Monthly Archives: August 2019

10 Steps for Teaching Law Enforcement Leadership – Part 1

August 26, 2019Leadershiplaw enforcement, leader, leadership, police, promotion, TrainingThin Blue Line of Leadership

“The rank of office is not what makes someone a leader. Leadership is the choice to serve others with or without any formal rank. There are people with authority who are not leaders and there are people at the bottom rungs of an organization who most certainly are leaders. It’s okay for leaders to enjoy all the perks afforded them. However, they must be willing to give up those perks when it matters.”

~ Excerpt from Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

A couple of weeks ago, I received a direct message on Twitter that asked the following: “I was in the military and have been a police officer for 10 years. I would love to hear how you teach leadership. I’m not trying to be a doubter, but I work for some non-leading people who don’t know or understand leadership or how to lead.”

First, let me say how unfortunate it is that you are currently working for “some non-leading people.” I can empathize with how you are feeling and guarantee you are not alone in that feeling. In fact, most law enforcement agencies have their fair share of “non-leaders” who are in positions of higher rank. Policing is a noble profession with an amazing purpose and plenty of fun, exciting moments; but all of that can be overshadowed when working for a “non-leader.”

Law enforcement agencies hire people from many different facets of life. Some come from the military, some come from the business world, and others come straight out of college. Every one of these people enter the law enforcement profession with many different prior experiences and therefore different definitions of leadership and what it should look like. To teach leadership within a law enforcement agency, this fact must be addressed.

It is imperative that law enforcement agencies develop a strategy for teaching leadership and developing leaders within the organization from the moment an officer is hired and throughout the entirety of their career. Only then can an agency begin to achieve leadership excellence throughout every level of rank.

Here are the first 5 steps for teaching leadership in law enforcement:

Hire Leadership Potential

Teaching leadership starts by hiring the right people. In order to develop leaders, an organization must identify people in the hiring process that are self-reflective, values based, and authentic. They must possess the capability to assess themselves and their actions honestly. An ability to identify both strengths and weaknesses is vital in the development of a leader. Their values must be clear because as a police officer they are going to be given great power and we all know that with great power comes great responsibility. Clear values also make decision-making easier and good decision-making is a key characteristic of good leaders. Authentic people know who they are. They are comfortable with themselves and can therefore withstand the pressures of the job; both inside the organization and out. If this were easy, every law enforcement agency would do it. In order to find these people in the hiring process, the true leaders within the agency must be involved in the process at all levels. This is key because those that are true leaders and have seen true leadership possess the unique ability to spot other leaders.

Define Leadership

In order to define leadership, a law enforcement agency must start by defining its desired culture. Culture should answer questions like the following: Who do we want to be? and What are we all about? As mentioned in previous blogs, culture is made up of an agency’s prevailing actions and attitudes over time. Defining desired actions and attitudes creates the culture. (Example “Culture in Just 4 Words”) Only when a clear vision of the desired culture exists can specific leadership characteristics be defined. Defining leadership means thinking about the desired culture and asking the following question: What specific actions and attitudes do leaders within the organization need to be exemplifying in order to promote the desired culture? (Example “The 10 Law Enforcement Leadership Commandments”) Do not confuse this with a generic department vision or mission statement. Defining leadership means to identify specific actions and attitudes that leaders and developing leaders should be applying to everything they do and every decision they make.

Learn about Leadership

True leaders are lifelong learners. They recognize that there will never be a point in their career when they can just relax, stop learning, and become stagnant to knowledge. To create this atmosphere of lifelong learning, law enforcement organizations must encourage and provide leadership education. In the same way officers train regularly in defensive tactics, firearms, and legal updates, leadership training should be just as regular. Too often, leadership training is left up to individuals to seek out their own learning. If an agency takes the time to define their own style of leadership, then they should be supporting it with training that builds off of their leadership definition. Departments can encourage discussion groups at each level of rank where similar challenges and successes can be shared with each other. Develop a preferred leadership reading list that contains books that support the definition of leadership chosen by the department. Here are some books that have defined my definition of leadership: Start with Why by Simon Sinek, Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek, You Win in the Locker Room by Jon Gordon, The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon, First Fast Fearless by Brian Hiner, EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey, QBQ! by John G. Miller, Turn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet, Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni, and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. I have personally read all of these books and this same list is given to anyone within my department that has a desire to learn more about leadership.

