Directors’ Circle
It’s lonely at the top.
You find yourself in a unique position, with responsibilities and stressors that few in your department understand. Challenges with self-confidence, feeling misunderstood, and loneliness are common.
The one place you can be understood and feel like someone has your back is with other directors. They get it.
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
– African Proverb
Join The
Community
It has been demonstrated in business circles that groups created exclusively for executives result in reduced stress and more efficient brainstorming, while creating a peer support network for ongoing encouragement. Top executives help remind each other that their challenges are shared by all of them.
As emergency telecommunications moves toward being recognized as an industry of professional first responders, 9-1-1 executives are no less in need of support than their counterparts in the business world.
Join the community of telecommunications executives in the 9-1-1 Directors’ Circle, a one-year journey of inner and outer growth.
About Your Facilitator
Joe Serio is president of The 360° Dispatcher and holds a Ph.D. in criminal justice, specializing in leadership and organizational behavior. He was co-founder of The Healthy Dispatcher and co-author of Dispatcher Stress: 50 Lessons on Beating the Burnout. He has trained thousands of dispatchers in the U.S. and Canada, and speaks at NENA, APCO, and Navigator conferences. The 360° Dispatcher hosts the week-long 9-1-1 Leadership Training Event at the Mayan Ranch in Bandera, TX, twice a year as well as the 9-1-1 Supervisor Leadership Academy. Joe regularly logs hours in 9-1-1 centers around the U.S., monitoring calls, talking with dispatchers, and interviewing supervisors.
The 9-1-1 Directors’ Circle Program
The 9-1-1 Directors’ Circle consists of small groups, or cohorts, of a maximum of 15 directors and
assistant directors from across the country. The cohorts are designated by number.
The first group is Directors’ Circle Cohort 1, or DC1.
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The cohort will meet once a month for a 1-2-hour Zoom call. These calls will address challenges specific to 9-1-1 directors through presentation and discussion. It will also be an opportunity on a monthly basis for cohort members to reconnect. The 360° Dispatcher will initiate the calls; all directors are expected to attend. When appropriate, calls will include experts on the particular topic being discussed, whether on professional development or personal growth. Calls will include case studies of 9-1-1 centers that have attained uncommon success.
All cohorts in the 9-1-1 Directors’ Circle will have a single Facebook group page where information, experiences, reflections, and questions can be shared. This private page will remain active indefinitely and will help directors network beyond their cohort with colleagues who are also participating in the 9-1-1 Directors’ Circle.
The Directors’ Retreat and the Zoom calls are part of the peer support aspect of the program. In addition, directors are encouraged to reach out to each other when necessary, whether one-on-one or through the Facebook group page. A primary goal of this program is to provide a place where 9-1-1 directors can confer with their colleagues as needed. Directors are strongly encouraged to reach out to each other. The 360° Dispatcher can assist in identifying other resources for peer support, if necessary.
The books in the Get the Nerve series are:
- Overcoming Fear: 50 Lessons on Being Bold and Living the Dream
- Emotional Intelligence: 50 Lessons on Knowing Who You’re Dealing With
- Time Management: 50 Lessons on Finding Time for What’s Important
- Public Speaking: 50 Lessons on Presenting Without Losing Your Cool
- Dispatcher Stress: 50 Lessons on Beating the Burnout
- Getting Healthy: 50 Lessons on Fitness for Law Enforcement
- Leaving Blue: 50 Lessons on Retiring Well from Law Enforcement
Selected readings from these books will be a part of the Zoom discussion.
One of the biggest challenges in 9-1-1 is communication. 9-1-1 professionals at all levels are often at a loss for healthy ways to handle conflict. Choosing the right words, phrases, or tone to broach challenging conversations can be problematic. Directors will receive sample dialogues, material, guidance, and advice on communicating for greatest effect in the 9-1-1 center.
In addition, recommendations on audio books and podcasts will be provided. Directors are encouraged to share audio book and podcast recommendations with each other, and are encouraged to share book titles with The 360° Dispatcher. We will provide an outline of the salient points of books to the group.
The 360° Dispatcher will provide brief videos to follow up the ranch discussions and Zoom conversations. The videos will serve as reminders of what was discussed and provide new information when appropriate. The videos will be five minutes in length or less.
Within the context of these calls, Joe will discuss specific projects, professional or personal, that the director would like to accomplish. If the project is applicable to the cohort, it will be shared on Zoom, Facebook, video, or an email.
Program Investment
The director’s one-time investment in the 9-1-1 Directors’ Circle is $4,295.00. Payment may be made by credit card or check (Made payable to Joe Serio Enterprises) Given that budget dollars may have already been allocated elsewhere for 2022, directors are welcome to enroll for the May 2022 DC1 cohort and remit payment at the beginning of the new budget year.
The Directors’ Retreat
The Directors’ Retreat is the first group meeting to kick off the year-long program. It will be held at the Mayan Ranch in Bandera, TX, outside San Antonio. Participation in the retreat is mandatory as it will establish the foundation for the rest of the year. The retreat constitutes an unparalleled relationship-building opportunity, an experience remembered for years.
In addition to fostering personal bonds in the cohort, the retreat provides a deep dive into the major defining philosophical tenet of the 9-1-1 Directors’ Circle: Exemplary leadership develops “from the inside out.” The retreat includes transformational presentations and provides quiet time so that each director may consider his or her journey to today, create a vision based on core values and beliefs, and identify personal and professional goals.
Discussions and exercises on the challenges of 9-1-1 leadership, understanding fear and resistance, dynamics of organizational culture, the power of storytelling, the future of 9-1-1 technology, and strategies for goal setting, among others, will be central to the retreat. Directors should be willing to have difficult conversations about fear, excuses, self-sabotage, anxiety, procrastination, and others. Vulnerability and trust are the foundation of the ranch experience as they are the hallmarks of any great leader.
No other telecommunications executive leadership program focuses as directly on personal development and growth as the cornerstone of success.
Retreat Dates
The retreat for Directors’ Circle Cohort 1 (DC1) will take place from November 14-18, 2022.
The fee for the year-long program includes all food and beverages, program, workbooks, books, and entertainment at the ranch (other than the gift shop). Travel to the ranch is not included in the program fee.
9-1-1 Loves 360 Dispatcher Programs
Peer Support. Professional Development. Personal Growth.
with other directors.