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14 Ways to Create a Positive Squad Culture

Leadership, Squad Culture, , , , , , , , , , ,

“Workplace perks, which have been popular approaches to boosting workplace morale, ‘do not compare to the employee enjoying and feeling engaged in their work.'”   ~Doug Dickerson

Creating a positive squad culture must be at the top of the TBL Leader’s agenda. By frequently asking, “What can I do to enhance and support a positive squad culture?” the TBL Leader is steering the direction of their officer’s actions, attitudes, and effort for not only that shift, but well beyond.

Below are some specific actions that a TBL Leader can take to begin establishing, reengaging, or retaining a positive squad culture. These have been broken down into two categories – Macro and Micro Ideas. Macro are big, overall picture ideas and micro are small specific ideas. Both are necessary to achieving the overall goal of creating a positive squad culture.

MACRO IDEAS – The Big Picture

1. Don’t allow persistent negativity to permeate briefings. Identify issues, address them as a squad, and move on. In paramilitary organizations there is only so much control officers and sergeants have beyond themselves. Focus on your squad’s strengths and always ask what can we do better this shift. Nothing breeds positive squad culture as effectively as success.

2. Know the career goals of the officers on your squad. Continually be looking for ways to develop and promote them within the organization. Goal-specific trainings, temporary duty assignments, and public praise to higher-ups in the chain of command take very little effort on your part, but can yield great results.

3. Stop the gossip. Gossip is a killer within any organization by breeding mistrust and negativity. There will always be problems and frustrations, especially in law enforcement, but when the issue is being fueled by officers that have no way of or intention to solve the problem, then they are gossiping. If your squad has a gossip problem or a specific issue is creating gossip, step in quickly and either bring parties together that can address the issue directly or take the concern higher up the chain of command. Both of these options are moving towards a solution as opposed to just creating a larger contingent of gossipers. Once it is dealt with, it is done.

4. Be authentic with the officers on your squad. Share your values, goals, knowledge, and self on a regular basis. Tell officers about your family, calls you have experienced, mistakes you have made, and successes you have had. Leadership author Michael Hyatt says, “give them the gift of going second.” In other words, by going first you give your officers permission to trust, believe, and follow your leadership and then share themselves with you. As trained observers, it does not take a detective to pick up on a leader that it being guarded or has selfish motives.

5. Set clear expectations with your squad. Develop a framework for officers to work within so it is clear when they are meeting your expectations and know exactly what winning looks like under your leadership. There should be no guessing game when it comes to being successful. After reading this blog, write down 5 traits that define what a “rock star” officer would look like to you and then share that with your squad. If there is a vision you want officers to meet, it cannot be a secret.

6. Do not allow passivity and mediocrity. By allowing those behaviors to survive without consequence you are giving others permission to be that way as well. In the book EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey he writes, “If you as a leader allow people to halfway do their jobs and don’t demand excellence as a prerequisite to keeping their job, you will create a culture of mediocrity. If you allow people to misbehave, under achieve, have a bad attitude, gossip, and generally avoid excellence, please don’t expect to attract and keep great talent. Please don’t expect to have a great culture.” What you inspire, you will create – this works for both positivity and negativity.

7. Have follow through. Just like pitching a baseball, without a good follow through, you have no idea where the ball is going to end up – over the catchers head, in the dirt, or in the batter’s ear. Every action you request or vision you share must be followed up on at regular intervals. Make your expectations known and then allow your officers to use their own ingenuity to accomplish the task or solve the problem. If you never come back to the request and just let it dissipate, your officers will feel like they have wasted their time, effort, and energy. How do you avoid this? Set clear expectations. Check in regularly. Praise progress. Reward results. Share success with your squad and give credit where credit is due.

MICRO IDEAS – The Close-Up Picture

1. Be the first one in the briefing room. Make this your priority, then being on time or even early will become the norm for your officers because you have set the example. Practice what you preach.

2. Set the tone with some good upbeat music prior to the start of briefing. You are in the briefing room early, might as well press play. Imagine walking into a briefing room with some AC/DC “Back in Black” playing or other artist depending on the taste of your squad – wouldn’t you feel more pumped up for the start of a shift? Stop the music just before you are ready to begin and it signifies to those in the room that you are ready to go.

