D.E.I., Nothing New for Performance Counseling for Law Enforcement
If you haven’t heard about the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) conversations taking place across the United States, then I’m assuming you don’t have a T.V., radio, computer, smart phone, internet, or even access to newspapers or magazines! Many organizations are focused on DEI and how to include DEI in their organizational culture. But how does an employer address DEI when conducting performance counseling? S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling already speaks to each of these in the book and in the processes of conducting the counseling.
What is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?
Diversity is the presence of difference that may include race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, language, (dis)ability, age, religious commitment, or political perspective.
Equity is the process of fairness. The policy that one would implement to ensure processes and procedures promote justness and impartiality.
Inclusion is an outcome to ensure those that are diverse actually feel and/or are welcomed. Are you, the institution, and your program inviting?
How S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling addresses DEI.
S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling was developed using social and behavioral science, psychology, and communication, to focus on the behavior, but also be supportive of the person. The development of S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling was not based on the DEI conversations currently taking place. However, the ideals of diversity, equity and inclusion were inherently incorporated within the development of S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling Method©. Therefore, we say, “Save the Relationship, Change the Behavior.” The behavior becomes the primary focus, which is directly connected to the law, rule, policy, or expectation, thus impacting the DEI factors in the following ways:
S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling and Diversity:
S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling teaches managers and supervisors how to be supportive of the individual, using active listening and paraphrasing back the person’s perspective, to better understand and focus on the behavior as it applies to the law, rule, expectation, etc., and not based on the person. S.C.O.R.E. teaches supervisors and managers how to avoid the flawed thinking people have, including understanding that their perception(s) may or may not be reality. S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling also shows supervisors how people use and apply heuristics and the fundamental attribution error from psychology, and how supervisors and managers may rationalize away behavior using consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness. Each of these are “human” psychological and behavioral factors found across all races, genders, religions, sexual orientations, ethnicities, nationalities, socioeconomic statuses, languages, (dis)abilities, ages, religious commitments, or political perspectives.
S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling and Equity:
S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling teaches equity by helping supervisors and managers recognize how all people want to be treated regardless of their specific characteristics. S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling helps supervisors and managers determine if the behavior is a matter of ability or motivation, or if the behavior is conscious or subconscious, deficient or defiant, and how to address each differently based on this determination. S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling encourages the counselor to consider the perspective of the counselee, while also requiring input from the counselee in determining how the behavior will be changed. This creates a collaborative effort with input from both the counselor and the counselee to come up with an action plan acceptable to both. The idea of a process of fairness is applied through the S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling Method© as it uses a nine-step process which allows for individual circumstances, perspectives, and considerations, to create a behavior change plan which is impartial and unbiased to the individual or the organization.
S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling and Inclusion:
Inclusion is an outcome to ensure those that are diverse feel and/or are welcomed. S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling teaches managers and supervisors about the diverse types of employees/followers based on behavior, and not on any perceived protected characteristic of the person. S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling shows how to effectively address communication and how supervisors and managers can overcome communication apprehension to better make both counselor and counselee more at ease and equal. S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling teaches techniques for separating the person from the performance in order maintain a healthy relationship with the person yet change the performance to be in line with organizational expectations. S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling teaches the difference between mentoring, coaching, and performance counseling and the differences in relationship, leader role, follower role, and the primary driver of each. S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling also teaches managers and supervisors how to check for Motivation, Satisfaction, and Performance, as well as how to approach performance in a non-confrontational way.
The development of S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling was not based on the DEI conversations currently taking place, but were based on the premise that the performance, not the person is the primary focus for the performance counseling. When listening to the DEI conversations over the last couple of years, it is reassuring that the considerations of diversity, equity and inclusion are inherently incorporated within the S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling Method©.
If you are interested in providing the S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling training for your organization, please contact Dr. Chris Fuzie, at https://www.scoreperformancecounseling.com/to-schedule-for-your-organization or email Chris@cmfleadership.com.
About the Author: Dr. Chris Fuzie is the author of "S.C.O.R.E. Performance Counseling: Save the Relationship, Change the Behavior," and owner of CMF Leadership Consulting. Chris is a developer/trainer/consultant for leadership of public, private, profit, and non-profit organizations. Chris holds an earned Doctor of Education (Ed. D), M.A. and B.A. in Organizational Leadership, and has graduate certificates in Human Resources and Criminal Justice Education. Chris has experience as a Director in a multi-college, community college district in California, as well as a Business Manager and HR Manager in a county district attorney's office. Chris is honorably retired from the Modesto Police Department after 28 years of public service where he last served as the Assistant Division Commander of Investigations.
