Are You Responsible for the Safety of People
in Your Organization?

Don't just resolve conflicts after they occur . . .
Because if you rely on Conflict Resolution, it's already too late.

Instead prevent aggression from happening in the first place,
and benefit by the increased productivity.

The Shooting Rampage at
Columbine High School, Virginia Tech and
Northern Illinois University,
What Have We Learned?

Research has determined that from the Moment of Commitment (the point when a student pulls their weapon and begins firing) to the Moment of Completion (when the last round is discharged) is only 5 seconds.  If it is the intent of a school district, colleges, universities and community colleges to react to this violence (Crisis Management), they will do so over the wounded and/or slain bodies of students, teachers/faculty, administrators/staff and counselors.

Educational institutions clearly want safe and secure schools. Administrators (K-12) and student affairs staff are perennially queried by parents about the safety of their campuses. The commonplace answers, intended to reassure anxious parents, focus on the school resource officers/campus police and emergency procedures. While useful, these less than adequate efforts do not begin to provide a definitive answer to preventing campus violence, nor do they make a school safe and secure.

Traditionally school districts and higher education institutions have relied upon the mental health community or local police to keep campuses safe, yet one of the key shortcomings has been the lack of a system that involves faculty, administrators/staff, counselors, parents and students in the identification and communication process. Recently, colleges, universities and community colleges are forming Behavioral Intervention Teams with representatives from all these constituencies. Higher Education has changed their safety/security policies, procedures, or surveillance systems, yet K-12 have yet to incorporate Behavioral Intervention Teams. K-12 schools and colleges, universities and community colleges continue spending excessive amounts of money to put in place many of the physical security options. Sadly, they are reactionary only and do little to prevent aggression because they are designed exclusively to react to existing conflict, threat and violence.  These campuses reflect a national blindspot, which prefers hardening targets through enhanced security versus preventing violence with efforts directed at aggressors.  Security gets all the focus and money, but this only makes us feel safe, rather than to actually make us safer.

Too often we hear about individuals like the graduate student, Haiyang Zhu, at Virginia Tech, who calmly decapitated his victim in a local restaurant and Virginia Tech’s response was to proclaim their Notification System a success!  You may ask yourself, where is the outrage that there was no method in place for “prevention,” especially knowing their history.

Some law enforcement agencies use profiling as a means to identify an aggressor. According to the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education’s report on Targeted Violence in Schools, there is a significant difference between “profiling” and identifying and measuring emerging aggression; “The use of profiles is not effective either for identifying students who may pose a risk for targeted violence at school or – once a student has been identified – for assessing the risk that a particular student may pose for school-based targeted violence.”  It continues; “An inquiry should focus instead on a student’s behaviors and communications to determine if the student appears to be planning or preparing for an attack.”  We can and must assess objective, culturally neutral, identifiable criteria of emerging aggression. 

Dr. Brian Van Brunt, Director of Counseling at Western Kentucky University and Certified Senior Aggression Management Trainer shares one aspect of Aggression Management Solutions and its application in Higher Education:

For a comprehensive and free look (white paper) at the problem and its solution, http://www.aggressionmanagement.com/White_Paper_K-12/

http://www.aggressionmanagement.com/Higher_Education/
 

Annual Conferences

Byrnes has conducted workshops at the following conferences:

• Keynote Speaker at 1st Protective Security Conference (ProSecCon)

• Keynote Speaker at the annual ESI (Executive Security International) Alumni Conference

• Annual National Voluntary Protection Program Participants’ Association  (VPPPA) Conference titled: "Preventing Aggression in the Workplace"

• The Florida Workers' Compensation Educational Annual Conference

• The Alabama Governor's Safety & Health Annual Conference

• The US Army Medical Command Safety Conference

• The RIMS (Risk and Insurance Management Society) Conference on "Rage, Rage & More Rage"

• NCHERM (National Center for Higher Education Risk Management) Institutes around the Nation: Kean U., Illinois State University, UTSA, Concordia U. and many more

• The Academy of Venue Safety and Security

• The ASJA (Association for Student Judicial Affairs) Conference

• The IAAM (International Association of Assembly Managers)

• The ICMC (International Crowd Management Conference)

• The NSC (National Safety Council) Annual Conference

• The NASB (National Association of School Boards) Annual Conference

• The NDPC (National Dropout Prevention Center) Annual Conference

• The TASB (Texas Association of School Boards) Annual Conference

• The ASIS (American Society of Industrial Security) Annual Conference

• The Alliance for American Insurers Annual Conference

• The ASLET (American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers) Annual Conference

• The AIA (American Insurance Association) Annual Conference

• The AORN (Association of Operating Room Nurses) Annual Conference

• Selected by the US Department of Labor to represent the United States at the Tri-National (Canada, Mexico and USA) Violence as a Workplace Risk Conference

   Alverno College
   Anne Arundel Community College
   Arkansas State University
   Art Institute of Chicago
   Bristol Community College (MA)
   California Institute of the Arts
   California State University, Fresno
   Cardinal Stritch University
   Clayton State University|
   Colby-Sawyer College
   College of Southern Maryland
   Columbus State Community College
   Columbus State State Police
   Concordia University
   Community College of Baltimore County
   Creighton University
   Cumberland County College
   Cuyahoga Community College
   Dominican University
   Eastfield College
   Edgewood College
   Frederick Community College
   Fullerton State
   Guardian
   Hamilton County Education Services
   Harding University

Issue:  Reaction versus Prevention
    If our responsibility is the safety of those in our organization, isn’t it essential that we prevent hazard as opposed to waiting to react to it?  If all we intend to do is to react to aggression we will, eventually, get someone who does not communicate verbally but instead communicates physically and "out of nowhere" strikes out; worst yet, the aggressor has a weapon and pulls the trigger.  The important question becomes: "Prior to conflict, when do I engage this person and begin the defusing process?" If you cannot measure aggression, you cannot answer that question!

