Latest / The Wilmac Wire / Tipi Brookins | Leading Under a Spotlight, 911 Culture Reform, & Becoming an Industry Voice

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Tipi Brookins | Leading Under a Spotlight, 911 Culture Reform, & Becoming an Industry Voice · The Wilmac Wire

• Emily McNulty: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, welcome, or welcome back to the Will MacWire. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Today's guest is a powerhouse bosswoman that I was really glad to finally sit down and record with. We've seen her on the conference circuit. We've got to hear her speak. We've gotten to meet her multiple times. And she brings a very cool, unique perspective working in 911 centers and coming over to the private sector. so today you can expect to hear from Tippi Brookins, Chief of Public Safety Engagement and at GovWorks, and formerly the Chief of Staff at DC Office of Unified Communications. So, of course, we dug into Tippi's career journey and her experience in the 911 space at multiple centers and how that transition has been going into the private sector. We also dug into culture, which is a topic I really love to talk about. And what a healthy 911 culture looks like, along with what 911 centers can keep in their back pocket as controllable factors that contribute to culture. So it was really interesting to hear her perspective from both sides. And of course, we hit on the AI and 911 conversation and how we as industry partners can manage the expectations and educate around AI. So it was really fun to hear Tippy's perspective. I'm so excited to see her on the conference circuit for the remainder of the year and into 2027. Thank you so much to Tippy for joining us. I'll turn it over to today's episode. Okay, we'll introduce our guest today. She started her career more than 24 years ago as a 911 communications officer with Amtrak Police and has been a first responder ever since. From there, she worked her way up from call taker to supervisor in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. She went on to lead training, quality assurance, and organizational strategy in Washington, D.C., eventually serving as chief of staff at the Office of Unified Communications, also known as OUC. She's APCO RPL and Nina, CMCP certified. She chaired the training subcommittee for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Earlier this year, she joined GovWorks as Chief of Public Safety Engagement. She also hosts Level Up with Tippi, a monthly vlog on 911 leadership and wellness. Welcome to the Will MacWire, Tippi Brookins. Tipi Brookins: Thank you so much. Emily McNulty: Tippy, thanks for joining us. We're so happy to have you here today. And appreciate your time and your busy schedule. I know we're wrapping up conference season, but we've seen you traveling a lot. So appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule. Tipi Brookins: For sure. Emily McNulty: okay, so we're gonna start things off Tippy with our icebreaker that we like to call this or that. So I have three questions for you. Each of them have two options. You make your choice and can explain a little bit why. so first one is more back to the telecommunicator days, day shift or night shift. Tipi Brookins: Day shift. Emily McNulty: I figured. Stephen McDonnell: That was quick. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Yeah. I mean Tipi Brookins: I started as a midnight office as a midnight worker and I did that for a long time and it has so much of an effect on your body, but I will definitely say paper Emily McNulty: I can imagine. Tipi Brookins: always. Emily McNulty: Yeah, I can imagine. I figured you would say that, but I know I I have a friend who's a night nurse and she loves the night shifts. I could never. I could never. okay, next one. Seafood or barbecue? Tipi Brookins: Ooh, seafood. I'm in Maryland. I don't have a choice. Stephen McDonnell: Irland, yeah. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Do you have a favorite spot that you like to go to? Tipi Brookins: I actually like to support our local watermen. And so there is a lady here and her and her son, they have a business, a crab business, where they actually sell crabs and oysters fresh from their boat. And so yeah, Ryan Mold Seafood here in Maryland where I get fresh crabs, fresh seafood. pretty Emily McNulty: Yeah, Tipi Brookins: much yeah, whenever I'd like. So Stephen McDonnell: So you just walk right down there and they're selling it right off the boat? Tipi Brookins: So they have it out of out of a truck. They, you know, they Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: have a boat. I'll go where they have their you know, where their their truck is actually set up and you can and you can buy fresh seafood. And it's so funny because after I get off today, I'm going to go get me some crabs. Stephen McDonnell: There we go. Emily McNulty: my gosh. I I love that. I had to ask because I knew you were based in Maryland, but wasn't wasn't for sure. but yeah, we we joke up here in in Rochester. We we go to lunch we walk to lunch a lot around here and one of the girls on my team, I think she had first started and she got a clam chowder because she loves going to Cape Cod and she got it from here and was like, isn't quite the same. So as Tipi Brookins: Ha ha ha. Emily McNulty: expected, as expected. okay, and last one to be a little bit more career oriented, but speaking on stage at a conference or recording a blog? Tipi Brookins: Speaking on stage at a conference. Emily McNulty: Yeah. So how long have you been speaking at conferences? Tipi Brookins: my gosh. I have been speaking at conferences probably early on. I want to say probably at least a good 10 years, 10, 12 years. