YouTube Transcript:
Oral Boards Made Easy Module 5

often there exists confusion among the
oral presentations that occur in
promotion processes as I have said
repeatedly rarely are two processes
exactly the same also common is for
elements of the testing process to be
called by a variety of names it is not
unusual to have oral board exams
referred to as structured interviews or
panel interviews to put some around the
names that I am using to describe the
elements covered in the oral boards made
easy program the difference between an
oral board and an interview is that an
oral board is a verbal test scored by
more than one Raider for which you
receive a performance rating such as a
numeric grade pass fail or something
else that is tied to a scoring rubric or
criteria conversely an interview does
not have strict scoring guidelines it is
based more on Impressions and
expectations and is therefore much more
subjective in my experience the most
common format for promotion processes
has a scored written component a scored
oral component either an oral board or
an assessment center and an interview
with the final decision makers for the
position such as the chief or police
commission or other promotion
Authority this module focuses on that
last component of the process that I
just described namely the non-scored
interview
it is important to keep in mind your
audience when appearing at an interview
as well as the organizational culture of
law enforcement in general let's start
with the L law enforcement cultures are
hierarchical what that means is that
there is an orientation toward
consistency through rules and a clear
structure of Authority for the purpose
of order and
accountability now I know that many
agencies can lean toward being less
formal on a day-to-day basis but in know
most cases the premise of authority is
usually lurking just below the surface
in a true hierarchical culture the work
at the front line is done in a manner
consistent with the desires of those at
the top of the chain of command that is
not to say that changes may never occur
but as an organizational culture style
it is slow to change why is any of this
relevant it has everything to do with
your performance at the interview for
the purposes of this course I am going
to treat this mod as though you were
appearing for an interview with your
chief after the testing components have
been completed but before a final
decision has been made regarding which
of the finalists promotion will be
elevated if your Chief is in charge of
your agency and if the chief wants the
front-line Personnel to perform their
duties in a certain way doesn't it make
sense that you go into this interview
with an understanding of what the chief
is seeking after all as a supervisor
regardless of the rank you are seeking
you will be serving in the chain of
command between the chief and the front
line therefore you are a critical Lynch
pin in the chief's success if you
understand what the chief wants and you
are effective at influencing those below
you in the chain of command toward that
end the hierarchical objectives of your
Chief will be met however if you see
yourself as a free agent who is more in
touch with the front line than the chief
and you see it as your responsibility to
lead as you see fit regardless of the
chief desires the higher iCal culture
becomes
weakened let's put it a different way
assume that you owned your own business
and you had 25 employees you hire a
supervisor to oversee those employees to
be sure that the work gets done the way
that you want it done your supervisor
however believes he knows more than you
do your supervisor ignores your desires
and does the job their way not yours you
speak with this supervisor and reinforce
the way that you want the work done the
supervisor ignores you and it their way
because he or she believes you are out
of touch as a business owner what would
you
do I suspect that you would be replacing
that supervisor quickly there's not much
difference in your promotion interview
in most cases your Chief wants to be
reassured that you know what he or she
expects of an effective supervisor and
you you are prepared to perform your
supervisory duties as the chief desires
not as a free agent so for that reason
you want to prepare for your interview
by understanding that which is important
to your Chief as well as those issues
which cause the chief distress then be
prepared to answer the chief's questions
honestly and with the chief's
perspective in
mind if your interview is with someone
other than a chief such as a commission
or elected board you should be aware of
their perspective and concerns for
example many elected officials and
commission members have less technical
knowledge of law enforcement than a
chief or Sheriff it is therefore likely
that the questions that they will ask
you will be less technical what these
officials do often possess is a citizen
perspective of law enforcement and how
it can be better understanding the
perspectives of the individuals who will
be interviewing you should help you
prepare accordingly I cannot emphasize
enough that regardless of the form or
manner in which you are being asked
questions your answers must always
always be honest however the amount of
information that you provide the words
you choose to use and the emphasis you
put on certain comments may need to be
adapted so that they are received as
desired for example your Chief may wish
to hear you speak about community
policing in a way that emphasizes
influencing your officers towards more
systematic problem solving whereas an
elected panel or commission may wish to
hear about community policing as it
applies to reaching out to the community
proactive i l with information and in a
timely respectful manner the best way
for me to put this is for you to
understand your audience and prepare
accordingly due to its subjective manner
questions that are more likely to appear
in an interview will pertain to
character traits or hypothetical
situations here are some examples with
demonstrated
answers
I recognize that at the next rank both
my duties and my level of responsibility
will change I view the most important of