Development:
    As we enter into this new Century we need a Paradigm Shift, a shift from reacting to aggression to a Paradigm of Prevention.  Current methods for preventing aggression and violence in our workplaces are not working! 

    As we look at conventional means of managing aggression, we see topics like Conflict Resolution and Anger Management.  Since there are individuals who convey their conflict with an expression of violence, it becomes essential to prevent "conflict" if one truly intends to prevent violence. You can't have one without the other.  The focus must be on preventing conflict not just violence.

    Conflict Resolution presupposes conflict; you are already reacting, you are already past any opportunity to prevent aggression. If we only train our co-workers to respond when two individuals are in conflict (nose-to-nose) eventually we will get someone who does not communicate verbally but instead communicates physically and "out of nowhere" they strike out, worst yet, the aggressor could have a weapon and decide to use it.  The problem with Anger Management is that we all measure anger differently and therefore experience and express it differently. There is no common denominator for us to measure anger; pursuant to the criteria popularized by Dr. Edward Deming, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”.

More Insight:
    Since 1993, I have conducted a continuous study into the nature of aggression in humans and have concluded that one cannot get to aggression prevention when focused the word “Violence.” Typically, violence conjures up fatality and violent assault, which causes two problems.   First, those who have not experienced or witnessed violence for themselves may consider it a non-issue, at least until violence actually occurs.  Second, when looking for a solution to Violence, we tend to come up with Crisis Management – “I have a crisis and I need to manage it!”   This is reactionary only!  We, therefore, cannot achieve aggression prevention if our focus is on the word violence. 

    We will show you how to measure human aggression in others and in yourself, so that you can manage aggression in others and in yourself.  We will also show you how to measure and manage aggression before conflict occurs thereby preventing it.

Issue:  Productivity
    What are the effects of aggression on productivity?  The United Kingdom's Royal Mail has determined that the cost from "Co-worker friction" (i.e. aggression) is £247,000,000 per year.

    Do you know what the cost of aggression is in your workplace? 

Development:
    The cost of aggression in one surveyed company sheds light on this subject.  When asked to declare the number of hours lost due to aggressive behavior (late coming into work, early leaving work, taking additional time over lunch and calling in sick), Co-workers’ lost time added up to 4.8 days of lost productivity (absenteeism) per employee per year.  This survey did not take into account the cost of turnover, presenteeism (an co-worker is present but distracted), passive aggressive behavior, increased co-worker and client complaints, lower quality of effort, loss of morale and motivation, lack of creativity and innovation, loss of loyalty to the company.  We can identify and measure the cost of aggression in your organization.

    An investment in Aggression Management® Training is a saving, not a cost.

More Insight:
   With one reported $50,000,000 settlement, we must provide "aggression prevention", not merely crisis management or conflict resolution.

    We achieve prevention only when we consider "aggression" as the root of the problem. "Aggression" embodies everything from verbal abuse through violent behavior. This includes providing a measurable solution to subjects like Sexual Harassment, Bullying, Management~Labor Conflict, Domestic Violence Spillover, Road Rage, Student~Teacher Conflict, Robbery, Militancy~Terrorism and Homicide. Don't you and your co-workers deserve an aggression-free workplace? Shouldn't you become an Aggression Manager^®.    

    Employers around the Nation are utilizing Aggression Management® Training to diminish aggression in their workplaces. Diminished aggression in the workplace not only saves lives but yields greater productivity. Imagine a future where productivity is significantly enhanced and employee safety and satisfaction are at an all time high.

    All our Workshops are fully guaranteed, so please take the time to study the details provided here by our web site. Although the majority of our training has been held in-house, we also hold open workshops in Orlando, FL for smaller numbers of participants. Our web site describes our upcoming Open-Workshops: Two-Day Comprehensive Workshop & Four-Day Trainer's (Train-the-Trainers) Workshop.

     Take the first step to an aggression-free workplace, call us at 407-718-5637.

Contact us at:

JohnByrnes@AggressionManagement.com

One Opinion about Aggression Management^® Skills 

Scott Vasatka –  Chairman, Market One, Restaurant Consultant

"I walked in on a situation in which two of my managers were consulting an employee and the conversation had escalated up the Aggression Continuum and it was minutes if not seconds from a bad situation.  I did not know how to handle situations like this before, now I do!  This time I was able to access where they where emotionally, pace them and then quickly bring them down to where they needed to be.  All the while knowing why and what I was doing.  Understanding why I handled it so effectively only came in a later reflection when I realized 'I am an Aggression Manager' who is well prepared to handle these situations. It never stops amazing me how good training sneaks into our sub-conscious mind and presents itself when we need it the most.  It's only later that we realize how and why we handled this situation. Thank you for the training."