After successfully completing the selection course, candidates enter into a training and apprenticeship pipeline that is more than 21 months in duration.
This pipeline consists of such varied courses as:
- US Army Airborne School
- US Army Combat Divers School
- US Navy Underwater Egress Training
- US Air Force Basic Survival School
- US Army Free-fall Parachutist School
- US Air Force Special Operations Combat Medic Course
- Pararescue Recovery Specialist Course
When factoring in additional costs such as specialised equipment and flight time for jumps, the bill for each fully trained Pararescue Man (or PJ) is in excess of $250,000.
Understandably the US Air Force (USAF) is continually looking for ways to increase efficiency in selection and training. Like all special operations units, the USAF utilise an extensive battery of tests to assess a candidate’s physical and mental suitability for this highly specialised role. The USAF have recently gone one step further, by integrating Emotional Intelligence (EI) based screening and training into their selection process.
EI screening is not entirely new to the Air Force though. All the way back in 1995 USAF was suffering from high attrition levels amongst their recruits. They commissioned an EI study to identify the differences between successful and unsuccessful recruits. Based on the study’s findings they developed a pre-employment screening program that produced a 92% reduction in first year turnover amongst recruits, which resulted in a saving of $2.7 million in training cost in its first year.
Based on this success, the USAF decided to implement similar systems for two of their most expensive training streams; the Explosive Ordnance (EOD) unit and the PJs. By 2009 they had added an EI component to their overall candidate assessment program.
The EI assessment utilised by the USAF measures how a candidate rates himself across 15 social and emotional factors. Five of those factors were directly linked to the successful completion of the PJ training program: happiness, optimism, self-regard, flexibility, and reality testing. Interestingly, the study showed that candidates who achieved higher scores in this specific area were two to three times more likely to successfully complete the training to become a fully qualified and operating PJ.
Based on results to date, the USAF predicts that they could potentially achieve an increase in training efficiency of close to 75%. Similar preliminary studies involving EOD candidates have identified a different desired profile that could potentially yield savings well into the millions of dollars.
Before the integration of EI based assessments, organisations have historically employed and trained individuals based on test scores reflecting cognitive intelligence. Often traditionally quantified through the use of an IQ test, cognitive intelligence indicates an individual’s capacity to learn, recall, comprehend and solve problems.
Thankfully our understanding of intelligence has evolved considerably over the last decade to recognise certain aspects of intelligence that go beyond those basic cognitive components.
As apposed to Cognitive Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence is best defined as an individual’s ability to identify and manage emotional information, both in themselves as well as in others, and to then focus appropriate energy on required behaviours. These specific emotional competencies and skills have been found to complement a person’s technical and cognitive skills.
It is easy to see how abilities such as emotional self-awareness, stress tolerance, and impulse control could positively affect a high-stress, and admittedly high-risk job like that of a PJ. The disparity of the job involves such varied operational objectives as the deep-water rescue of a downed pilot, to the extraction of a fallen Navy Seal from behind enemy lines.
Since the implementation of EI assessment protocols, almost any organisation, whether military or civilian, now has the ability to generate a scientifically validated profile, identifying the personal qualities that are or should be possessed by leaders within a particular industry, company or department.
Researchers from the much-lauded Centre for Creative Leadership have long supported the notion that effective leadership is directly related to specific aspects of EI. In 2001 the centre conducted a study examining the correlation between EI assessment score and another testing protocol known as Benchmark. Benchmark is based on 24 years of studying the common attributes of successful leaders.
“IT IS EASY TO SEE HOW ABILITIES SUCH AS EMOTIONAL SELF-AWARENESS, STRESS TOLERANCE, AND IMPULSE CONTROL COULD POSITIVELY AFFECT A HIGHSTRESS, AND ADMITTEDLY HIGHRISK JOB LIKE THAT OF A PJ.”
In the study, the centre evaluated over 230 successful leaders and discovered that ten of the sixteen Benchmark indicators were directly related to EI subscales. By linking these subscales with the Benchmark factors, the researchers identifi ed those specific qualities that had the greatest effect on leadership performance.
In addition to these correlational studies, the researchers also divided the participating leaders into groups based on high or low performance on their Benchmark scores. They then compared the EQ scores of each group: They concluded that eight EI indicators including empathy, self-awareness, and stress tolerance, could be used to predict high leadership performance with around 80 per cent accuracy. These kinds of measurable results have allowed similar organisations to more easily determine areas for development within their teams and identify potential leaders.
Inspired by the USAF’s successful implementation of EI testing, major civilian corporations such as American Express are utilising similar programs to identify potential ‘Star Performers’ amongst their senior sales associates.
In the case of AMEX, two separate metrics were utilised: goal attainment in relation to sales (the profitability of each associates work) and customer satisfaction, based on customers’ feedback relating to 13 specific behaviour traits. AMEX soon realised that few of their senior associates rated highly in both sales skills and customer service. In most cases they tended to noticeably excel in one performance criteria more than the other.
Those few associates who did scored high in both performance categories scored significantly higher on the EI assessment, as opposed to those who only scored well in one area of performance, or scored low in both.
I have recently learned from my friends in the British Army’s uber-elite Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) that they are considering the use of similar systems to help identify those few individuals with the attributes required to successfully complete training and deployment within their specialised field of clandestine operations.
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