In 2023, the Dutch police wanted to organize training for colleagues within units responsible for perception analysis in the context of crisis communication. At first glance, this might seem straightforward, but training crisis team members effectively and efficiently is far from simple.

Teaching competencies that can be seamlessly translated to real-life crisis situations requires more than traditional classroom training. The easy solution, where crisis team members must complete a set number of training hours each year regardless of their competency level and experience with the subject, falls short in this respect.

So, how do you develop learning pathways that stick, ensuring that crisis team members can effectively apply their acquired knowledge, skills, and attitudes under pressure?

Those seeking optimal learning outcomes quickly encounter the concept of competency-based learning within the broader L&D domain. Competency-based learning is a training approach focused entirely on building the specific competencies required for a role or task, such as environmental analysis. For learning to be truly competency-based, learning objectives must be clearly defined and communicated to participants, training results must influence the learning program, and the demonstration of competencies must be an integral part of the training process itself.

Recognizing that perception analysis is a highly specialized crisis role and not part of the daily tasks of the target audience, the Dutch police opted for a learning program based on the core principles of competency-based learning. Together with police experts, we developed competency standards and a customized curriculum, including classroom sessions, assignments, advanced sessions, summative and formative assessments, and various evaluations, always with the competency standard as the central theme. The primary goals were to achieve optimal learning outcomes and ensure that the competencies could be effectively applied in real crisis situations.

Now that the first group of about fifteen participants has completed the learning program, we are pleased to share 4 preliminary insights that we will carry forward to the second group in the fall:

  • The various assessments conducted before and after the learning trajectory reveal that everyone has made significant progress. On average, we see a learning gain (increase in competency) of as much as 32%. Both novice crisis communicators (+51%) and more experienced colleagues (+19%) report having significantly sharpened their competencies.
  • Not all competencies required for an environmental analyst were included in the curriculum. For some competencies, it is expected that the analyst becomes familiar with the subject matter through other means, such as knowledge of emergency planning or the political landscape in the Netherlands. On average, 42% progress was achieved in the competencies included in the curriculum, but we also observed cross-pollination: for the competencies not included in the curriculum but still assessed, we recorded a 34% improvement.
  • We find that the curriculum primarily taught practical skills, something that is more challenging to achieve through traditional training. Additionally, we provided participants with new knowledge. Progress in attitude was the least notable, possibly because attitudes were already good at the start of the learning trajectory or because these competencies were relatively less emphasized. We will investigate this further.
  • Participants with the fewest competencies at the start of the learning trajectory report having learned the most. This seems logical, but it is not simple to provide sufficient learning stimuli for both beginners and more experienced environmental analysts without losing part of the participants.

These preliminary insights demonstrate that the learning pathway is effective. The data reveals exactly where the learning gain is (or isn’t) achieved and allows us to optimize the curriculum for future groups. This way, we can teach specific competencies more precisely than ever and better justify the investment in further training.

Want to learn more about competency-based learning or how a similar curriculum might look for your crisis team members? Feel free to contact us without obligation.