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: I actually had my opportunity to speak in front of a host of people. I was invited by the National Insurance Crimes Bureau. So I I want to say that was my first main stage for the department when I worked for MPD. So Emily McNulty: Okay. And do you get butterflies or anything like that? Have you gotten over it? Or how how does that work? Tipi Brookins: let's see. My mom had me speaking at almost like five, six years old and doing r you know reciting things. And so she started me at a young age. So I will say yes, I still get the butterflies, but I think once I get in my element and I see that people are interested and they want to hear what I have to say, I get excited and that excitement comes through as I present. So Stephen McDonnell: How how many conferences a year do you go to? Tipi Brookins: my gosh. Well being in a center, it's totally different, right? You go to a lot of the industry-led events, but now as a vendor and in my position, I attended a lot of places. My refrigerator's full of magnets. So I can't even give you a number, but there were a lot of places I went to this year and actually presented. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: Do you you en you have to enjoy traveling to do that, right? Yeah. Yeah. Tipi Brookins: yes. Emily McNulty: an extent. Yeah, we Steve and I joke a lot because I'm not a big traveler. So to get me going, I have to like get in that mindset and get there. But while I'm there, I just always I enjoy the experience so much. And especially with the 911 community being especially this this past year more exposed to these conferences. Like I look forward to them. I'm pumped for the national conferences next year. I was just looking and planning at those. So yeah, we know you're a regular conference goer, so must like to wonderful. Well, thank you for sharing with us, Tippi, about for our icebreaker. Hopefully our audience got to know you a little bit better because of that. but we're gonna kick things off just as we always do in your career journey, kind of starting back at the beginning. So you started at Amtrak Police, which I called out in your intro, but even before that, what brought you or interested you with when it came to public safety? Tipi Brookins: Well, it started a a very long time ago. I had a very sick father growing up. He had issues with his breathing and lungs, and so which caused him to have seizures all the time. And so I could really re-remember my mom saying, call 911. We would call probably about two times, three times a week because he had seizures. So I was the one making the 911 calls. And so after they got there, I would really pay attention to, you know, what the EMTs were doing, how the police officers would show up and Every time they showed up for my father, I just I just was so excited and I'm just like, wow, I am really interested in you know in just learning more about this because they were just so helpful, they were caring, they were compassionate, and I said, wow, I said, these people, I said, that's me. And so that's how how my interest started in in public safety and how I ventured into 911. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Okay. And did you always see yourself in in nine one one or what brought about kind of that initial job? Tipi Brookins: No, not at all. Not at all. I Emily McNulty: No. Tipi Brookins: went to a very small high school in Glossar County, New Jersey, in Clayton, New Jersey. Probably never heard of it. I graduated with a very, very small class of members. And so I was a part of the group, the law enforcement group, as I call it, right? Because there were probably about six, seven of us who who aspired to be police officers. We all wanted to be police officers. And so when I left high school and went to college and started taking courses, and I found out, I said, wait a minute, there's more to this thing than just police officers and guns and you can't wear nails and makeup and all that other stuff that I thought about, right? And so when I found out about all the different careers that were embedded in in police administration and I found out about 911, I got super excited. And so that's how the journey started. And so I will say most of my friends that we were in that circle are still in public safety law enforcement or have since retired. Stephen McDonnell: Wow. Emily McNulty: Yeah, that that is cool. That from that young of an age you guys knew and have stayed stayed committed to that career. That's wonderful. And so Amtrak Police, what was it like at that experience? So that was I'm assuming it was oriented with a train. Am I correct in that assumption? Yeah. Tipi Brookins: Yes, yes. So there was a national 911 center for Amtrak for the the actual for the entire nation. And so people were just like, How does that work? And so in a center of that size, there were only five dispatchers on at a time. There the you know it was broken into five zones where we had actual police presence all the way from Boston all the way to Sanford, Florida, and so we would dispatch for those officers along the coast. And then if we had incidents outside of the East Coast, we would work with the actual local agency in that state or in that jurisdiction across. And so, you know, we did call taking, dispatching, you know, teletype handling, we monitored alarms, you know, we took we were customer service if you lost a purse. So we did a little bit of everything. So starting out in the 911 Center at Amtrak, it definitely open be up to those so many possibilities in the career. Stephen McDonnell: Where where is it? Tipi Brookins: Yeah, where is it, right? A lot of people want to know where is it, right? So when I actually started with Amtrak Police way back when it was actually on the eighth floor of 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. If you actually were walking up to the 30th Street Station, you actually saw a building where you could see possibly, you know, a few floors. It was like a few floors above, you know, the main hall. However, we would have to take an elevator up three three more additional floors, right? It was just an elevator. You didn't see anything. And then you got off at the wonderful floor of 911 communications and train operations. But then recently they were moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where they actually have a separated consolidated center there in Wilmington, Delaware now. So Stephen McDonnell: There's only five people. Tipi Brookins: There were five people on shift, but we worked eight hours, Stephen McDonnell: Wow. Tipi Brookins: so there were three shifts, five people on each shift. