The Rookie

The Rookie is a great TV show about the life of a group rookie police officers who join Los Angeles Police Department.  To train the "rookies," the department assigns each rookie a training officer to serve as a trainer and coach.  

In Season 1, Episode 3, a training officer wanted to teach his rookie a lesson on the importance of securing her gun.  He had many options:

• Give her a lecture,

• Share a story with her,

• Send her a link to the department's guidance,

• Print out the guidance and highlight the related text, or

• Create a learning experience for her.

Because he's a good trainer, he chose the last option.  He created an memorable, effective, and arguably harsh learning experience.

The Learning Experience

While the rookie officer is in the bathroom, her trainer stole her unsecured service gun.  He did not tell her immediately it was him who stole it.  Her let her believe that her gun was actually stolen because of her negligence and incompliance with regulations.  Mean!

Effectiveness

While most would agree that the trainer's method was harsh, I'm sure they would also agree that it was well-meaning.  The trainer's method was effective for the following reasons:

• Trainer created a simulated, authentic, and real-life experience to show the trainee how incompliance with rules can lead to danger.  There's a reason why most employers prefer to hire employees with experience rather than those who only have academic education.

• Trainer invoked trainee's emotions.  Trainee experienced fear, vulunerability, and shame.  Such emotional experiences tend to trigger better memory formation and retention.