Tag Archives: Performance

TBLL TRAINING: Utilizing Policing Priorities

Decision-Making, Training, , , , ,

TBLL TRAINING: UTILIZING POLICING PRIORITIES (VIDEO)

Almost 10 years ago, the Below 100 Program was brought to law enforcement agencies everywhere. That program emphasized that by following its 5 key tenants, US law enforcement agencies could reduce the total number of line of duty deaths in a year to less than 100.

The 5 Principles of Below 100 are…

  • Wear your seat belt.
  • Wear your vest.
  • Watch your speed.
  • WIN – What’s Important Now?
  • Remember: Complacency kills.

All of those are crazy, simple ideas have had and continue to have a positive impact on reducing the overall number of law enforcement deaths each year. But, there was one thing that kept bugging me as a law enforcement trainer and it was the question, “What’s Important Now?” I love the concept of it and have even had the opportunity to discuss it in a training course taught by Brian Willis of Winning Mind Training who contributed that question. But there was just something about it…

To take that question to the next level, I believed that we could look at the common patterns used in answering it and develop a simple set of priorities that could be used to assist officers in their decision-making during high stress incidents. If these basic priorities could then be trained across an entire agency, we would have a force multiplier when it comes to decision-making all being on the same page. It was through studying and researching these patterns that the Policing Priorities were developed based off of ideas shared by other exceptional trainers, like Lou Hayes, and my own research regarding decision-making.

To assist in spreading this concept throughout my department, I created this briefing training video. These priorities are excellent for breaking down, discussing, and justifying decision-making at every level of the organization, during any call for service, and in every discipline of training.

The Policing Priorities are…Slide3

  • Priority of Life
  • Priority of Stabilization
  • Priority of Time
  • Priority of Apprehension

The link below will take you to the Policing Priorities Training video. Feel free to discuss it, try to break it, and test it out. We have found that they are applicable to every call for service we respond to. Whether it is an alarm call, traffic collision, burglary in-progress, pursuit, officer involved shooting, or an active killer, they apply.

TBLL TRAINING: UTILIZING POLICING PRIORITIES (VIDEO)

Here are some related blogs that may help for deeper understanding of the Policing Priorities…

To continue building these decision-making fundamentals into the foundation of my department, the Policing Priorities are taught during Post-Academy, reinforced throughout Field Training, utilized during training modules, and then additionally reinforced with video debriefs of our own on-body camera videos demonstrating positive uses of the Policing Priorities.

If you have any questions or thoughts on the Policing Priorities, please do not hesitate to contact us. 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. Our email is tblleadership at gmail.com.

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!

Performance vs. Trust in Field Training

Leadership, Training, , , , , , ,

What is more important when it comes to being a good field trainer – Performance or Trust?

Before you answer that, let’s explore why I’m asking the question. Author and speaker Simon Sinek works regularly with the Navy Seals. During one conversation he asked them how they select who gets to go to the elite Seal Team 6 or promoted since they are all considered to be the best of the best. To answer that question, they drew a graph like the one below. (Simon Sinek Performance vs. Trust Video)

Slide1On the vertical axis they wrote “performance” and on the horizontal axis they wrote “trust.” Performance was defined as their skills and knowledge on the battlefield – shooting, tactics, orienteering, planning, endurance, etc. Trust was defined as how they are off of the battlefield – teamwork, integrity, respect, humble, etc. The Seals explained that they take each candidate and rank them on both of these criteria to see how they compare. Over time, they discovered the following…

There were two candidates that were obvious. If the person was a Low Performer/Low Trust (LP/LT) they didn’t want them and if the person was a High Performer/High Trust (HP/HT) they absolutely wanted them. But, there were only so many candidates that were that clear and obvious.

Slide2It was the next choice were the Seals discovered they were initially making mistakes in their selection process. Their next choice initially was the High Performer/Low Trust (HP/LT). The person who was a “rock star” in training and on the battlefield, but outside of that they weren’t really liked or trusted. The quote the Seals used was, “I would trust them with my life, but NOT my money or my wife.” This caused many, many issues within the ranks of one of the most elite special forces units in the world.

What was their fix?

After analyzing where the mistakes were occurring, they reorganized the hierarchy of their entire selection process. Instead of taking the High Performer/Low Trust Seals, they prioritized taking the Moderate Performer/High Trust (MP/HP) individuals. They then would equally consider even a Low Performer/High Trust (LP/HT) candidate in comparison to a High Performer/Low Trust one. This was done because after years of various difficulties and failures, the Navy Seals discovered that Performance can be taught, learned, and improved. Trust can only be earned and is a much more valuable commodity when making such decisions of significance.

