The LEAPS Communication Method

What LEAPS Stands For

LEAPS is a five-step communication sequence taught to Alberta basic security guards for structured de-escalation. The letters stand for:

The order matters. A guard who jumps straight to "Here's what you need to do" (skipping L, E, A, P) almost always escalates the situation. A guard who follows the steps in sequence gives the person room to be heard, which is often all that is needed to defuse tension.

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The LEAPS Flow

flowchart LR
    L[L — Listen<br/>Hear the full concern] --> E[E — Empathize<br/>Acknowledge the feeling]
    E --> A[A — Ask<br/>Open-ended questions]
    A --> P[P — Paraphrase<br/>Confirm understanding]
    P --> S[S — Summarize<br/>Recap agreed action]

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Each Step in Detail

L — Listen

Give the person the floor. Do not interrupt, do not prepare your rebuttal, do not glance at your phone. Use minimal encouragers ("I see," "go on") to keep them talking. The goal is for the person to feel heard, which alone lowers their arousal level.

E — Empathize

Acknowledge the emotion without agreeing with the facts. "I can see you're frustrated that you've been waiting this long." Empathising is not admitting fault or agreeing the guard's colleague was wrong — it is recognising the person's feeling. People who feel recognised are far more likely to cooperate.

A — Ask

Use open-ended questions — questions that cannot be answered with "yes" or "no" — to gather information and give the person a sense of control. "What would you like me to do to sort this out?" gives them a constructive channel for their energy. Avoid leading or accusatory questions ("Why did you do that?").

P — Paraphrase

Restate the concern in your own words: "So if I understand you right, you've been waiting twenty minutes, nobody told you the door was locked, and you want a complaint logged." Paraphrasing checks that you understood and shows the person they were heard. If you got something wrong, they will correct you — better now than in your report.

S — Summarize

Recap the key points and the agreed action: "To confirm: I'll log your complaint about the lack of signage, and I'll ask the supervisor to follow up with you by phone this afternoon. Is that right?" Summarizing closes the loop and creates a clean record for your notebook.

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When to Use LEAPS

LEAPS is suited to any interaction where a person is frustrated, confused, or confrontational and you need to gain cooperation. Common security scenarios:

• A visitor angry about being denied entry
• A tenant complaining about noise from a neighbouring unit
• A shopper disputing a bag check at a retail exit
• A patient's family member frustrated by a hospital access policy

LEAPS is not the right tool when a person is already violent or an immediate safety threat — at that point, disengage, create distance, and call police (covered in the handling hostile persons section). LEAPS is a de-escalation tool for the window before violence, not a response to violence itself.

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A Worked Example

Visitor (angry): "I work here three days a week and you're telling me I need a pass? This is ridiculous!"

Guard (L — Listen): lets the visitor finish without interrupting.

Guard (E — Empathize): "I can see this is frustrating — you're here all the time and now you're being stopped."

Guard (A — Ask): "Can you tell me which department you work with so I can check the access list?"

Guard (P — Paraphrase): "So you're a regular contractor with the maintenance department, and you've never needed a pass before today."

Guard (S — Summarize): "Here's what I'll do: I'll call the site supervisor to confirm your contractor status, and once that's verified I'll issue you a day pass so you're not delayed again. Does that work?"

The visitor entered the exchange shouting and left with a pass and a plan. No escalation, no ejection, no use of force — just LEAPS.

Common LEAPS Mistakes

LEAPS is simple to recite and easy to fumble. The failures the exam probes are nearly all about skipping or faking a step:

• Skipping Listen. The guard cuts in after three words and jumps to a solution. The person never feels heard, arousal stays high, and the "solution" often does not match the real concern. Once you have interrupted, the person is replaying the interruption, not the incident.
• Fake empathy. Saying "I understand how you feel" in a flat tone is a script, not empathy. Empathise by naming the specific feeling: "I can see this is frustrating because you've been waiting in the cold."
• Closed questions in Ask. "Do you have ID?" shuts the conversation down. "Can you tell me what brought you here today?" opens it. Ask is for gathering and giving control, not interrogating.
• Jumping to Summarize. Recapping before you have paraphrased is summarising a guess. Paraphrase, get the nod, then summarise.
• Using LEAPS on a violent subject. LEAPS is a pre-violence tool. Once the person is attacking, disengage, create distance, and call police.

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LEAPS and the Notebook Record

LEAPS does not end at Summarize — it ends in your notebook. The summary you delivered is the entry you write: the concern, the agreed action, and any commitments. If the interaction later becomes a complaint, the notebook shows you listened, understood, and acted on an agreed plan — the clearest evidence of professional communication.

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Exam Traps

• A guard who says "I know how you feel, but rules are rules" is showing fake empathy followed by a shutdown — not LEAPS.
• An option that reorders the letters is always wrong. The sequence is fixed: L-E-A-P-S.
• "Use LEAPS to calm an actively swinging subject" is a trap — LEAPS is for the window before violence.
• Empathize acknowledges the feeling, not the facts.