Walking a tightrope

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Glenn Bischoff

Type A personalities are a big challenge for 911 communications center managers

Every organization has employees knows it all, feels stifled by protocols and procedures, and views feedback — no matter how mild or constructive — as an attack. Obviously, the latter employee type would present quite a challenge for any manager. But what does one do when an employee exhibits the traits of both types?

That's the dilemma facing managers of 911 communications centers, which are densely populated with Type A personalities. Several theories exist as to why Type As often dominate such centers. The most popular is that the nature of the job attracts such personalities.

“This field attracts those types of people because it's fast-paced and there's a lot of variety,” said Chris Fischer, executive director of the North East King County (Wash.) Regional Public Safety Communications Agency and the current president of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO). “Typically, they are assertive — almost aggressive — are independent thinkers and are good decision-makers, usually, because they're not afraid to make a decision. All the traits we generally look for, Type A people have.”

Lisa Atkins, communications manager for the Irving (Texas) Police Department, agreed. “A lot of people like the adrenaline rush they get from working in such a fast-paced environment,” she said.

However, others believe that the reason so many Type A people populate 911 communications centers is because they possess the drive required to make it through the interview and training crucible. “It's like any profession,” said Eric Parry, police consultant for dispatching software vendor Priority Dispatch of Salt Lake City. “You get a broad range of people who apply. It's just that the Type As are able to adapt best to that environment, where other personality types might say, ‘This is too crazy for me; I'm going to go find another job.’”

The irony, according to Parry, is that the notion of the 911 communications center as a place where frenzy is the order of the day generally is a myth. The reality, he said, is that life in the typical center — “not a huge comm center where you're getting shootings and muggings and stuff like that on a regular basis” — is rather dull. “You have hours and hours and hours of routine boredom punctuated by minutes of panic when you do get the crazy call,” Parry said.

An environment in which there is considerable downtime actually works against the Type A person, Parry said. “You often have more stress-related problems in the communications centers that have the lower workloads,” he said. “Talk to the Type A call-takers, and they will tell you that they love it when it's busy. Idle hands have time to look around the room and find reasons to complain.”

Regardless of how the Type As got there, 911 communication center managers have to deal with them on a daily basis — and it's no easy task. The consensus among those interviewed is that it is akin to walking a tightrope.