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. You think Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: it's still similar size? Tipi Brookins: no. I actually had the chance to visit. So they actually have grown their operations Stephen McDonnell: Okay. Tipi Brookins: and have been able to expand and add more people. Emily McNulty: Yeah, that's very cool. Stephen McDonnell: You would you you get calls from people on the train? Tipi Brookins: my gosh, my very first one of my very first 911 calls, I had to help a mother give CPR to a child that wasn't breathing. So we took calls for and and and so the other thing we have to keep in mind, yes, we were Amtrak, but we also took calls from people who were on trains that were coming into the Amtrak stations. So in Philadelphia you had SEPTA. So if there was an emergency on a SEPTA train, sometimes we would get those calls in our 911 center. Emily McNulty: Interesting. Yeah, that's that's such a complex situation to step into. But like you said, you got exposed to a lot. And from there, obviously you were at Montgomer Montgomery County and PA, then you were at DC Metro Police and then OUC. So several different types of stunners. Like I guess what did those different experiences were they s significantly different? Was there some overlap? What was that like? Tipi Brookins: Signific significantly different because you know Emily McNulty: Mm. Tipi Brookins: I just explained to you what Amtrak police look looked like. Then you Emily McNulty: Right. Tipi Brookins: go on, you know, and and I worked for a county dispatch where it was a consolidated center. We had just gone through consolidation before I got hired, and now I understand how important that conversation is being a vendor, you know. But Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: at that center, we dispatched for 52 police departments and 94 fire companies. it was probably a staff of about 35 people that worked on shift, maybe about 10 to 12. Call takers, you had your police dispatchers and your fireboard. And just thinking about Montgomery County, it was a very huge county, and we handled all types of calls within the county for a lot of the major thoroughfares, such as I-76, 476, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. So that was unique in itself. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, that's heavy. That's a lot. Emily McNulty: Yeah, volume-wise, I can only imagine. okay, and then DC it's one of the most publicly scrutinized 911 centers in the nation, I I can imagine, in the world. So what was it like what brought you to DC originally and then what was it like working in there? Tipi Brookins: Sure. So I missed nine I just missed public safety. And so before I moved to Washington, DC, I actually was leading a unit for the consumer protection division at the Department of Justice in Delaware for fraud. And so I just had a need. I said I wanted to get back and I had to figure out a way to get back, right? And so coming to DC and working with the DC Metropolitan Police Department gave me the opportunity to really understand district government, right? Because I will tell you that Working in district government, it's very different, right? You have to understand politics. You have to understand how the district works because it wasn't a state, right? And so being with the police department of almost about 4,000 people at the time, and being in a role that was very, very, very instrumental in operations for the department, it was it was amazing. I was a training coordinator at the third district before I actually managed the 24-hour. teletype unit for the department so that that was definitely different coming to DC but again knowing the ins and outs knowing who the key people were in the city that was so important before even thinking about joining 911 right once I had the opportunity to apply when I saw the job posting I threw my my you know I threw myself in the hat there and and then I got selected and I couldn't believe it. I said my gosh Stephen McDonnell: with such a big city, what's your relationship Tipi Brookins: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: with police officers? Do you get to have one or is it basically you guys are doing your thing and you're just communicating with police officers? Tipi Brookins: my gosh, the relationship piece, that is so important. I think that that is something that, you know, we could do more work in as far as relationships with police officers. You know, In I I guess I can say in in past, you know, it there really wasn't a great relationship with officers and telecommunicators. It was so kind of like us versus them. But my relationship and what I chose to lead by is that we all are are working, we have to work together for the same mission, right? And so at the time our mission in DC was to protect our people, protect, you know, people in property. And so I tried my best to make sure that I had the most positive relationship. relationships with our officers, with the officers in charge, because I was a leader at the time and so I had to lead by example. Emily McNulty: Mm. Yeah. And Tippi, your most recent position at OUC, you were chief of staff. So like what did a day in the life look like there? Tipi Brookins: my gosh. Every day as a chief of staff was different, all while keeping the focus on the strategic operational focus for the agency. And so that couldn't tell so many different things, right? Because as a chief of staff, you know, it's kind of like just think about an octopus with all of those tentacles. And just think about each tentacle having something, right? So that's how I kind of categorize a chief of staff. I could come in and there could be a day where up Tippy, we To look at this process because it doesn't make sense. I need you to make sense of this and create us a new process, a new procedure, or new policy, right? It could be a day of just writing policy based on an incident that occurred and it, you know, it didn't turn out the way that we want it to. it could be meeting with stakeholders or meeting