On the final day of APCO 2016, the “‘PSAP Management: 400 Level” session hosted Charlie McClintock of the Joint Communications Agency in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who led a comprehensive discussion of managing leadership for administrators at the 400 level of PSAP management. He emphasized the importance of recognizing change and adapting to it, including PSAP changes, the rapid changes in technology and their effects, consolidation (both good and bad), and who’s in charge.

“Go find the best qualified person to do a job and put them in those roles,” he said. “Lives are at stake, and we are going to have people in these positions that we need during a disaster.”

Next, McClintock broke down the key features of good management. He addressed the escalating debate on hiring people with education vs. experience, asking everyone to raise their hands to find out if attendees would be more likely to hire a scholar or a seasoned worker in the industry. While the consensus preferred experience over education, McClintock emphasized the need for proper training and education programs for new hires despite their experience.

“Perfect practice makes perfect,” he said. “Doing the same thing over and over with mistakes has become a big problem over time.”

Additionally, he discussed the essential need for managers to love their job as well as the need to hone in on a simplistic management style as opposed to making it overly complex. He said both elements would trickle down to supervisors and then to employees, rounding out an effective 9-1-1 center.

McClintock also gave an overview of employee relations and retentions, weighing the benefits of award and recognition programs, keeping a comm center in calibration, bargaining vs. non-bargaining and working longevity into contracts. He stressed that awards programs were important, but shouldn’t be overdone or reward employees who don’t meet minimum standards, and that supervisors and administrators should gather data and statistics on employee performance.

For advice on improvement, McClintock described the relationship between communication center, administrator and the public. He said if one area is negatively affected, the other two areas could be impacted. To mitigate this risk, he suggested that managers employ stress programs, offer options for career advancement to employees and be prepared for change.

“Change can be the number one cause of stress,” he said. “Changing things in a high-stress environment can cause even more stress. Things that are coming in the industry have to be implemented properly.”