of his center’s recruit classes, Tyrell suggested to the group that they were like “plumbers”, and he was providing a number of tools for their tool belts. The job of the telecommunicator “is to pick the right tool to fix whatever problem presents itself.” What an excellent analogy.
Tracy’s interview with Ashley from what3words touched on the benefits of having multiple location determination options available to PSAP/ECC personnel. Most centers have conventional Phase II wireless triangulation capability. Many of the same centers have operationalized secondary location determination technologies, like RapidSOS, to enhance the agency’s ability to locate a caller in need. Products like what3words and EmergencyLocate offer the nation’s emergency communications centers yet another unique means of determining the exact whereabouts of a 9–1–1 caller. Isn’t technology great? Referring to the what3words utility, Tracy stated the application was an “additional layer in the center”, and with all of the different location determination tools available to a 9–1–1 team member, “if this doesn’t work and this doesn’t work, you have this”. Options — what a concept.
Technology is a huge part of the 9–1–1 business. As an Executive Director in the 9–1–1 community, one of my many responsibilities is staying up to date and informed on emerging technology in the PSAP/ECC space. Yes, I am a fan of technology and innovation, however my decision to operationalize a particular product or solution doesn’t happen without a great deal of research and testing. There are technologies I have evaluated which I haven’t implemented, and technologies I have been approached about that based on my initial findings, I chose not to pursue. I have been called an Early Adopter. A disruptor. I think a more appropriate description is “technology acceptor”.
Emergency communications leaders have to wear many hats. They also have to be open minded and be master “outside of the box” thinkers. This is necessary for a variety of reasons, but most importantly because as operator’s of technology driven businesses, we don’t know when a piece of equipment vital to the operation of our center is suddenly going to fail. Our systems, work methodologies, and business practices have to be resilient. From an operations standpoint, multiple layers of redundancy must exist systemwide. This is why I felt the message of Tracy’s two podcasts was so critical, and why I decided to write this brief piece about the importance of having options.
Few things are worse for a 9–1–1 professional than being on the phone with a distraught caller and having an inability to help them. Our profession, one of constant stress, highs, lows, excitement, and sorrow, demands reliable and consistently operating technology to be effectively carried out. Giving our team members a variety of tools for their toolbox gives them options. If in the moment, a 9–1–1 professional experiences a critical system failure, one that prevents them from effectively communicating with, locating, or sending help to a person in need, he/she needs to be able to revert to a secondary or tertiary solution to solve the problem immediately. The only way that will occur is if we as leaders in the 9–1–1 community properly equip and train our team members for success. If as leaders we don’t evaluate new and emerging technologies; if we become complacent and satisfied with the status quo; if we shut the door on industry partners feverishly working to improve our ability to assist the community and our public safety partners; if we don’t give our team member’s options, we have effectively failed.
PSAP/ECC leaders, your team members want to help the communities they serve. They want to do a great job for you, for one another, and for the public safety partners they watch over every day. The options you make available to your team give them opportunities; opportunities to help someone in need.
Options Create Opportunities.
