When it comes to bully prevention, connecting the dots is one of the best ways to achieve better results and to achieve “well done”.
Too many times after a bullying incident or targeted violence incident or a suicide, we hear school leadership, government leaders and expert review panels say the incident was not prevented because we didn’t connect the dots.
Which dots? And what dots are not getting connected?
Take a moment and think about all the dots in your organization. Think about all the People Dots (boards, administrators, principals, student affairs, threat teams, counselors, staff, teachers, first responders, law enforcement,) you need to connect and think about all the silos and barriers that exist within schools and communities. Then think about all of the Policy and Procedure Dots (plans, policies, procedures, OCR DCL guidance, state laws, federal laws, legal obligations, etc) that need to be created for your organization and then updated and then connected with all the appropriate People Dots.
Why is it so difficult for schools and organizations to connect all the dots?
Is the dots? Is it management? Is it the methodologies? Is it the changing risks? Why do you think?
Lessons learned clearly reveal that schools and organizations lack the right tools and methodologies for connecting the dots. Status quo strategies, old school management and traditional 20th century methodologies all play a role in why schools are struggling to connect the dots.
For example, one of the most important steps in connecting the dots is incident reporting. Studies show about 1 or 2 out of 10 Incidents are being reported to schools using traditional hotlines and other non-anonymous options like texting and e-mails and face-to-face. Studies also show that nearly 8 out of 10 students would report incidents if they could do it anonymously. This is just one of numerous examples where schools could be utilizing more effective ways to make sure TIPS are being reported.
Connecting the dots is possible with innovative, proven and award-winning platforms such as TIPS, the key is utilizing numerous lessons learned and incidents and helping school leaders become aware of better ways to connect the dots.