A few years ago, I started training to become an EMT. Around the same time, I started attending judge conferences. I had been a first aid instructor in college, and I realized I could bring these same skills to the judge program. Starting at GP Toronto in 2012, and with the help of the inestimable Rene Villeneuve, I began presenting on this topic at conferences.
My seminar was usually listed on the schedule as “Handling Medical Emergencies.” When actually presenting, however, I used a different title: “How to Save Lives and Judge Magic.” While my talk was primarily about addressing injuries you might encounter judging events, I also had a lot to say about how becoming an EMT had made me a better judge.
Studying to become an EMT is a very rigorous process. Although some details about EMT protocols vary based on where you’re operating, there is a national standard for EMT certification exams. The rubric for these exams is very straightforward: on your practical examinations, once you determine what kind of situation you’ve found yourself in, you’re expected to execute a specific checklist of tasks and assessments, almost robotically.
One advantage of this style of evaluation is that it makes it very easy to know what you’ve done correctly or incorrectly, which is obviously critical when dealing with life-or-death situations. A rather critical disadvantage is that the test does not really evaluate your bedside manner or general rapport with your patient.
Comparing and contrasting these different styles of education and advancement, as well as the typical methods for handling judge calls or medical emergencies, was a very illuminating experience. I realized that, rather than considering my training as an EMT to be something totally separate from the rest of my life, I could integrate those skills into my work as a judge. For example, EMTs are very adept at taking command of a tough situation and directing other people to execute well-defined tasks. When faced with a stressful or urgent situation as a judge (like a catastrophic WER crash, or quickly getting other judges’ attention), I draw upon those same skills from my EMT training.
More broadly, I believe that judges can learn something useful from virtually every career or profession, and vice versa. I don’t know if this concept already has a name, but I’ve started calling it “entwining.” While my own experiences with entwining come from my own background as an EMT, that’s just one example. I’ve seen entwining make a positive in other judges’ lives as well, such as one judge learning a great deal about customer service by working at a big box retail store, and another become a more effective manager for his software company through Head Judging large events.
What are your own experiences with entwining? What was the last thing you felt that you did particularly well at event, but that no judge taught you how to do? What was the last time that you applied some skill or knowledge from the judge program to your job or professional life? Let me know in the comments!
I’ve had very recent thoughts along the same lines. I very much like the concept of entwining. I don’t want to share more here yet, as I’m still shaping my ideas on the topic. There is an aspect of my life (not professional) that I feel I can steal a number of ideas from and use in either a series of articles or for some type of a seminar on the topic.