3. Motivate with silent messages. Most briefing rooms have a white board or someplace where a good quote could be posted that speaks of hard work, motivation, success, officer safety, team work, leadership, etc. The best part is that you do not even have to say a word about it; just post it up and leave it for the week. With very little effort you have sent a message to your officers about what you believe. How many times do you think your officers will read it during that time? For example . . .

“What you do has far greater impact than what you say.” ~Stephen Covey

Unless you feel like it, you do not even have to search for the quotes – just follow @tbl_leadership on Twitter for multiple quote ideas each week.

4. Brief with a purpose. Take the time to plan out topics in advance that you would like to discuss with your squad throughout the week or, even better, the month. The key is to not be satisfied with briefings being a 30 minute “bull session” before hitting the road every day. Pulling up the occasional Police One video, while better than nothing, is still a far cry from what can be accomplished with advanced planning and a specific purpose. Obviously, given the fluidity of police work it is important to maintaining flexibility to allow for discussion regarding recent calls, successes, or issues that come up unexpectedly. Always be looking for “teachable” moments you can have with your squad.

5. Have your officers set monthly goals and share them with you. At the beginning of each month, have your officers email you or write down 2 – 3 goals/projects they want to focus on that month that are strengths of theirs – making more traffic stops, check subjects, contacting business owners, working a trouble address, spending more time in a particular neighborhood, finding DUIs, etc. It only takes them a couple of minutes, but provides you the invaluable opportunity to support/coach them on those goals/projects. By having consistent, on-going interactions with your officers regarding their monthly focus, you are in an excellent position to catch them doing good and making the most of their strengths. It also creates an easy conversation starter by saying something like, “Hey, how is it going in that neighborhood? Anything I can do to help you with that?”

6. Recognize success, winning, and commendations regularly in briefing. Read positive letters from citizens aloud and make them a big deal. Give out handwritten notes when you want to recognize an officer’s hard work, birthday, or support them through a rough time. Brag about an officer when a family member or friend comes on a ride-along. Post pictures up in the briefing room of officers after making a big arrest, demonstrating teamwork, initiative, or showing they are winning based on your definition. Simply put, spend more time catching people doing good rather than focusing on the negatives. Baseball players are All Stars for hitting the ball 3 out of every 10 at bats. A much higher success rate is expected of officers and their lives depend on it. Never talk down about the work done on a daily basis by your officers by using the excuse of “he just did his job.”

7. Identify the leader(s) on your squad. When something needs to change or a new policy implemented, talk to your squad leader(s) first and get them on board. Explain what the change is, how it is going to work, and then why it is important/necessary. The explanation must contain all 3 parts: what, how, and why in order for it to be effective. The squad leader(s) can then work behind the scenes to make the change or transition to the new policy a much smoother one than if it is just thrown out there and officers are told to “follow it or else.”

Inevitably, bad days and negative incidents are going to happen. As stated in last week’s blog, Robert Collier said “Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.” By taking the time and making the extra effort to create a positive squad culture, a TBL Leader’s squad will be better prepared to “weather the storm” when those things that are out of your control present themselves. Why are they better prepared??? Because the TBL Leader’s officers believe in them and will do whatever it takes to protect the positive culture the squad has established.

What other ideas do you have for creating a positive squad culture?

Share your ideas and comments with us below or on our Facebook page.

The next blog at Thin Blue Line of Leadership will describe one way to establish a framework for squad expectations without setting quotas or limits . . . Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

Power, Passion, People, and Production

Leadership, Squad Culture, , , , , , , , , ,

“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”   –Robert Collier


 The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. Positive leadership starts by creating a positive squad culture.

 Sergeants or first-line supervisors have direct influence on the officers assigned to them and the environment in which they work. The direction a squad takes culturally can be attributed to the leadership, or lack thereof, provided by the sergeant or first-line supervisor.

 Culture is defined by the actions and attitudes of a particular group demonstrated over time. The culture of a squad will carry over into everything they do both within the department and out in the community.