with internal teams and helping to bridge gaps, staff engagement, right? We had to do that because as chief of staff, you know, we I wasn't just a person that sat in an office on the third floor, I was a person that actually. Engaged with employees, you know, reviewing priority events, meeting with vendors, and having to speak about purchases and technology. Those types of things. And there are so many more things that people probably don't think of that a chief of staff would do. I mean, even outside of work, I would go to events, I would market, I would meet people like Emily at events. You know what I mean? So, Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: so it it entailed so many different things, but every day was different, just like a 911 telecommunication. communicator every day is different. Stephen McDonnell: So it sounds like you enjoyed that role. Tipi Brookins: I did. I like staying busy, can't you tell? Emily McNulty: Yeah, and it sounds too like a a bit of a jack of all trade scenario. and let me ask, I I this is just curiosity. Did you ever work with like Secret Service Tipi Brookins: So yes, in DC, you you know, there was a lot of interagency coordination with so many agencies there because, you know, we were the PSAP for the District of Columbia. No one else answered the nine one one calls. We did. And we would distribute them out to whomever where whether it was Capitol, whether it was Secret Service, whether it was, you know, CIA, whether it was, you know, it didn't matter what department. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: Like we would you know make sure that those calls were distributed appropriately. So Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: you know, just working with those many different entities, you know, and having Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: to know their procedures, that was something. Emily McNulty: I can imagine. Yeah, it's it's funny because we were just on an interview the other day and we were talking about how when you've seen one one piece app, you've seen one piece app. Like you have it all of them are so vastly different in terms of the different entities that you're they're working with. Like you just called out with OUC and who they're serving and how they receive calls and how they dispatch them and the different processes. So I think a lot of what you said lines up with with that sentiment that they're all just vastly different, which is which is really interesting. Tipi Brookins: Different, but also we have to remember, you know, being led by the same pieces, right? You know, the transparency Emily McNulty: Mm. Tipi Brookins: piece, creating accountability, supporting the frontline, and then the date data-driven decision making, as a chief of staff would be a part of. So all different, but for the most part the same as it relates to the agency's missions. Emily McNulty: Yeah, yeah, and that actually transitions transitions us really well kinda into that culture piece, which I wanted to to chat with you about today. but like we've been talking about you worked in nine one one centers at every level. Obviously you're on the private sector side now, which I I do want to ask a question on that eventually. But I guess what would you categorize as like a healthy nine one one culture? Tipi Brookins: Mm. Culture, culture, culture, a healthy 911 culture. I can tell you, culture has changed over the years from 24 years until now. a healthy culture, some of the things that come to mind, such as error handling, you know, we all make mistakes, right? We're we're people, right? That's just who we are. We make mistakes, right? But in a good culture, errors are analyzed as systematic or training opportunities, right? Development opportunities. Staff, they feel they they feel safe, right? Reporting the mistakes. But in a bad culture, era leads to immediate reprimand. And then the staff, they cover up things. They're scared to, you know, acknowledge their mistakes, right? And so what about leadership presence, right? Leadership presence in a good culture, you're gonna have your leaders that are present on the floor. They're walking the floor, they're speaking to their staff, they're providing feedback, right? And they're they're really showing that they understand the operational frick. But the bad culture is when you have executives that stay behind closed doors and they don't interact with their people and they're not having these conversations. That is definitely a way to create bad culture. Peer support and mental health. Good culture is being proactive as it relates to wellness, having a structured program, or even just having activities prior to a bad. call right you know doing those things bad culture and and I did this I you know I spoke to someone and and we we used this use this saying suck it up buttercup right That's what a bad culture is, is they basically tell you, hey, just just deal with we'll get through it and and and that's it, and let's keep going, right? And then lastly, training and development. Good culture is going to be continuous growth, clear pathways, showing for advancement so that people will stay, showing them that they have opportunities, right? But a bad culture is that sink or swim triage, basically rush training or just checking a box or not providing opportunities. Or making excuses for opportun for or for not having opportunities. So that definitely Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: affects culture. Stephen McDonnell: So you've been in numerous PSAPs. Have you noticed how wellness has improved or at least being aware of wellness has that been better year year after year? Tipi Brookins: Yes. I had two major incidents at one of my centers when I started early on, and we had the resources at the time. We had SISM, which is critical incident stress management team, and we actually had EAP. That's what we had at the time. We did not have anyone with clinical experience to come into a center and speak to us and and and you know have a wellness meeting, right? But now we're seeing it more and more. You have the chaplain, right? There is a chaplain initiative, you have the Wellness programs that are being created within the center. And I'm proud to say, even at DC 911, a wellness coordinator, administrator, and and she is a actual social, you know, she has her social worker degree, she's at the OUC managing their wellness program. So things have changed over the years. But I will say is that because we have been still trying to figure out this retention piece, how do we keep people? That was one thing that we had to really focus on because people were burning out, so we had to make sure that we took care of their well-being. Stephen McDonnell: It does seem like we hear about it a lot more frequently, which is good. