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From Officer to Leader: The Skills Community Supervision Never Taught You
SESSION INFO
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
3:15 PM - 4:45 PM
Session Type: Workshop
Middle managers in community supervision are almost universally promoted on the basis of technical competence, including knowledge of supervision conditions, policy compliance, and caseload management. The skills that determine whether they actually succeed in the role are almost entirely different. Research on perceived supervisor support and organizational culture consistently identifies the supervisor as the single most influential factor in whether evidence-based practices reach the frontline level. Yet most agencies invest little in developing the relational, communicative, and adaptive skills that make that influence possible. This session identifies six non-technical skill domains critical to middle manager effectiveness in probation and parole, grounded in current research and translated into field-realistic practice. Participants will assess their own skill gaps, engage in peer discussion, and leave with at least one concrete development commitment.
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SESSION PRESENTERS
Kristina Bryant
Senior Director/BJA Fellow (Pretrial), Rulo Strategies
Kristina Bryant, MBA, serves as a Visiting Fellow at the Bureau of Justice Assistance focused on pretrial as part of the larger criminal justice experience. Ms. Bryant also serves as a Senior Director at Rulo Strategies and has national experience as a court management consultant in justice systems. Ms. Bryant brings over 30 years of experience in community corrections as a Juvenile Court Probation Officer, Criminal Justice Planner, and Assistant Director/Interim Director of adult pretrial and probation services agency. She has worked extensively with the judiciary, elected officials, and policymakers to improve justice policies and practices, and to expand collaborative court diversion and intervention efforts. Ms. Bryant is skilled in system analysis, process and outcome evaluations, training, and leadership and has broad experience in drug policy issues. She is a trained facilitator in the Sequential Intercept Model and has facilitated cross-system information sharing and collaborations between justice and behavioral health partners for over a decade. Ms. Bryant served four years on the Executive Committee of a statewide organization after an additional five years in committee leadership positions to address legislation, training, standards, and quality assurance for probation and pretrial agencies. She has extensive experience in education and learning styles, teaching at the university level for seven years.
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