How does this relate to Field Training?

First, no one that works with you is going to care if you have the most tickets, most arrests, find the most drugs, take the most calls for service, or get the coolest assignment; if they don’t trust you. Do things often that build trust – back up other officers, help with impounds, take paper when you know they are down a lot . . . in other words, help other people out sometimes. That not only will help those around you, but will also make a huge difference when it comes to testing for special assignments or promotion.

Secondly, the same concept applies to the OITs (Officer-in-Training) you are training. It is great if they are a natural cop and are kicking butt through FTO (Field Training Officer), but if they are showing behaviors that make your level of trust in them diminish, then you should be cautious. Would you trust your money and spouse around them? If not, try to articulate why and document it. The FTO Program would rather remove a low trust OIT than have them make it through and be a pain for the next 25 years or until they cause a significant integrity issue of some kind.

Lastly, as a Field Training Officer, you will find that your ability to train and the success of your OITs is directly related to the level of trust you build with them during the short time you have them for training. Here are 3 tips for quickly building trust with OITs…

  1. When you first meet them, introduce yourself and explain that everything you from here on out is for their benefit to make them a successful solo capable officer. If you say it with conviction, they will believe you and you will immediately be establishing a rapport built on trust; even if you have to get on them about something.
  2. Be up front about the expectation for them to make mistakes. Explain that you would rather see them take initiative on a call for service and make a mistake; rather than, hang back waiting watching other officers do the work and not make a mistake. If you are going to be upset and/or frustrated with an OIT, be upset/frustrated at the lack of initiative, not the mistake. Training can fix the mistake. Initiative is built on trust.
  3. Take the time to introduce yourself. Tell them about your family, life outside the PD, struggles you’ve experienced, and successes you’ve had. Then ask them about who they are. What is their family situation, what did they do before coming to SPD, why do they want to be a cop, what has been the hardest for them in FTO so far, how are they adjusting to shift work, etc. You never know where those conversation will go. OITs have to know you care about them before they will ever care about what you have to teach them. TRUST > PERFORMANCE

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.

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!

 

 

 

3 Simple Field Training Ideas

Decision-Making, Training, , , , , , ,

One of the greatest misconceptions about training is that it must be complex or difficult to have value. This is typically one of the largest hurdles for trainers to overcome because the training ideas they have don’t seem “cool” enough. This perceived lack of coolness then prevents them from doing any additional training outside of what they have been doing.

Simple training repeated regularly has the greatest positive impact on adult learning and performance success. It is the deep understanding of simple training basics that allow the learner to be creative and adaptive in their problem solving. Please do not confuse the word “simple” with being synonymous for “easy.” Easy implies that the task does not require effort to be done; simple means that it is merely not complex. Therefore, simple training ideas can have an extremely positive impact on learning.

If you have an OIT that is struggling with any concept like orientation, report writing, officer safety, handcuffing, interviewing, etc., then be sure to first be utilizing the 3 R’s to make the information you are trying to teach stickier…

 REPEAT

  • It is silly to expect an OIT to learn something just because you said it once.
  • It is also silly to expect them to learn it if you only say it the same way every time.
  • The more important a concept is, the more times you should expect to say it and the more of a variety of ways you should have to teach it.

RECOGNIZE

  • When the OIT does what you have been teaching, recognize it.
  • Point it out to them so they realize they have done what you have been repeating.
  • This builds the importance of what you are teaching because now they know you are looking for it and pointing out their usage of the concept.

 REINFORCE

  • Everybody loves a little positive reinforcement.
  • When you recognize the OIT has done what you have been training, always following it up with a statement like, “I saw how you did ___________. Great job! That is exactly what we have been talking about regarding your officer safety.”
  • The key is to make the reinforcement specific to the behavior you want. “Good job” by itself does NOT cut it because the OIT may have no idea what exactly was good.
  • It would be silly to assume that because you repeat, recognize, and reinforce once that the OIT has mastered the concept. Keep repeating the 3 R’s about the major concepts you want the OIT to learn throughout the time they are with you.

 

Here are 3 simple ideas for repeating concepts you want an OIT to learn. . .

NO COST QUIZ – Develop 3 to 5 questions to ask your OIT about key concepts/situations you have been discussing over the last couple of shifts. Write them down and give them to the OIT before briefing, just after briefing, during a break, or at the end of your shift to write out their answers. These questions can be about any concept you want to reinforce. This is a simple training idea that you could use each shift or a couple of times each week to reinforce your point(s). There is no cost to an incorrect answer, but it gives you the opportunity for a conversation.