my supervisory responsibilities to be
the creation of a bridge from the chief
to the Frontline employees in doing that
I will be seeking to help the chief be
successful in achieving his or her
desired outcomes it is therefore
important that I understand the chief's
vision of our agency and incorporate
that Vision with our agency's mission
with my clear understanding of these two
foundations I can then influence those
who report to me towards those goals as
an influencer it is important that I
know and understand those who report to
me so that I can assess their
motivations on an individual level this
will allow me to align agency objectives
with their individual fulfillment
objectives with the intention of
challenging and developing these
employees beyond that I see my role as
one of quality assurance I will be
continuously evaluating the performance
of of the employees assigned to me
against our general orders to be sure
that tasks are being completed
appropriately while conducting these
evaluations I will be seeking
opportunities to identify and instill
individual and team Improvement and that
is what I believe is expected of me at
the next
rank regardless of whether I am
conducting line or staff inspections the
overall goal will be the adherence to
policies alone the Improvement of
personnel and
practices occasionally there will be a
need to conduct covert inspections for
the purpose of identifying real
deficiencies and I am prepared to
conduct and report on such inspections
however when it comes to inspecting my
Personnel on a day-to-day basis I will
be more likely to engaging in overt
inspections with overt inspections my
Personnel will know that I have an
inspection mindset and I am continuously
assessing the effectiveness of my
Personnel I believe that when
individuals are aware that inspections
are likely that they tend to perform at
the highest level to assure that their
behaviors meet the expected threshold
upon conducting inspections as soon as
practical afterward I will provide
feedback to either affirm good behavior
or correct less than optimal Behavior I
believe documentation of inspections is
essential as our follow-up assessments
to assure ongoing
Improvement
as a supervisor I am responsible for the
Assurance of appropriate behavior by all
officers under my command once promoted
I will meet with the officers that are
assigned to me for the purpose of
setting clear expectations and my
expectations are not independent
expectations rather they are
expectations that the department holds
of all officers with regards to the
appropriate use of force I will
reinforce that citizen safety and
officer safety are dependent on the
minimal use of force necessary to
successfully resolve a situation an
officer communication skills can be the
most effective remedy for a situation
for that reason I will be constantly
refreshing offices on communication
deescalation techniques additionally
just because force can be applied does
not mean that it should be officers will
be expected to assess the possibility of
Alternatives whenever feasible going
further offical wellness and tactical
proficiency will increase the likelihood
of minimal use of force and lastly I
recognize that it is my responsibility
to review all uses of force by my
officers and if necessary to take
corrective action in the event of
excessive or inappropriate uses of
force transparency is a tool to advance
trust with the community its premise is
that as public servants the work that we
do is done on behalf of the public we
serve for that reason our agency should
seek to proactively disclose information
regarding its operations so the public
does not believe that the police are
concealing such information such
concealment could be seen as suspicious
and serve as a barrier to trust with the
community Freedom of Information laws
hold that the work done on the Public's
behalf by government entities should be
disclosed unless covered by a specific
exception to disclosure such as ongoing
criminal investigations or certain
Personnel issues when an agency displays
maximum transparency it shows that it is
seeking to be held accountable to the
public it serves resulting in stronger
Trust
it will be my responsibility to
continuously assess the knowledge skills
and abilities of the officers assigned
to my command against the continuously
evolving best practices of our
profession this is my current practice
for my own professional development and
I do my best to keep a breast of new
laws tactics and technological advances
so that I may serve at my Peak I will
meet with my officers to hear from them
their assessment of how they believe
they can improve and if I in concur with
their assessment I will do my best to
help facilitate that growth Beyond those
conversations if I observe deficiencies
in an officer's knowledge skill level or
ability I will work with that officer to
facilitate the necessary growth to have
him or her perform at his or her
Peak now try these next two sets of
interview questions on your own listen
to the question pause the video and take
your best shot at answering the question
to help you improve before moving on to
the next question write your impressions
of your answer on the interviews page on
the action plan your notes will then
serve as a reference for you to consult
as your interview
near what is our Police Department's
mission statement and how will you apply
it if you are
promoted
why should I select you over the other
candidates how will you help improve
police Community
Trust once promoted what will your top
three priorities
be what would your peers say are your
strengths and
weaknesses what can I expect from you
regarding
discipline what expectations will you
have for your new
team
what does loyalty mean to
you what is your opinion on bodyw warn
cameras if I were to promote someone
other than you who should that
be this module on interviews has been a
deviation from the oral board focus of
this program but because of its
similarity to oral boards I felt it
important to cover for you in the next
module we will return to our oral board
focus by specifically addressing
experiential tell us about a time
questions