 Power, Passion, People, and Production

1. Power of Policing – Setting a clear vision and mission for a squad is crucial. The department provides a framework, but the TBL Leader defines it and gives it life. The ability to take a group of officers and show them exactly what winning looks like generates power. The more power the TBL Leader shares with the squad, the stronger the squad as a whole will become and the more impact they will have on the community. Without a barrel, a shotgun loses all effectiveness because the pellets have no direction. TBL Leaders provide the direction and thus the power.

 2. Passion for Policing – Passion is infectious! If the TBL Leader consistently shares their passion for the job with their squad, then the squad will reciprocate by retaining or regaining their own passion. When an entire squad has a shared passion, then overlapping squads take notice and want to have that same feeling of success. Passion also develops a desire to be at work and a commitment to protecting the positive culture by always working at a high level. Work is always at its best when it does not feel like work. TBL Leaders will always attract great officers to their squads that buy into what they are selling. Passion for policing should be encouraged and never discouraged.

 3. People are Policing – Victims, citizens, officers, and suspects – no matter the role, people are policing. Creating a positive squad culture directly impacts how officers respond to the people within the community they serve. TBL Leaders set the expectation that all people are to be treated with dignity and respect, even those under arrest. Then, they go out with their officers to regularly model, support, and reward this desired behavior. Officers are always watching how the TBL Leader handles a situation and learning from it. Demonstrate that treating people right can be one of the most effective officer safety tools in their toolbox.

 4. Production in Policing – Law enforcement production has always been a double-edge sword. The person who just received a speeding citation may be the one calling 911 shortly thereafter when their home is being burglarized. This dual role as both enforcers and protectors creates a very fine line for officers to walk. With that being said, departments need a way to show they are getting what they pay for, but must be cautious about assigning quantitative-only measures. When people are reduced to being stats, there is the risk that integrity, fairness, and good judgment could go by the wayside in lieu of statistical production. To offset this, TBL Leaders must routinely reward quality production, as opposed to just sheer quantity. Rewarding quality production regularly will teach officers where the balance point lies and what winning looks like to the TBL Leader. This is an essential part of developing a positive squad culture.

 By establishing a positive squad culture; power, passion, people, and production are all engaged positively. Will this require extra time, effort, and thought on the part of the TBL Leader? Absolutely, but the end result, the sum of those small efforts repeated day in and day out will be well worth it.

 The next blog at Thin Blue Line of Leadership will provide real-world suggestions for creating a positive squad culture . . .

 How have you seen leaders within your department create a positive squad culture?

 Share your comments with us below or on our Facebook page. Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

Defining the Thin Blue Line Leader

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The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. It is undeniable that law enforcement is a unique working environment and one in which the word positive is not always easily associated. Law enforcement is not just about laws and policies. It is about the community – victims, civilians, officers, and even criminals. So, bringing the word “positive” more frequently into law enforcement is a necessity because policing is about people. This belief must be a core value of any Thin Blue Line Leader before even getting into a deeper list of qualities.

Leadership comes in many different styles. When it comes to developing one’s own style of leadership, it is most common to emulate leaders that had a significant and direct influence on you either personally or professionally. These role-models of leadership won your heart and then were able to influence your mind, but only after being respected by you for who they are first.

Here are 10 qualities that define a Thin Blue Line Leader . . .

WINNING RESPECT  – Getting people to listen.

1. Competent – Being competent should be a given. Knowing basic and advanced officer techniques along with any specialty unit knowledge/skills you possess starts building your officers’ views of your competency. Do not assume that reputation alone will carry you. Accurately recognizing your own strengths and weaknesses will assist you in developing your competency across the board. A TBL Leader proves their competency from call to call and shift to shift.

2. Integrity and Honesty – Most people would say that integrity and honesty are the same thing, but let’s define it more specifically. Integrity is when your actions match your words. Honesty is when your words match your actions.  Law enforcement officers are constantly in situations and circumstances that test their integrity and honesty. A TBL Leader exemplifies this by holding themselves and their officers to a standard that is above reproach at all times.

