Early Intervention To Stop The Rot
What an unexpected change. A policeman with both passion and purpose is Chief Inspector of Constabulary. Sir Dennis O’Connor has hit the front pages everywhere in England this week in his quest to see dreaded yob culture anti-social behaviour stamped out.
An open goal for many of the papers of course, here’s how Middle-England’s conscience the Daily Mail commented;
In a report ringing with common sense, Sir Denis O’Connor spells out the blindingly obvious truth that the ‘retreat from the streets’ over the past 40 years has allowed anti-social behaviour to flourish.
The figures are startling. An estimated 14m instances last year equates to the tabloid heaven impact of an ‘attack’ every 2 seconds.
Thankfully, Sir Dennis touts answers. If 45% of all calls to the police concern this, then it’s time to change how police respond. Apparently only 5 of the UK’s 43 forces treat it with the action it deserves.
But at least there is a “path to follow”. One where such work is not considered ‘low level policing’.
His most telling remarks featured his urge for “early intervention”. He cited health and education as arenas where everyone knows that to step in and act early is the best course of action.
He even quoted figures suggesting how difficult it was to halt the slide when the chance to prevent at the outset had been passed over. When striking first, 50% of offenders cause no further complaints. By the time you reach the ASBO, 90% of victims are required to re-dial.
Should the same logic underpin reaction to something going awry within a business setting? In a sales environment for instance there’s plenty of management opportunity to act on triggers. Internal and external.
How often do you hear an old war-horse say sales are never won on the first call but are often lost there? What about response to prospect or customer queries? How often does not nipping something in the bud escalate to a crisis that soon needlessly sucks the life out of the entire team?
The path to which he refers includes having a dedicated team to immediately visit scenes of discomfort and an awareness across the board of signals that must raise instant action.
Similar policies can I’m sure be simply devised to eventually stamp out that which causes 45% of all your issues too.