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: And obviously retention is a constant issue in PSAP, so one would think wellness would would be very important for that. Emily McNulty: Right. Yeah. Tipi Brookins: For sure. Emily McNulty: I I agree. it does sound like that culture piece is hand in hand with with the wellness, with the retention, if there's awareness about that to to make that conscious effort. But I like what you called out those three things, transparency, wellness, education, into a positive culture. So My next question is a little bit more specific and we we've never we haven't really talked on the podcast with our public safety guests about the supervisor role within nine one one centers. And I think that supervisors play a pretty significant role in shaping shaping the culture. So what from your experience, from your perspective, Tippi like makes a great nine one one supervisor? Tipi Brookins: Sure. The supervisor, you know, we have to keep this in mind in 911. They affect so many things. And when I say that, they affect they only they don't just affect our people, they affect processes. But what makes a great 911 supervisor first and foremost is someone who is is prepared, someone who has received the development in order to supervise. And I stress that because when I was actually promoted to a supervisor, yeah, I received training. But there were certain instances where I just did not know how to deliver because I had never had those instances before, such as having difficult conversation and feedback and and being able to be vulnerable. But what I will say, what we'll take to be a great supervisor, being calm under pressure. In 911, there are all types of incidents, but you have to be the one to maintain the composure, to help those telecommunicators maintain that calm composure. Being a proactive, being proactive as it relates to floor awareness, knowing if a Computer goes down, knowing if a screen goes off, or knowing that someone's having difficult on a call. As a supervisor, you have to like they tell you as a telecommunicator, you have to have split ears. It's the same thing as a supervisor. You know, I can remember sitting in a seat where I was responsible for listening to three, four, five radio channels, but also had to make sure I paid attention to the call takers and everything else. So being situationally aware, constructive coaching over punitive discipline, making sure that. That that supervisor understands how to actually give constructive coaching. Because again, if coaching isn't done correctly or done in the right positive manner, that could affect the person. And guess what? They're out the door. ability to communicate clearly, clearly communicating expectations and the task. If it's not clearly communicated, it causes communic, you know, confusion and chaos. And then being vulnerable. This is another piece. And I'm gonna say it's not a have to, but I think it's very, very helpful because employees who see supervisors who are vulnerable, who are you know open and willing to share their experiences, it makes a difference because what happens is now they've seen you in a vulnerable state. They've seen me actually say, ooh, that was difficult, or I made a mistake and or I should have handled it this way. Now you've built more trust. with your people. So those are just some of the things I think are very important. Emily McNulty: Yeah, some really core like leadership principles that you're c you've called out. And I do think it translates over to the private sector too, from the perspective that like a a good worker doesn't mean they'd be a good supervisor or a good leader or a good manager. Like that that training piece is is really important. so let me ask, did you see like a s with the different PCAPs that you worked in, like the same effort put into education of employees or did it vary? Yeah. Tipi Brookins: It varied. so I'm not gonna say that I didn't get training, right? my first center in my first role, you know, being a supervisor, the training was it was very different, right? I will say that once I got to you know, in the next stage of supervision, it was different. It it you know might have been a minimal or it might not have been as much, right? But the idea was there, but the ability to do it, we might not have had the money at the time, or we might not have had the staffing or those things that would have affected the training. Stephen McDonnell: Are you seeing the same experience on the private side? Tipi Brookins: Hmm. Well, I'm I'm you know, I'll be coming up on a year in January. But what I will say is is that in the private sector, you have the ability to seek out the training that you need in order to do the job that you're doing for, you know, whatever private sector company that you're working for, right? The training is there, it's all about, you know, making sure that you stay on top of your development. But I will say that you know, with GovWorks, they do provide training. training and and so we've actually experienced we've been going through a leadership training that they've been doing monthly so yes it works Stephen McDonnell: Nice. And how overall I know Emily we kind of glazed over this bit. How how has the transition, you've been in public Emily McNulty: Yeah, I jumped around a little bit. Yes. Stephen McDonnell: work your entire career, how has the transition been? Tipi Brookins: Well, the transition, I still had a desire to solve systematic challenges in 911 at a scale