Surviving Verbal Conflict®: Verbal De-Escalation Skills for Telecommunications Dispatchers

Public safety dispatchers are required to hone a number of important skills, such as the ability to multitask and make quick decisions while under stress.  However, no skill is more important for public safety telecommunicators than the ability to communicate verbally with people in crisis. Through their choice of words and voice inflection, telecommunicators must empathetically convey support and calmness to people in distress while quickly gathering crucial information, no matter how distressed or argumentative the caller might be.  Telecommunicators must do all this while keeping their own emotions in check.

Surviving Verbal Conflict® training provides public safety professionals with time-tested communications skills proven to help de-escalate volatile situations and safeguard their emotional and professional well-being. 

Today’s increased scrutiny placed upon public safety professionals has resulted in the growing need to master verbal conflict management skills.  When negative verbal encounters escalate to the point where mistakes are made or professionalism slips, criticism often abounds when there is little evidence of verbal de-escalation techniques employed.  This is particularly true when audio recording evidence of the incident exists.  In some cases, it has become clear that the verbal actions of the dispatchers actually served to escalate the situation.  Many public safety leaders are now asking, "Have we adequately trained our personnel to successfully manage and respond to verbal confrontations in a professional manner?"

Surviving Verbal Conflict® training equips public safety professionals with the tools to survive stressful, heated verbal encounters with tact, poise and professionalism.  This 2-hour webinar is a brief primer of the full Surviving Verbal Conflict® course.  This webinar will introduce the attendee to the basic tenants of the Surviving Verbal Conflict® system.  It will give the attendee a basic foundation in verbal de-escalation skills that the attendee can start to practice and apply right away in their jobs.  Attendees who follow through on practicing the basic skills taught in this webinar will be well on their way to becoming more effective professionals in interpersonal communication.

In this webinar, topics covered will include:

• Defusing potentially volatile verbal encounters with Aristotle’s “Rhetorical Perspective” and Chief Dolan’s “Rhetorical Continuum”
• Applying the FAA's "Sterile Cockpit Rule" while interacting with members of the public
• Developing skills to “Deflect & Redirect Verbal Abuse” and avoid creating jeopardy
• Understanding the importance of "Chief Dolan's 24-Hour Rule" as a key component of communication success
• Incorporating “Post-Incident Debriefing Fundamentals” after negative verbal encounters