3. Initiative – Do not stand still. Leaders with initiative constantly ask why something is the way it is, can it be improved, and what can I do to help. Just assuming that things are fine because “that’s how we’ve always done it” leads to stagnation and mediocrity. Regardless of the time and effort required, the TBL Leader is always looking for innovative ways to improve themselves, their officers, their department, and their community.

WINNING HEARTS – Getting people to believe.

4. Servant – This is not to be confused with subservient. A servant leader recognizes that as the leader they have taken on the responsibility of being selfless for the good of their officers. It is no longer just about your career, but lifting up your officers in their careers. TBL Leaders find ways to make their officers’ jobs easier by providing them with resources, training, and guidance.

5. Authentic – Be yourself. Arrogance and false bravado will build a wall between you and your officers that will make leading effectively much more difficult. Share your experience openly from both law enforcement and your personal life. Talking about things like your marriage, children, hobbies, or pets allow those you lead to gain insight into your belief structure. If you make a mistake, own up to it and set the example by seeking to improve. You are still human and no one, regardless of your rank, expects you to be perfect at all times. TBL Leaders recognize that when it comes to being authentic, you get what you give.

6. Supportive – Being supportive starts by opening your ears. As a leader, you have to listen, recognize, validate, and only then act. Clear communication with your officers will give you all the information you need to proceed with a course of action. Standing up for your officers, when in the right, is a must because TBL Leaders are the glue that holds a squad together.

7. Passionate – Passion should be encourage and never discouraged as long as it is appropriately directed. By setting a clear vision and mission for your squad, the leader creates focus and defines what winning looks like. Police officers like to win and the more they win, the more passion that is generated. TBL Leaders do not fear passion; they work tirelessly to create an environment that generates it.

8. Rewarding – Catching your officers doing something right should be an on-going goal of a leader. Too often, excessive amounts of time and energy are wasted searching for things that are done wrong and rewarding what gets done right gets overlooked. Obviously, serious malfunctions in officer safety or investigations need to be addressed, but there is always a way to address this so it does not destroy the officer’s morale or belief in the mission. TBL Leaders realize that rewarding officers positively reinforces and defines the behaviors that you, the leader, want to promote.

WINNING MINDS – Getting people to change.

9. Learner/Educator – Learner and educator go hand in hand. A leader must be a life-long learner. Personal experience will only hold out so long before you are just repeating yourself over and over. Taking the initiative to seek out new information and experiences will allow you to continue growing. Then, as the leader, you must be willing to share and teach what you have learned so the development of those you are responsible for can continue. No one is an expert in everything. Use your network of resources within the department to find experts in areas where you are weak. The TBL Leader recognizes the great value of learning, but realizes that it is most valuable only when is disseminated.

10. Translator – As a leader, being a good communicator is vital, but more important than communication is the ability to receive information and translate it into support for the vision and mission of your squad. As a first-line supervisor, you are the translation conduit for information coming from the upper staff and going to the officers on your squad. The way in which you present the information you are given will dictate your officers’ response to it. TBL Leaders recognize the power of translation and are clear and direct in their messages.

These 10 qualities define a Thin Blue Line Leader. Thin Blue Line of Leadership can be reached at tblleadership@gmail.com for any questions, comments, or suggestions. You can Like us on Facebook now, as well.

LEAD ON!

Law Enforcement Lingo 101

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This post is for readers that are not familiar with basic law enforcement lingo. Understanding the full meaning of Thin Blue Line of Leadership’s tweets and blog posts will deepen your comprehension of our mission to share positive law enforcement leadership tactics.  As new terminology comes up, I will update this post with additional terms and their meanings.

ACRONYMS

CFS – Call for Service

LE – Law Enforcement

LEO – Law Enforcement Organization

LT – Lieutenant

OFC – Officer

SGT –  Sergeant

TERMINOLOGY

BRIEFING – A daily meeting for a squad or group of officers prior to the beginning of a shift. (15 – 30 minutes in length)

CALL – When an officer is assigned a task to complete. Typically this starts as a call to 9-1-1 or a department’s non-emergency number.

CALL FOR SERVICE (CFS) – Same as a “call.”