because I knew that before I was, you know, I could help, I could train. But I wanted to still be able to work with agencies, but had to really consider in what capacity because I wasn't sure. So working with GovWorks has given me the ability, and I am glad that I made that move because I'm still able to help with those that that frontline mission. And so the transition at first it was difficult because sometimes I would sit in my office and I'm like, am I doing enough? Am I doing enough? You know, because I'm not amongst in a center. But it has been actually a pleasure. because my CEOs, Scott McDonald and Alex Montgomery, they give me the autonomy to do the things that are needed in order to continue to help drive the mission. Stephen McDonnell: And you get to impact many PSAPs now. Tipi Brookins: many and so in total I think we had six thousand PSAP so you know going to these shows and things you know it's just amazing because I'm meeting people from all across the country whereas I didn't have that opportunity before only at certain you know national Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: events but now it's it's totally on a different Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: scale and I love it. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Let me ask too, Tippy. So we've had a couple like Jeremy Damar on the podcast where they worked in public sector and they moved to private sector. And one of the things that he called out specifically that I wanted to ask you about too was about the speed of the work, how in private sector it's typically go, go, go, we need to move quickly. Where in public it tends to be all right, we need to be strategic about this. There's obviously the public eye that plays a role in it. So have you felt that that change too in going over to GovWorks? Tipi Brookins: Say yes, it's it Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: is different because I will tell you government things they move at snails pace because Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: of different bureaucracies and different things. I mean, it you know, no fault of anyone else's, it's just how government works. But with Stephen McDonnell: That's not it's not yeah. Tipi Brookins: private sector, it's different. Today's a priority, Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: tomorrow's a different priority, and we go with it and we get it done. So that's the part I think I enjoy the most because it's not mundane, it's not the same. Tomorrow it may be something different. So it's been I you I think that part. has actually been awesome. Stephen McDonnell: Well, I was gonna say you seem to like to keep yourself busy. That probably plays better for you than working in the government, that you get to do different things constantly. Tipi Brookins: Well, I mean in DC government, you know, in in at DC nine one one, I always stay busy. You know, when you you're working in a center that handles one point five million nine one one calls and one million three one one calls, you kinda stay busy. Mm-hmm. Emily McNulty: Different kind of busy. Different kind of busy. and and Tippi, I know too, we didn't explicitly ask, but like what made you decide to go into the private sector coming from public sector? Tipi Brookins: man. well I knew that after 24 years, it was time for me. I you know, I knew that I had to do something else because I did not want to, I honestly did not desire to go into to be a director, my directorate at the time. she was just like, I see you being a director, and I'm like, I don't know if I want to be a director. And so I had the opportunity to implement a a the comms coach platform, and it was such a joy working with you know with GovWorks and the people from GovWorks and it they were so responsive and it they just really really it was just amazing and so from that you know that interaction with that one vendor it just made me realize I said I think I think I know what I want to do and where I want to do it and and yeah that's how my transition worked the you know Scott McDonald you know he actually saw some things that I didn't see You know, that's usually how we are developed, right? And so that's Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: how I ended up here at GovWorks. Emily McNulty: Very cool. Stephen McDonnell: That's great. And what w what's your day-to-day, besides doing different things constantly, what's your day-to-day look like in your current role? Tipi Brookins: Well, as the chief of public safety engagement, I'm all about engagement. So today I'm I'm recording this podcast. Stephen McDonnell: Okay. Tipi Brookins: webinars are fun. you know, Stephen McDonnell: Like that. Tipi Brookins: I'm I'm meet meeting people. I don't have to make cold calls like sales. Emily McNulty: Nice. Yeah. Tipi Brookins: But I will say I'll make a cold call, right? If I wanna, you know, try to meet you and and and make a connection. but you know, I am also, you know, I am with my expertise, I am actually shared through a couple of teams with GovWorks. So I actually Stephen McDonnell: Got. Tipi Brookins: work with the education team and also with the marketing team as well. So between the two, I have the ability to do a bunch of different things every day. Stephen McDonnell: The sales team isn't trying to get you to make cold calls. Tipi Brookins: What's funny is I go to these conferences and people are like, okay, are you sales? And I'm like, no. They're like, you need to be in sales. Stephen McDonnell: I I was gonna say, you're pretty outgoing. I don't I don't think you could handle the cold calls. Emily McNulty: Right. Well yeah, I mean a big part of sales is engagement. So it's kind of in the title, kind of in the title. