Foundations

joebouchard Training

The confident professional who stumbles clumsily up the stairs…

The narcissist with the smug smile, oblivious to the spinach in his teeth…

Leaving a rest room with a foot long flag of toilet paper on our shoe or at our beltline…

Let’s face it, we are only human.  And when we are trying to operate smoothly, or even normally, we wear egg on our faces from time to time. These are unintentional incidents that may be forgotten after a while.  But, there are many more things that we do to ourselves that seem to be remembered in perpetuity. 

In fact, we may not realize just how ridiculous we can appear to other people. But the problem is not solely about embarrassment.  That is a lesser concern when we consider the haunting specter of self imposed security breaches.  Read more…

joebouchard Self Scrutiny, Staff relations, Uncategorized

Let’s take a trip – an ego trip. It is very easy to do, and it is a journey in self-exploration. Just relax and let the words take you there.

Imagine yourself on a warm and isolated beach on an idyllic inland lake. Fragrant winds blow inland. You are comforted by the pleasing mix of pine and maple trees that form a green and natural barrier from outside intrusions. Blissfully alone, you are in your safe place and secure from any outside threats. As you skip a flat stone on the glass-like, placid surface, tiny ripples develop. They cause nothing but pleasure. It is as if the lake is at your will as shapes manifest on it by your actions. In effect, you are lord and master of this little slice of paradise.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, there is a colossal cataclysmic collision of boulder on water. A stone as large as a rhinoceros shatters the lake’s glass-like surface, and heaves into your aqueous sanctuary by some unseen and powerful being.

Read more…

joebouchard Self Scrutiny, Staff relations

During periods of fiscal flaccidity, corrections always needs new ideas and better ways of operating.  This is the time when those with proposed innovations can shine.  Brainstorming session, now more than ever, are quite essential.

Did you ever get a flash of inspiration that surprised you and your colleagues?  It is rewarding when ideas bear fruit as a new and efficient way of doing thing.

Unfortunately inspiration can be sometimes elusive.  Read more…

joebouchard Self Scrutiny

joebouchard Assessing the organization, Training

I remember my first year in corrections as if it were a meal ago.  Some years after that, I recall with the same clarity that my first article was published.  But what brings pride and amazement at one time may not be so as one gains experience. Read more…

joebouchard Self Scrutiny, Staff relations

There is no doubt that corrections professionals perform a very important job. Every moment we are inside the walls, we face potential danger from many directions. Some of these are obvious while others are unobtrusive. We are responsible to keep ourselves and inmates safe. In addition, when we consider whom we are really working for, we need to consider the general public.

We understand the nuts and bolts of what we do on a daily basis. But how often do we see the higher purpose to our vocation?

Read more…

joebouchard Assessing the organization

Joe,
 
I read your article with great interest.  I actually had this same conversation just last night with a good friend of mine who is a supervisor from a neighboring facility.  We were discussing that unfortunately not only do we have these negative traits among line staff we unfortunately “inherit” subordinate supervisors whom also embrace these negative traits themselves and use them to fuel the discord among the ranks. Keep up the great articles.
 
Steve Wierenga, Corrections Program Supervisor
Waupun Correctional Institution

joebouchard Staff relations

A colleague from Virginia recently imparted some vocational wisdom.  (We’ll call him  Lt. J.) One of Lt. J’s many professional functions is as a training coordinator for four jails.  The point that Lt. J made was “it is easy to underestimate someone based on stereotypes or limited information.” And this is how it came up.

He and I put together a module on staff relations.  On the maiden voyage of this training, Lt. J mentioned to the class that the initial author (yours truly) also works as a prison librarian.  The job title evoked some groans from the audience.  Lt. J discovered that the common sentiment was “what would a librarian know about anything?”

This is a classic example of underestimation or judging a book by its cover.

Read more…

joebouchard Assessing the organization, Self Scrutiny, Staff relations

Imagine that you are disoriented in thick and impenetrable woods. You have no idea how to find your way out. You are without a GPS, cell phone, flare, and the most basic tool to help with one’s bearings: the compass. Without those tools, can you imagine the helplessness of not knowing where to go?

In departmental communications, like in finding our way out of the forest, a compass will not work unless all points are present.

If we do not know where we are and where we are going, we are effectively lost. Do we always have our bearings in the realm of information exchange? Our jobs would be much easier if we had a communications compass.
It has been said that communications is a two-way street. Certainly, we benefit from data sharing between two parties rather than a one-way lecture. Listening and talking are complementary actions with equal weight. It is not so simple, though. In fact, the two-way street of information exchange can be expanded into four points on a compass.

Read more…

joebouchard Assessing the organization, Staff relations