Knowledge, Skills and Abilities, Ltd.
Rick Michelson - Director
 Rick
started KSA Ltd., in 1990 and has taught hundreds of
police officers, firefighters and correctional officers
in preparing for promotions using assessment center
methods. His experience in Law Enforcement
includes positions as sworn officer, Sgt., Lt. and
as an "Interim" Chief with a Community College Police
Dept. He recently retired from the San Diego County
Sheriff's Dept., where he was also a Reserve Lieutenant,
in Backgrounds & Training. Rick's article on Succession
Planning for Public Safety was published by the Police
Chief's Magazine, (June 2006). Rick was invited to speak
on this topic at both the International Congress on
Assessment Center Methods, and the Ohio Chiefs of Police
conference. He also recently initiated, wrote and
implemented a $300,000 grant to establish a statewide
web resource for California public safety which includes
many aspects of the public safety profession. As the
grant director, he has created the first major statewide
collaborative project linking virtually every community
college with a public safety program, student services
and public safety agencies. He just submitted the
proposal to fund the project for its second year. The
web site is for prospective students or applicants to be
able to find many of the programs and agencies in a
single resource. It may be viewed at
http://publicsafetyinfo.org
He has
a Masters Degree in Public Administration, has written a
variety of articles, study guides, and books.
While pursuing his PhD, he has researched and written
extensively on organizational change, leadership
development and using assessment centers to develop
future leaders. He conducts workshops on Promotional
Preparation, featuring Supervisory Skill Building
and Assessment Centers, for those who wish to prepare
themselves for this challenging process. Rick is a
facilitator for the Public Safety Leadership & Ethics
course in conjunction with the California State
Chancellors' office for Community Colleges, and Phi
Theta Kappa (PTK).
He has
developed a series of intensive, "hands-on" workshops
designed to help police, corrections and firefighters
experience those skills needed for that next rank! This
helps in leadership development, since they are able to
demonstrate their abilities in key scenarios related to
the actual job they are aspiring to achieve. It also
helps them prepare for performance based exercise. The
program has been presented nationally, with students
from throughout the U.S. Many of his former students
have benefited from the training and have been promoted.
Promotions have ranged from Corporals, Sergeants,
Lieutenant's, Captain's, up to Chiefs for police and
Fire Capt's to Battalion Chiefs and Division Chiefs.
 Amy
Mitchell
Amy
Mitchell has been a Training & Development Specialist
with KSA for since 2001 and specializes in oral board
examination design and preparation (both
performance-based and interviews), resume preparation,
subordinate counseling/coaching, writing, public
speaking, and group facilitation. Amy's energy and
dynamic presentations have been a major part of KSA's
success as she engages students in a positive and
powerful learning experience.
Amy completed her bachelor’s degree in Public Safety
Administration at the Union Institute & University and
her Certificate in Human Resource Management at
UC-Irvine. For her senior thesis, she wrote a $350,000
grant proposal to create a Leadership and Ethics
Institute in Public Safety for the California Community
College system for the state Chancellor’s office. She
has served on the Citizen’s Review Board for Police
Practices to review citizen complaints of police
misconduct. She also served internships with the San
Diego County District Attorney’s Office and San Diego
County Probation Department. She is a former California
Highway Patrol Officer.
Her
experience includes: Director, (Human Resources) for
Classified Staff for a school district in CA, Human
Resource Analyst for a K-8 school district, and Human
Resources Manager for two corporate start-ups, including
an international software development company that
specialized in reducing the response time for Fire and
Emergency Medical Services. She has designed and
delivered Ethics Training for senior management and
command staff. Amy also has written published articles
on Ethics, and "People don't leave organizations, they
leave their supervisors." She teaches supervision and
management skills, oral presentations and written
communication skills.
Amy was recently selected as the Director of
Classified Staff and brings much of what we do at KSA
for public safety to the K-12 world for classified
staff. Here's a link to a recent article published by
the Desert Dispatch.
BUSD gets new classified
director; new hiring strategy
July 09, 2010 2:02 PM
BY ROBERT
S. HONG, staff writer
... Mitchell has brought with
her a new system of pre-employment screening that aims
to improve how people are selected.
Where prospective school
employees previously went through a 100-question written
test and, if they did well, got a face-to-face interview
before being hired, they will now get a more hands-on
type of testing.
Through a "performance-based
testing" system, candidates will have to complete
simulated tasks that mimic what their daily activities
would be if they got the job.
For example, if someone were
applying to work at a school library, they might be
taken to the library and tested on how quickly and
accurately they can research and find data or books that
a teacher is asking for, Mitchell said.
This system will allow the
district to select people who have proved they can do
well on the job rather than just those that test well,
Mitchell said.
"Some people are really good
at test taking but really don’t have the people skills
necessary," she said. "You can see someone’s true
abilities and people skills under those (simulated)
scenarios."
She also plans to add an oral test where people are
tested on the spot about their knowledge of issues
relating to their desired position.
She has used the system
successfully in previous years as a human resources
manager, and district officials hope it works well in
Barstow.
"Amy brings a new outlook in
regards to bringing the best employees on board," said
Tony Wardell, assistant superintendent of business
services.
Mitchell is hoping to hire
local residents and especially people who have graduated
from the district who will have a stake in its future.