Identify Informal Leaders

If a department adheres to Step #1: Hire Leadership Potential, then it is imperative that the current leaders within the organization keep a constant watch for officers that are demonstrating leadership potential from informal positions. Here are a few key behaviors that identify informal leaders: They teach others how to be better officers. They learn from their mistakes. They take the lead on calls for service. They absorb learning about the job. They do not fear hard work. They find ways to help others. They bring others together. They are not scared to give or take advice. They are active participants in briefings. They are always looking to be the best officer they can be. They stay positive and seek solutions when issues arise instead of mindlessly complaining. Once identified, find ways to recognize and reward their leadership behaviors. This will not only reinforce the leadership behaviors of the informal leader, but will also spark other officers to follow their example. (Example “A Law Enforcement Recognition Idea”) It is also necessary to keep these informal leaders stimulated by involving them in discussions about leadership or introducing them to the department leadership reading list – See Step #3: Learn about Leadership. Finally, challenge these informal leaders to start planning and doing what is necessary to move into more formal leadership roles within the department such as testing for a specialty unit or becoming a field training officer (FTO).

Leadership-Based Field Training Officers

Creating a leadership-based FTO program starts with going back to Step #2: Defining Leadership. Basing the testing and selection criteria off of this definition is key. The defined actions and attitudes that the department identifies as the qualities it wants its leaders to exhibit should be used to create test questions, oral board questions, and/or scenarios. The candidate pool should primarily be filled with the informal leaders identified in Step #4: Identify Informal Leaders. Once selected, FTO School should not only be based upon reinforcing the defined leadership characteristics, but also on instructing/evaluating in one-on-one situations, progressive trial/error based learning, positive engagement, and situational decision-making. Unfortunately, many FTO schools spend the majority of their time on administrative tasks, documentation, and strict policy adherence to mitigate liability. While these are important, leadership-based FTO programs should be built upon the belief that a trainee does not care how much the FTO knows until the trainee knows how much the FTO cares. This belief is most easily ingrained into new FTO’s if they have had it exemplified to them by their FTO’s and experienced the success that can be had from it.

These are the first 5 of 10 Steps for Teaching Leadership in Law Enforcement. The next blog post will continue with Steps 6 through 10.

The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to inspire law enforcement supervisors to be the best leaders they can be by providing positive leadership tactics and ideas. Inspired leaders, inspire cops, improve policing, create better communities. It’s just that simple! Thin Blue Line of Leadership is here to help.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have ideas to share or suggestions for improvement. Your thoughts or comments on this blog are always appreciated either below or on our Facebook page. You can also follow us on Twitter at @tbl_leadership.

Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

Trickle-Down Leadership

August 19, 2019LeadershipCulture, law enforcement, leadership, Performance, policeThin Blue Line of Leadership

In the 1980’s, the term “trickle-down economics” was coined to describe the economic policies of President Ronald Reagan. To completely over simplify, these policies favored the wealthy with the thought being that the wealthy’s financial success would trickle-down to those lower on the socio-economic food chain by way of more jobs, better advancement opportunities, and higher wages. Translation – Having it better at the top would make it better on those towards the bottom.

When it comes to the paramilitary model that law enforcement agencies are built upon, a similar “trickle-down” concept applies to leadership. There will not be a “flattening” of this model anytime soon; therefore, it is vital that leaders within law enforcement agencies recognize the role they play in this “trickle-down” leadership model. Unlike the economics concept which was based upon having it “better” at the top, the law enforcement version must be built upon leaders demonstrating such high levels of values-based, servant leadership that those positive leadership qualities “trickle-down” onto each tier of leadership below it.

When there is a dedicated, consistent flow of positive leadership from the top, over time it will fill its own vessel and trickle over the edges. If the vessel below is in position to catch it, then it too will begin to fill and subsequently trickle over its edges into the vessel below that. This will continue until eventually positive leadership will fill the lowest level of the structure and begin to overflow onto its base.

