Threat Assessment Team Training, Aerospace Industry
Psychodrama
The Problem
Like a handful of others, this major defense contractor already had a mature workplace violence prevention program in place. It also had well-established threat assessment teams in each of its enterprise-sized business divisions. But it still needed help. After conducting a rigorous request-for-proposal process that attracted many of the best workplace violence prevention advisory firms in the world, the client awarded a long-term contract to us. “We’re doing a good job of identifying subjects displaying concerning or threatening behavior,” explained the client’s Security Director. “But we need support in two areas: advanced training and expert threat management consultation.”
The Solution
Our Threat and Violence Risk Management team developed and presented a custom, training session which included live, Interactive Behavioral Simulations. The training was presented across the country to regional teams comprised of representatives from the client’s Human Resources, Security and Legal departments. The presenter, cross-trained as an actor, incorporated the psychological, intellectual and emotional history of real-life subjects of concern — as well as corroborative interviews and text messages — to engage audience members and improve their ability to address such cases internally. A moderator interrupted the scenarios to ask the audience about next steps, intervention techniques and termination strategies. The training encouraged representatives from several company departments to collaborate and share disparate pieces of information — including coworker commentary, work performance, the subject’s correspondence and the direct interview — to inform next steps.
The Results
This engagement is ongoing. Participants are enthusiastic because they’re developing new skills and interview techniques. Individually, they’re conducting better interviews and practicing lessons learned from lectures and scenarios. But at the enterprise level, the long-term impacts are likely to be even more strategic: not just lives saved but also higher productivity, lower healthcare costs, declines in turnover and fewer potential impacts to the client’s global brand.