Parkinson's Law and the Oral Board
Parkinson's Law states:
"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."
The time we allow for a given task will take that much time. If that’s true, what if we flipped it? Instead of expanding the time, restrict it.
When we are limited by time it becomes necessary to quickly identify what is important and disregard what serves as noise. Police officers are often forced to make sense of chaos in short order. Anyone who has ever waited until the night before knows that it’s possible to write a college term paper within just a few hours. Time restriction forces us to identify the shortest path to our destination.
During my numerous study sessions while working toward promotions, I spent full afternoons with my study partner analyzing, thinking, studying, and dissecting potential oral board questions in order to understand how to respond. That level of hand wringing was a mistake.
I am now focused on teaching clients to look at a question and identify those same key factors in under a minute. One read through should be all it takes to understand the agency's themes, the intention behind the question, and the elements that must be addressed in the answer. Why? Because oral boards are timed. We don’t have all afternoon.
We need to practice as we play.
The best performers in any high pressure environment are not the ones who think the most in the moment. They are the ones who prepared so thoroughly that thinking is no longer required. The instinct takes over because the work was already done.
Don’t think. Just Do.
That is the goal. Train yourself to recognize what matters in seconds and trust that the preparation you have already done will carry the rest.
When the board reads you that question there is no time to think. There is only time to respond.
It is not the question. It is the preparation.
This piece first ran in The Edge, my newsletter for law enforcement professionals. Subscribers get it first.
It goes out every two weeks and covers promotion strategy, career performance, and leadership. New subscribers also receive The Oral Board Edge, my guide to winning your next promotional oral board.