While the structure mentioned above is obviously a metaphor for the paramilitary model, the base is typically not considered to be part of the structure, but it most definitely is. The base in this example is representative of the community the department serves. Just as a structure cannot stand without a base, without the community, the existence of law enforcement to protect it is futile. The other key component to this metaphor is that what begins at the top has a direct correlation to the bottom of the structure and what happens to its base. One misguided or negative leader, at any point in the structure, can derail the messages and gains of positive leadership from above and prevent them from ever reaching the lower levels of the chain. This ultimately effects the community.

8 Trickle-Down Leadership Thoughts:

A law enforcement agency’s leadership style starts at the top, flows through the organization, and has a direct impact on the community it serves – positive or negative.
Leaders throughout the agency, not through carrots and sticks, but by example teach officers how to act, how to treat, and how much effort to give the community it serves.
The strength of the paramilitary model of leadership is also its greatest weakness if its values are not clearly defined and communicated through all levels. Create a written document of positive core leadership expectations that every officer is raised on from their first days in patrol.
Develop a testing process that promotes leaders within the organization who best represent the positive core leadership expectations of the organization; not just statistical producers or those with good managerial skills.
Successful law enforcement agencies that spend more time defining and reinforcing their mission, purpose, culture, and values spend less time creating policies, handling complaints, and dealing with discipline.
There is a direct connection between patrol officers and the community. Therefore, it is vital that law enforcement leaders treat their patrol officers with the same trust, dignity, and respect that the agency wants them to treat the community with.
Positive leadership is infectious (likely to be spread through the environment) and has long-term effectiveness on those around it. Negative, fear-based leadership is contagious (likely to be spread through direct contact) and has short-term effectiveness on those around it, but creates many long-term, negative consequences for both the people under that leadership and the agency.
At every level of the organization, each individual person has total control over the actions they take, the attitude they have, and the effort they give. True leaders provide the direction and an environment for them to succeed.

The concept is simple – Inspired leadership, improved policing, better communities. It all trickles down.

The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to inspire law enforcement supervisors to be the best leaders they can be by providing positive leadership tactics and ideas. Positive leadership and creating a positive squad culture are on-going commitments that must be nurtured and developed over time. Thin Blue Line of Leadership is here to help.

Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

A Simple Gesture

August 12, 2019Leadership, Squad CultureCulture, law enforcement, leader, leadership, police, positive, Recognition, relationships, squadThin Blue Line of Leadership

I am a police officer that just happens to have the rank of sergeant. I have 8 police officers that work with me to keep the community we serve safe on one of the toughest work schedules and largest districts in the department.

One week a few months ago, due to scheduling issues out of my control, my squad of 8 officers was reduced to just 4. I knew that we were going to be slammed handling the same amount of calls for service that usually come in, but with half the number of officers.

At the beginning of each shift that week, I walked into the briefing room and extended my hand to my 4 officers for a handshake. I told them that I appreciated them being there and for all of the hard work that we knew was ahead of us.

What I found was that the simple action of shaking their hands in advance of what was before us served two purposes:

The handshakes demonstrated respect for them by showing appreciation for their presence in the face of a tough situation.
The handshakes also negated the negativity of the situation and turned it into a positive to be fought through as a team, not to be complained about.

In recognizing the power of this simple action, I felt compelled to find a way to continue building the same connection with my officers that started with this simple gesture. With the busy week over, I had the weekend to consider how I was going to use it going forward.

I walked into our squad briefing the next Wednesday and looked around at my 8 young officers ready to hit the road. Without thinking about it for a second, I extended my hand and began walking around the room shaking each of their hands and saying, “Thanks for being here.”

To this day, I start every Wednesday briefing just like that. Do not underestimate the power of a simple gesture and the positive effect it can have on your officers.

UPDATE: Since writing this, I have move from being the patrol supervisor of this amazing squad to being a supervisor in my department’s training unit. Every time I cross paths with one of these 8 officers that were on that patrol squad, they all seek me out and come looking for that handshake.

Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

Culture in Just 4 Words

August 5, 2019Leadership, Squad Culturebriefing, Culture, leader, leadership, Performance, police, positive, relationshipsThin Blue Line of Leadership

THE SETUP: Another sergeant asked how my squad of mostly brand new police officers was having such great success on the road and in the community. I attributed it to the culture that we had created as a squad in the briefing room and then worked hard to exemplify each shift on the road. When he asked what my squad’s culture was, I quickly rattled off just 4 words – Positivity, Activity, Teamwork, and Humility. As I said these 4 words aloud, the other sergeant looked at me like I was holding out on him and I replied, “No really . . . that is our culture in just 4 words and it works.”