CHAIN OF COMMAND – Law enforcement organizations are setup as paramilitary organizations and the chain of command is the line of authority and responsibility along which orders are passed. Law enforcement chain of command positions are different from the military and also vary between police departments, sheriff’s departments, and federal law enforcement agencies. In a police department, the chain of command is usually some form of the following: Chief of Police, Assistant Chief of Police, Commander, Lieutenant, Sergeant, and Officer. Depending on the size of the organization, there may be more or less positions in the chain.

OFFICER/DEPUTY/AGENT – These are all similar positions, just different terminology, and make up the backbone of any law enforcement organization. The only difference is the type of jurisdiction they serve – city, county, state, or federal. The jurisdiction dictates if an organization is a police department, sheriff’s department, or federal law enforcement agency. Thin Blue Line of Leadership will be using the term officer as a default, but the knowledge shared applies to all law enforcement agencies regardless of name.

OFFICER SAFETY – This is a term used to describe the actions necessary to keep an officer safe in any given situation and get them safely home to their family. It encompasses things like using a backup officer, wearing a vest, proper officer positioning, and many more. A huge part of being a law enforcement leader is keeping your officers safe by sharing up-to-date officer safety information and verifying that they are applying all officer safety techniques available to them.

PARAMILITARY – An organization whose structure, training, and function are similar to that of the military, but is not a part of the nation’s formal armed forces. Police departments, sheriff’s departments, and federal law enforcement agencies are set up as paramilitary organizations.

SQUAD – A group of approximately 6 to 10 officers assigned to work the same general area and shift. Each squad will have a sergeant or equivalent first-line-supervisor assigned to oversee their activities. It is common for multiple squads to overlap each other due to the need for 24-7 coverage and staffing at busier times of day/night.

THIN BLUE LINE – A common law enforcement symbol showing 2 black lines with a thinner blue line in-between. It has 3 common meanings: (1) Represents the line between life and death an officer walks each time they start a shift. (2) Represents the line that officers maintain between the good and bad to prevent chaos and disorder. (3) Represents fallen law enforcement officers that have died in the line of duty.

Thin Blue Line of Leadership can be reached at tblleadership@gmail.com for any questions, comments, or suggestions.

LEAD ON!

Welcome to Thin Blue Line of Leadership

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Welcome to the Thin Blue Line of Leadership blog. The Twitter (@tbl_leadership) and WordPress (tblleadership.wordpress.com) accounts associated with Thin Blue Line of Leadership have been created as a conduit to share positive leadership tactics with the field of Law Enforcement.

Law enforcement is an extremely unique career choice and once in it you become part of a very special brother/sister-hood. Only so many people in the world get to see what officers see and do what officers do. A large number of police officers actually come from other careers like education, real estate, military, IT, etc. and eventually are drawn together into a paramilitary organization focused on defending the laws of their particular jurisdiction. Law enforcement leaders must find ways to blend this diversity into a cohesive unit that can serve their community effectively. Depending on the backgrounds from which law enforcement leaders originate, leadership styles within any given organization can vary greatly. Unfortunately, once “on the beat,” there is little to no leadership training available.

There is a ton of great leadership information out there geared towards corporations, entrepreneurs, churches, and personal improvement, but very little written specifically for law enforcement. Various law enforcement websites have leadership articles here and there, but most of what is written is geared towards higher levels in the chain of command – chiefs, assistant chiefs, captains, and commanders. Sharing leadership ideas within law enforcement is further made difficult because the culture is such a tough nut to crack. If you have not been there, seen that, and shared calls with your brothers and sister in uniform, then translating abstract concepts like leadership can come across as phony.

Thin Blue Line of Leadership believes that leading within law enforcement organizations begins by educating and mentoring officers to become the next generation of leaders. This cannot be done through general observation and osmosis. It must be done with purpose and an intentional mindset over an extended amount of time. The sergeant or first-line supervisor of any law enforcement organization has the most direct contact with officers. This puts them in a unique position to create environments that purposely train the next leaders of the organization. How to create an environment conducive to leadership-development, educating officers, and mentoring them is why Thin Blue Line of Leadership is here.

Thin Blue Line of Leadership can be reached at tblleadership@gmail.com for any questions, comments, or suggestions.

LEAD ON!