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Emily McNulty: But I love the fact Tipi Brookins: Thank you. Emily McNulty: that you're working with marketing. I can only imagine with with webinars and speaking opportunities, how excited they must be to have you on their team. but Tippy too, like so obviously coming from the nine one one center too, we've we've talked about that difference between being an industry partner and just being a vendor and that give and take approach, the feedback approach that makes a good industry partner. So I guess from your experience working in nine one one centers, like what have you taken going into your private sector role now? Tipi Brookins: Mm. The knowledge is Of 911. I mean, that is the most important part. Understanding the intricacies and how everything is interconnected. That is the most important part. If you cannot speak to that language, it is very hard to get a point across to another agency leader or executive. It and I had to realize that when I was in that seat of chief of staff, and I would be tasked with searching for. different technology pieces and I would meet with vendors and I would have these conversations and and see that they did not know what they were talking about or they had no understanding of the industry. And so that was like an immediate I don't think we're gonna go with them because they don't even understand the needs or the or you know what we really need here as far as our pain points. So taking that into the private sector into GovWorks it has been amazing because I've been a part of conversations where you know executives Executives, they ask certain things, and sales may not be able to answer that question. They'll ask operational questions, and I'm like, well, this piece connects to here, and this is why. And so that conversation, it just helps so much to seed information and conversations. and it has helped me, so. Emily McNulty: Yeah, I can I can imagine it has to be valu very valuable experience to even to like one, you like you said, to speak the language, but to have the friends in the space too. You already have the community. You're just coming at it from a different angle. and I love how collaborative the 911 community is. It's very powerful when you get to experience it. okay, Tibby, I have to I have to ask some questions about technology. we do have technologies Tipi Brookins: Mm-hmm. Emily McNulty: in our name. But first I wanted to hit on was AI and kind of the receptiveness of the 911 community to AI. And especially from Steve's and my angle, like we we've seen hesitancy in dealing with it. It's for sure a topic of conversation, but still, and understandably so, there is some a slow progression with it. So, how do you think about that resistance? Are you s witnessing and experiencing that same thing? And then how do you address it now from the vendor perspective? Tipi Brookins: Gosh, I definitely witnessed the resistance prior to implementing AI in DC. You know, people were afraid. They were afraid they were gonna lose their jobs, they are afraid of my gosh, they're gonna replace us. my god, you know, it was just a lot of that, and I will tell you, it wasn't ignorance, it was just education. They had no idea, they they did not know the capabilities, they did not know about AI, and so you know, as far As that resistance, I think you know, how we can help is addressing the resistance. It it requires the the shift on conversation, right? For the end users, I believe that again, like more education would be a good approach because again, no one knows. And so I can say that we've done a really good job as far as getting that core message across that AI is the force multiplier, and you must keep the human in the loop. And that gives the you know, that understanding to the center as we speak about an example, quality assurance, you know, our quality assurance piece, we're not telling you to, hey, implement quality assurance, the the comms coach platform, and then walk away. There's no way in the world you can do that because you have to keep the people in the process. And then lastly, bringing, and this is what we forget, and this is on technology you know, it technology implementation and anything that we're doing in the center, you have to bring in your telecommunicators. Into the development process early. When 911 operators, when they test tools during live call simulations, provide feedback on interface design, and see how AI eliminates tedious tasks, their skepticism turns into advocacy. And I and I can speak to that because I remember when we went from doing 2,000 quality assurance reviews a month to the platform showing us that we could do almost 20 to 30. 30,000, but there was still a piece where we had to participate in that feedback. And they had, you know, the training specialists and QA specialists had to participate in that. just to see their energy as to you know the workload like it was just Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: like a a relief you could see the relief that it was you it gave them because now they're just like my gosh we finally have the help that we need so i think helping with some of that resistance is educating and then also you know kind of giving those key pointers when we are in the centers and we are maybe trying to implement ai As far as that change management piece, helping are Emily McNulty: I mean Tipi Brookins: the people that are gonna affect the process or affect that piece of technology, helping them with the tech, you know, with that change management. And I speak to the supervisors because they're the ones who are gonna touch the technology or really work with that AI piece, you know, the most in a center. So just being Emily McNulty: Right. Tipi Brookins: Being intentional. Stephen McDonnell: So yeah, Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: and we've seen that too, that it's almost a a fear of the unknown and the education is is the most important and educating on on how much AI can assist and it's not trying to take away anyone's job. It's trying to make you more efficient at your job. to that point though, it moves at a fast pace. It's constantly moving. Have you thought at all about where AI might be in three to five years in in the nine one one space? Tipi Brookins: I think it's gonna be it's going to get a lot further because, you know, the vendor space we're we're not we're not dragging our feet on on new technology, right? So we're gonna continue to create technology that would help to reduce the cognitive load, right? That's the most important part because the dispatchers are being burnt out. So how can we help do this, right? And so I see within you know the next three years, you know, we're gonna continue to design more around human reliability, you know, making sure that we truly understand that when we design that the you know technology must be intuitively designed to to you know for high stress usability it's going to help enhance situational awareness and it's going to help with the interoperability siloed systems right as far as CAD as far as you know just different pieces of of information and and information sharing you know I I'm a big con you know a big ambassador for everything being in one platform you know we can have all of these new pieces But everything should be consolidated in one place and I think we're going to see more of that as we continue to grow. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: Right. Emily McNulty: Yeah. It it makes sense too. Steve, do you have any other questions for Tippy in the technology space? I have one other before I go into our close. I start to wrap this up. Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: No, I appreciate all the insight into a AI and where it is in the nine one one space. I think it's it's good to hear everyone's different opinions on. So thank you. Tipi Brookins: Mm-hmm. Emily McNulty: Yes, for sure. okay, Tippi. And so what I've been starting to ask our guests more lately, and really the the point of this podcast is we're talking with drivers in their own respective industry industries. So some of them are in public safety, like you, contact center space, our local community. But you can take a minute to to think about this too, because it's not on the brief. But do you have any mindset or a habit that you've like that has stuck with you through the course of your career journey? that has helped like put you in that mindset or gotten you to the place that that you are now. And Tipi Brookins: Mm. Emily McNulty: if so, what is it? Stephen McDonnell: Loaded question. Tipi Brookins: Loaded, but I Emily McNulty: It is. Tipi Brookins: I'm gonna tell you from sh from the experience from early on. So the one thing that I have always said, and I said this early on in my career, you treat others the way that you wanna be treated. And I think that's all in life, but just in my space, in the nine one one space, I say that because early on in my career I had a ver it was very difficult for me, when I started in public safety. And I almost was actually forced out of the the career space. But because of that mindset that I kept and because of how I was treated, I always promised myself I would never treat a telecommunicator the way that I was treated early on in my career. And so with that being, you know, with that I kept in mind, my habit was to ensure no matter where I worked in whatever space, whatever center, I always checked in with my people. Are you good? What can I do for you? That's one thing that we have to keep in mind. We have to remember. You know, we're always asking people, I need you to do this, I need you to do this, I need you to do this. But always just, you know, that has been a habit for me. What can I do for you? And so I think Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: that that has helped me throughout my career. Emily McNulty: Yeah, bit of that servant leadership type mindset, which I which I love. And thank you for answering that. Like I said, I I know it was more unexpected, but I Stephen McDonnell: Okay. Emily McNulty: I love learning about that psychology and what makes people go, you know? so appreciate you sharing that, Tippi. all right, as we start to wrap up this episode, Tippi, I want to give you an opportunity to share about any initiatives or programs that you're a part of or a message that you'd like to share with our audience before we close. Tipi Brookins: Awesome. Thank you so much, Emily and Steven. This has been awesome. What I will say is is that, you know, at Gubworks, we're doing some amazing things. and so we are really, really super excited because at Nina, we actually introduced our comms coach promote. that is our our new promote assessment. It actually is within the higher component. And the promote assessment would be for your you know, aspiring leaders or your next supervisor at your 911 center. It is a an assessment that includes that practical piece where we probably have not had that opportunity to apply practical knowledge as it relates to supervision. And that's having difficult conversations, coaching conversations, and feedback, and even there's just, you know, questions about just basic industry knowledge. And so we're super excited for that. And then the other piece is going to be the comms coach EDU, our education Emily McNulty: Yeah. Tipi Brookins: piece, which will now complement certification. Programs with focused practical training developed specifically for 911. And each series will help the team build skills in a defined topic and apply those skills to everyday work. It's one annual subscription, unlimited learning for the entire center, and it we will have content new every quarter. So we are super, super excited for those few announcements. Emily McNulty: Yeah, that's wonderful. Thank you for sharing, Tippi. I we've loved to see the GovWorks team at at the conferences and look forward to seeing you guys more this year. it's really cool to see the use cases that you're bringing up with AI and that similar vein of staffing, wellness, retention, and a similar vein that we're doing with workforce management at Wilmax. So appreciate you sharing those opportunities. And for our listeners, if you'd like to connect with Tippi or find out more about what she just shared. You can connect with Tippi on LinkedIn at Tippi Brookens. That's T-I-P-I Brookens. You can also follow her vlog, Level Up with Tippi. And then for GovWorks, you can go to their website, GovWorks.ai. Tippi, thanks so much for joining us on the Will MacWire. we really appreciate your time. Ooh. Tipi Brookins: Thank you so much for having me. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Thank you. Stephen McDonnell: Thank you, Tiffany.