THEN IT HITS ME: The realization that came to me as we continued this conversation was that a strong, sustainable culture should be just that easy to define, explain, understand, and apply. Culture has to be tangible and not just something that is said or posted on a wall. It also has to be easily articulated and reproducible by all involved with it.

THE HOW: I pulled out a piece of paper and divided it into 4 boxes. At the top of each box I wrote one of the words that I had told the other sergeant about – Positivity, Activity, Teamwork, and Humility. Knowing that culture is defined by our actions and attitudes, I made sure that I could define each of the words in terms of both; specifically actions and attitudes that I had seen these officers previously demonstrate. This would give me an easy way to talk about the culture with specific examples. Here is what I came up with . . .

POSITIVITY

Know your “why.”
Community service – treat everyone with dignity and respect.
Do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons.
Recognize each other for good police work.

ACTIVITY

Strive to be the most active squad in the city.
Calls for service are our priority, but initiative fills the gaps.
Take pride in your beat, know your beat, and work it as such.
Be a leader on calls – step up when others hesitate.

TEAMWORK

We before I.
Many hands make light work – have a “how can I help” mentality.
Back each other up – stay safe.
No gossip, no complaining – develop solutions.

HUMILITY

Get involved – policing is experiential learning.
Don’t fear mistakes, learn from them.
Remain humble and continue learning.
Take training seriously; continue growing throughout your career.

The above 4 words and defining bullet points are what best describe the actions and attitudes of our squad and what we want to project to everyone we interact with in the department and the community. The next step was presenting it to the squad.

THE PRESENTATION: On the presentation day, I explained to my 7 officers the conversation I had with that other sergeant and how this all got started. As I spoke about each of the 4 words and the corresponding bullet points, I used specific examples of times when I had seen these actions and attitudes displayed previously by them. I wrote each of the words on the outside of a box that I had drawn on the whiteboard. The conversation was amazing. Based on their comments the bullet points were altered to reflect their input.

When everything was said and done, I explained that if everything they said or did on this job could fall into the confines of this box then they would know they were doing policing the right way. It is only when actions and/or attitudes don’t fit into that box that problems occur and build distrust between the squad, police department, and their community.

REINFORCEMENT: Whenever a new officer comes to the squad, I go over these same 4 words in the same way as described above. The only thing that changes are newer, better examples. This serves two purposes. First, it reinforces the importance of our culture to the officers that have heard it before and keeps it fresh in their memory. Secondly, by going over this on the new officer’s very first day of joining the squad it solidifies how important we take our culture and begins to quickly assimilate them into the fold. If there are no new officers coming to the squad, then I make sure it gets repeated and discussed at least once every couple of months.

Between squad expectation presentations, it is vital to positively reinforce the desired culture. Whenever a member of the squad handles a difficult call, solves a problem, or demonstrates a great attitude about a tough situation; I make sure to mention it in briefing the next day and thank them for their outstanding service and commitment to our squad expectations. I make sure to specifically attribute whatever they did to the word(s) it best corresponds to. Culture in 4 words has gone over even better than I expected. In fact, they now recognize each other in briefing when they see something on a call that I was not able to get to. This reinforcement creates a positive cycle that just continues building and building and building.

THE CHALLENGE: Obviously, if you are still reading this far into the blog I have peaked your interest. Answer the following questions to get you started . . .

If your squad was running exactly the way you wanted it to, what 4 words would you chose to describe your squad’s culture?
Once you know your 4 words, list 3 – 5 specific actions or attitudes for each word that exemplify specifically how you would like to see that word expressed by your officers.
Present your 4 words to your squad and have a discussion.
Take the time and make opportunities to positively reinforce the 4 words of your culture.

Squad expectations need to be about establishing culture; not rules. Police departments have plenty of rules, laws, and policies to follow; that’s what those big books of general orders and revised statutes are for. If you get the culture right; the rules will take care of themselves. So, I challenge you to discover your 4 words and get them out there to your squad.

Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!