Defense By Design

I have spoken at several shelters over the years to women who fled physically abusive environments before something worse occurred.

I even know some large national companies/corporations that have policies to help employees caught up in such scenarios whereby they move the employee to another of their locations, providing necessary childcare or transportation when/where needed, or allow them to work remotely versus coming into the office (obviously not at their own typical residence). These are employers I applaud for taking a proactive posture in protecting their staff. Those in and take note.

But sometimes the hardest challenge is getting the employee to act at all, or divulge to their employer what is going on, lest the employer consider them putting the company and coworkers at-risk due to such potential. The onus here is upon employers to have these conversations 'with' their staff, thus setting the stage for them to be more proactive themselves coming forward to divulge what is going on "off-the-clock."

For any or carrier, company or agency interested, I do offer presentations to managers, owners, administrators and executives covering such dynamics and points of mitigation (and documentation). If interested in such a commercial client presentation, let's talk.

I know someone who can help.

Self-Defense Expert questions, "Lightning never strikes twice." - Part 3 of 4 Self Defense expert, Jeff McKissack of Defense By Design, offers in...

I'll be heading down next week to keynote at this annual risk and safety conference hosted by the City of McAllen, TX. I did the same last year and will say this is a fantastic event, great collection and cross-section of attendees along with great exhibitors/vendors.

For any in or , particularly in the and or fields, this is definitely for you, but there will also be a number of other professions and industries represented.

The city does a great job hosting at the city convention center and it is also a wonderful facility in itself. All in all, it is just a top-notch event with great people attending and hosting. It's a pleasure to speak here once again.

A chilling tale of a coworker-on-coworker attack over a promotion. The attacking employee clearly stated his intent was to kill the other coworker, and he almost did.

Full story linked below in comments section.

This is not just a scenario facing owners/managers, but , and so many other professions and industries. For any or this is yet another "warning shot" as to your people not knowing, behaving or reacting as you think they would.

Education and training of managers and employees alike are essential to detect pre-incident indicators of such escalations or threats as well as their possible avoidance. No, not all incorporates an active shooter, but can still prove just as deadly...and prove liable for ownership.

I offer both online and onsite training options for as well as managerial training to help proactively address such concerns, those that fit within most budgets. I am also launching a 'NEW' training program through any or tied to specific vertical markets. If interested in either, just ask.

And for any or carrier, company or agency seeking to help your clients avoid such incidents and liabilities, let's talk as obviously I do training at the owner, manager, administrator and executive level as well.

I know someone who can help.

In the ongoing series of people you think would "know better" comes yet another example, this time a NYC city judge. And to be clear, he was totally unapologetic about his off-the-clock activities, despite clearly going against employment policy.

This is a clear case of for the city, which is why I continue to speak to such groups as Texas Municipal Human Resources Association, Texas PRIMA, and this November the Texas Municipal League as well as an adjacent conference keynote in the City of McAllen, TX next week for leaders, administrators and representatives from around the state.

Link to story below, and the details for some might be too much, but wanted to provide context to this post. Fortunately, NYC has an employee policy in-place that justified his termination.

“A city administrative law judge shall conduct all of his or her extra-judicial activities so that they do not cast reasonable doubt on the city administrative law judge’s capacity to act impartially as a city administrative law judge,” and “do not detract from the dignity of judicial office,” according to city rules of conduct. There you go!

To my as well as and as a whole -- "no, your people do not 'know better' unless you make SURE they do." This means more than agreements and codes of conduct, it means education and instruction 'communicated' to them via more than simple paper or digital documents.

I offer both online as well as in-person instruction to help you better communicate both behaviors and expectations to mitigate such risks.

Yes, I know someone who can help.

This one is for parents -- yes, I still offer presentations/seminars to such groups and have spoken at least a dozen or more times over the years at the Texas PTA State Conference on various related topics as well as other church and nonprofit parent groups.

As a parent, you more often than not cannot control the bully in the equation, but you can help address what conditions might be attracting such bullies to 'your' child.

The one thing I've reminded such audiences on over the years, not only do the victims grow up...so do those bullies, some of whom may end up being your son or daughter's boss, manager, coworker, etc. Point being, if whatever has attracted 'one' bully to your child early on is not addressed, it will only foster the same response of those later bullies they encounter in the workplace vs. the classroom.

And again, if pushed into the proverbial corner, we've all seen the stories where victims come out swinging...or shooting. Now, when your kids are still in/at a place where you, their parents, can get them the professional help they need is the time to act 'BEFORE' a worse-case-scenario plays out.

Self-Defense Expert questions, "Lightning never strikes twice." - Part 2 of 4 Self Defense expert, Jeff McKissack of Defense By Design, offers in...