Rolling Out The Welcome Mat

On your first few days or weeks as an Emergency Dispatcher, there are undoubtedly a few emotions at the helm: anxiety, eagerness, and maybe exhilaration. Finally, preparation meets the pavement! Perhaps your voice wavers as you focus on staying calm for the caller. No matter how confident you feel, there’s nothing quite like knowing you have a few friends beside you.

“For new 911 dispatchers, the expectations can seem overwhelming at first, especially if they don’t have experience in the emergency services,” said George Ellinger, 911 QA and Training Manager for Johnston County 911 Communications (JC911) (Smithfield, North Carolina, USA). “It’s difficult to manage emotions while understanding a dispatcher’s responsibilities, the full scope of the work, and the pressure that comes with it.”

Positive reassurance and a little bit of grace can go a long way to put newly trained Emergency Dispatchers at ease, according to Morgan Harris, JC911 Director. “Most people don’t have a full vision of what a dispatcher does until you start doing that job,” he said. “We expect a lot, but we try not to beat them up about mistakes as they learn and move on.”

Training to dispatch floor
From instructing young adults trying on their first career to mature learners who have garnered more life experience, trainers and mentors aim to build the knowledge and confidence necessary for new Emergency Dispatchers to trust both the protocol and themselves.

Obviously it’s not possible to master everything during training, but Ellinger says the difference is visible if you’ve put in more time working on it at home. The Emergency Dispatchers who really take off are the ones who incorporate their learning into their lives, practicing with their family at the kitchen table.

“My 10-year-old daughter knew 10-codes before I did!” Ellinger said. As the JC911 Training Manager, he knows all the tricks to make learning fun with phone quizzes and Jeopardy! games. They like to add a bit of humor into scenarios, voicing canines in the background and utilizing laughter as a lift through the monotony of memorization. “By the end of training, it’s amazing to see these new recruits find their dispatch voice.”

New to the crew
Tanya Boudreau, 911 Dispatcher at Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA) (Alberta, Canada), remembers her first days as an Emergency Dispatcher, touring her facility and meeting the leadership and other Emergency Dispatchers who were quick to extend her friendship. When she began 10 years ago, you still had to earn your uniform with proven staying power, which was a challenge she took to heart.

These days, BRFA Emergency Dispatchers welcome their new team members with their uniform from the beginning, along with a personalized binder full of tips and tricks of mapping and bylaws, policies and procedures, and a letter highlighting the importance of mental health.

Similarly, JC911 provides new Emergency Dispatchers with a challenge coin, a headset bag, department shirts, and other goodies. They officially welcome new employees in their quarterly newsletter and invite those in training to the main center to participate in events such as Telecommunicator Week activities or Superbowl Sunday fun as part of the team.

Mentorship and bonding
The adjustment to the dispatch floor is more than putting training to the test; it’s also physically adapting to lengthy shiftwork, exhausting night shifts, and multitasking demands to continuously be ready for the next call. Keeping track of multiple screens with different noises and notifications can be challenging as well.  

Boudreau is an unofficial cheerleader for her team, looking for ways to help the newbies feel more welcome. “It’s an environment where you’re always learning,” Boudreau said. “You learn not to expect perfection. Keep trying and stay calm because calm is contagious.”

When a new Emergency Dispatcher first shares a shift solo with Boudreau, she invites questions as she deliberately builds their confidence and capabilities: “Who do I put this through to?” “How do I print this?” “Did I do this right?” “Can I patch this one through to you, and I’ll watch?” She’s intentional about sharing her own calls for observation, swiveling her chair to show visual cues, repeating things, and writing notes so new Emergency Dispatchers benefit from her experience and never feel alone.

Boudreau likes to go the extra mile and tries to find things new Emergency Dispatchers might have in common to do together between calls, like jigsaw puzzles, cribbage, coloring, macrame, or diamond art painting. These simple efforts build a bridge for bonding, allowing her to share her positive insights with them. “I tell them about their best qualities, like ‘You have a calming personality. I aim to be like you, so calm, so quick, so smart.’”

Natural mentorship is a focus at JC911 as well. “We think similarly to the old adage of ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’” Harris said. “For our dispatchers, their training doesn’t ever end, it just evolves into a mentorship from everyone around them—we’re all invested.”

Confidence, purpose, and retention
Connection is key to individual success. New Emergency Dispatchers want to feel they belong, and the truth is their success is essential for all staff. “They are needed,” Harris said. “Our rising dispatchers allow us to take vacations, go to our kid’s graduation, and find the balance between important work in the emergency services with the irreplaceable roles we have at home.”

Achieving true confidence at the console takes time, but Boudreau picks up on signs in new Emergency Dispatchers like putting notes aside, raising fewer questions, and showing a more relaxed rhythm. Their willingness to pick up extra shifts indicates a greater comfort level.

For Harris, the best part is watching trainees’ confidence grow to help them accomplish great things not only professionally but personally as well. He recognizes the life at the heart of each Emergency Dispatcher and tells them, “I’m here to help you with your problems,” and he means it. “You’ve got to make sure your people are taken care of,” Harris said.

Whether it’s stopping by an employee’s house to install an electrical panel, allowing a child to come watch cartoons in the back when the babysitter backs out, answering 3 a.m. questions (without too much grumpiness), or visiting a fellow employee (Ellinger) at the burn unit after a radiator hose incident and injury, Harris cares enough to prove it.

“At closing hour, [Harris] and our deputy director all showed up for me,” Ellinger said. “I had to kick them out at 2 a.m. The friendship we share truly is a family.” The JC911 team shares that viewpoint, describing their camaraderie as trusting and leaning on each other, not taking each other too seriously, checking in after a difficult call, being a listening ear, and celebrating both professional and personal milestones.

Likewise, at BRFA, friendship looks like a group chat with shared memes, clarifying questions, and plans to go out to dinner or to arrange a volleyball match in their off hours.

“We look out for each other,” Boudreau said. “When your car won’t start in -40° C weather, you can depend on a co-worker to offer a ride far out of their way to get you there.”

Conclusion
Looking back on how you felt as a trainee taking your first solo call, you know the influence of the team that surrounds you. Feeling supported can help shape a new Emergency Dispatcher’s confidence and competence at the console, starting a journey of continual learning and growth. As co-workers invest in cultivating the comm. center’s culture, new hires bloom and reciprocate, enriching the success of all.