"We want to grow our own
leaders — they are comfortable with school system and it
would be a great transition to a great job," she said.
"There are not that many places hiring in Barstow, and
there’s a lot of opportunity for growth (at the
district)."
...In the near future,
Mitchell also plans to open up a class for school
employees, students and the general public, where she
will teach how to prepare to find a job in the current
economy.
CONTACT THE WRITER
(760) 256-4122 or
rhong@desertdispatch.com
Commander
LaDonna M. Harris
LaDonna
Harris is currently the Division Commander for
Detentions and Corrections Division and has been with
the Alameda County Sheriffs Office since 1980. She has a
wide variety of law enforcement services including:
Countywide Services Division, Law Enforcement Services
Division. LaDonna progressed through the ranks,
successfully passing both written and oral assessment
tests, from Sgt. to Commander. She has a Teaching
Credential and is a part-time instructor for Las Positas-Chabot
Community College and Pleasanton Unified School
District. She has been an instructor at the
Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Regional Training Center
since 1995. She teaches in the Basic Academy and
in the Sheriff’s Office Sergeants’ Course.
LaDonna received her Bachelors Degree in Public
Administration from the University of San Francisco and
her Masters Degree in Leadership from Saint Mary’s
College of California.
Captain Tom Conlin (LVMPD
Ret.)
 Captain
Tom Conlin (Ret.) served twenty-eight years with the
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. With
experiences in Patrol, Investigations, SWAT (Sniper), a
Field Training Officer, Motorcycle Traffic Officer, and
as a Training Officer at the Police Academy. After
fifteen years as an Officer, Tom was promoted on his
first testing, scoring a 99.5% on the interview panel.
Almost 4 years later, Tom promoted to Lieutenant, again
being promoted on his first experience with an
assessment center. Three years later, Conlin attained
the rank of Captain in his first testing for that
position, which included a ten-hour long assessment
center. While with LVMPD, Tom received a BA in
Psychology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and
has since returned to UNLV to earn his Master of Public
Administration degree. Tom was also recently awarded the
Jefferson Award for Public Service. Tom and his wife
Tina now live in Ohio, where he continues coaching and
teaching in leadership, supervision, ethics, and
assessment center methods and preparation.
Tom recently spoke at
the Ohio Chiefs of Police Association with Rick
Michelson on Succession Planning for Public Safety.
Dr.
Linsey Willis (Boca Raton, FL)
Dr. Linsey Willis
graduated with honors with a Doctorate in Public
Administration and specialization in Human Resource
Management from the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business
& Entrepreneurship of Nova Southeastern University. She
holds an M.A. degree in Forensic Studies from Indiana
University, and also graduated with honors from Florida
Atlantic University with an M.P.A. (with an HR
management concentration) degree. Dr. Willis received
her Bachelors’ degree in Political Science from the
University of Kentucky. The Human Resources
Certification Institute of Society of Human Resource
Management certifies her as a Senior Human Resources
Professional (SPHR).
Dr. Willis
is the Director of L.J.
CRAIG & Associates, Inc., which
is the culmination of
26 years of Human Resources and management experience.
The firm specializes in the design and delivery of
“People Management Systems” including employee
training, the design and administration of assessment
centers, structured-behavioral interviews, written
exams, employee handbooks, performance management
systems and job analysis, to name a few. Recent training
programs include Organizational Leadership,
Performance Appraisal, Understanding and Preventing
Sexual Harassment, Time Management, and Managing
and Motivating Employees.
Dr. Willis is the
author of “Strategies and Methods for
Competency-Based Selection and Leadership Development:
Four Case Studies”, in Current Practices, Insights
and Perspectives, the 2006 Pfeiffer Annual Human
Resource Management (editor, Robert C. Preziosi).
She is a member of the Education and Training Committee
of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Dr. Willis also
provides expert witness services to employment law
attorneys. She frequently speaks at national and
international conferences on pertinent topics. She is a
member of the Education and Training Committee of the
International Association of Chiefs of Police.
She is an active member
in many professional associations including the
International Association of Chiefs of Police, Society
of Human Resource Management, American Society of
Training & Development, Delray Beach Chamber of
Commerce, and the Florida Speaker's Association.
Dr. Pat
Maher
Pat Maher, D. Crim., co-author of the texts, is a former
Lt., with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. He also
has written extensively on the Assessment Center Method
and has written a Manual for Assessors. The Manual is
available through KSA Ltd. Pat also taught for the
Calif. Commission on Peace Officer’s Standards of
Training in their Supervisory Leadership course. Pat is
the President of Personnel and Organization Development
Consultants, and has conducted Assessment Centers for
public safety agencies. Pat has been an instructor with
the POST Supervisory Leadership Institute. He also
served on the Guidelines committee of the International
Congress of Assessment Center Methods. Rick, Pat and
Linsey have been presenters with the International
Congress' annual conferences.
"Practicing your supervisory and or managerial skills
may not make you perfect, but it will make you better!"
Dennis Joiner, Assessment Center professional.
There are
those who make things happen…
There are those who watch things happen…
Then there are those who wonder, “What happened?”
Which are you?
And
what will they say about YOU in your
assessment center or promotional interview panel?
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