OIT LEARNING JOURNAL – Ask your OIT to obtain a notebook specifically for the purpose of being their OIT Learning Journal. (I know . . . it is a stupid name, but the concept is sound.) Either just after briefing or at the end of the shift, ask the OIT to think back to what they did the previous shift. Have them write down the 3 to 5 most important things they learned during that shift from memory.

IMAGINE PERFECTION – FTO asks the OIT to imagine the perfect traffic stop, shoplifting call, domestic violence investigation, DUI investigation, etc. Then have the OIT write out the process for handling that situation perfectly in 10 to 15 steps. Limit the number of steps so that the OIT is focusing on only the most important aspects of handling the situation they are considering. Once complete, FTO debriefs OIT’s steps with them and draws comparisons to OIT’s performance on previous similar calls for service. FTO should also play the IF/WHEN/THEN Game with the OIT and ask if different variables change, how the OIT would respond. This technique is especially useful for OITs that are having difficulty remembering repeatable processes or forgetting key steps when under stress of real-world situations. This helps them to adjust from standard linear thinking to more adaptive thinking as they respond to your variables.

Each time you make the OIT remember back to something they did over 24 hours ago, you are repeating that information and utilizing the instructional concepts of spacing, interleaving, effortful retrieval, and desirable difficulties. Training effectively can sometimes be both simple and easy. Now, just be sure to recognize and reinforce each time the OIT exhibits the desired learning in the field.

The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. Positive leadership and creating a positive squad culture are on-going commitments that must be nurtured and developed over time.

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

Praising Properly: Intelligence vs. Effort

Leadership, Training, , , , , ,

In a controlled study, a group of fifth grade students were each given a puzzle to solve. Half of the students who solved the puzzle were praised for being smart. The other half who solved the puzzle were praised for the high level of effort they gave. The students were then given the option to select another puzzle of their choice. One puzzle was similar in difficulty to the one they had completed successfully and the other one was significantly more difficult. The students were told they probably would not solve the more difficult puzzle, but would learn more from trying to solve it.

What puzzle do you think the “smart” kids chose?

What puzzle do you think the “effort” kids chose?

A majority of the students who were praised for being smart picked the easier puzzle. 90% of the students praised for their effort picked the difficult puzzle. Why do you think that is?

The study concluded that when we praise strictly for intelligence or correctness, the students got the message that being “smart” or “correct” is the key to winning the game. Therefore, they choose easier tasks to complete to keep the praise coming while avoiding new or difficult tasks. This is common because intelligence is typically perceived to be out of our control. Since it is outside our control, being viewed as “not smart” or “incorrect” gives the student no way to respond to potential failure because they see themselves as a victim of their supposed limited intelligence.

When praise for intelligence/correctness has been the primary method of praise, you will hear excuses like “I haven’t been taught that,” “That isn’t the way I was shown before,” and “That isn’t how I learn.” All of these excuses are made from a victim mentality and are a self-preservation technique to keep from feeling dumb/embarrassed for being incorrect. Notice how each of the statements point the blame for the failure away from the student.

However, when we emphasize praise primarily for effort, the students see learning as a variable they can control. They may have been incorrect in the knowledge or action, but praising them for taking on the task and putting forward their best effort leads to more learning. This also gives them a simple solution for responding to failure – PUT IN MORE EFFORT!

When we routinely praise for effort, you will hear student questions like, “How can I do better?,” “Could we try this next?,” and “Can we do that again?” All of these questions show the student taking responsibility for learning and having a willingness to put in more effort.

Success at learning is less dependent on intelligence than it is on grit, curiosity, and effort. The essential ingredients to creating great police officers during training are providing them with challenges, praising their effort while handling them, and then teaching them how to overcome those challenges. The rest is up to the learner and their EFFORT.

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.

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!

*** Parts of this blog were paraphrased from the excellent book “Make it Stick” by Peter C. Brown with some of my own additional thoughts. I highly recommend this book to all trainers. ***

What Will Your Verse Be?

Leadership, , , , , , ,

My police department has had its ups and downs. At this time, we happen to be in a down. Below is a note I sent to Field Training Officers because my gut told me it was needed…

 

“The powerful play goes on and you can contribute a verse…

What will your verse be?”   ~Dead Poets Society

THE POWERFUL PLAY GOES ON: The powerful play called life goes on and on and on. Regardless of all the “stuff” that happens within an organization, things always continue moving forward. You know the “stuff” I’m referring to, it gets talked about in-between calls, while writing paper in a beat office, or shows up on the 10 o’clock news. We have zero control over those things. What I do know is that we have an incredible team of people that have taken on the responsibility of being Field Training Officers and that team is actively creating our next generation law enforcement officers.

YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE A VERSE: With every trainee you are assigned, you have the opportunity to contribute a verse which may last over the next 5, 10, 15, or 25 years. The value of that verse cannot be overstated. Look around you and decide right now what kind of officers you want to work with on your squad. Do you want to work with mopey, victims of circumstance that HAVE TO be here or do you want to work with positive, solution-focused officers that WANT TO be here? That is the verse that you, more than anyone else in this department, gets to contribute. If not for the organization, then for your squad, your team, your family.

WHAT WILL YOUR VERSE BE?: In this entire world there are only three things you truly control. Your actions. Your attitude. Your effort. Every challenge we face at work, at home, or in life can be made simpler by attacking it head-on with those three things. What are the actions I need to take? What is the attitude I need to have? How much effort am I willing to expend to be successful? I challenge you to consider these aspects as you decide what your verse will be. What are you willing to contribute to the success of another person? What are you willing to contribute to the success of your next backup officer?

As Field Training Officers, you have a tremendous amount of influence by contributing a verse to the organization one trainee at a time. They look up to you, they envy you, they want to be just like you because you make this very complex profession look easy.

Thank you for everything you do and everything you are going to do!

 

As leaders, I encourage you to follow your leadership instincts. When you feel that things are off and something encouraging needs to be said, follow that instinct. You never know who you may inspire during that tough time…

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.

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!

 

 

Defining the TBL Leader

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

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 the 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 delving 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 influence on you either personally or professionally. These role-models of leadership won your heart and then were able to influence your mind.

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

WINNING RESPECT  – Getting people to listen.

1. Competence – Being competent should be a given. Knowing basic and advanced techniques along with any specialty 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.

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 a 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 allows 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 team 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 and feeds off of 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 it 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 team. As a first-line supervisor, you are the translation conduit between information coming from upper staff and those on your team. The way in which you respond to and 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!

Control vs. Influence

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

KEY POINTS PREVIOUSLY DISCUSSED ABOUT LEADERSHIP ACCOUNTABILITY

Accountability is the actions, attitude, and effort necessary to merge expectations with performance.

Understanding who controls the expectations and who controls the performance is key to understanding leadership accountability.

Leadership accountability is all about ME. It start with ME. It sustains with ME. It grows with ME. It can be ended by ME. My ACTIONS, ATTITUDE, and EFFORT.

Before I can even begin to discuss control versus influence, we must be on the same page regarding the Dynamics of Human Interactions. Whether we are discussing leadership accountability, use of force situations, handling a “routine” call for service, or any other leadership situation, the same three components always come into play.

As a leader, I must understand these dynamics in order to truly comprehend what I control and what I influence in the world around me. The most significant mistakes ever made in leadership commonly originate from a leader attempting to control something they do not truly have control over. If they had merely asked themself, “How can I influence this?” interaction with this other person or circumstance, the situation may have turned out much differently.

Slide9

In every interaction we have as human beings, there are three basic components: ME, the OTHER PEOPLE involved, and the CIRCUMSTANCES that bring us together.

Slide10

Of these three components, it is vital that I recognize and understand there is only one of these that I have true control over – MYSELF. I cannot control the other people that are involved and I cannot control the circumstances that brought everything together. So, within myself, the things I truly have control over are my actions, my attitude, and my effort.

  • What actions do I have the ability to take? Options?
  • What attitude is the best approach for the situation? Mindset? Role?
  • How much effort is necessary to properly handle this situation successfully?

Slide11

If I take responsibility for and own my actions, attitude, and effort, then I also have to accept that I control my Reactions to the external components of these Dynamics of Human Interactions. As information comes in from Other People, Circumstances, and their Interactions, I must accept that I have NO control over them at all. I can only control my reactions to the information coming in through the actions, attitude, and effort I CHOOSE to respond with.

But, this is not easy. I, as a human being, am an emotional and reactionary creature by nature. It has been programmed into me over thousands of years to survive. Sometimes those survival instincts are beneficial and sometimes they are not. When my survival instincts tell me to strike back quickly, act in a manner that is solely based upon self-preservation, and is the path of least resistance, then I must find a way to freeze the moment and remember what I control. This is especially true in leadership situations.

Slide12

I must accept I cannot CONTROL Other People, Circumstances, and their Interactions. As a leader, I must also accept I can INFLUENCE them. By recognizing that my actions, my attitude, and my effort are the tools I possess to positively influence them, I can begin to see leadership situations in a much different light. The greater my influence, the greater my leadership. The greater my leadership, the more vital it becomes for me to act consistently to maximize my influence.

Slide13

How do I maximize my influence in regards to leadership accountability? Practice personal accountability day in and day out by controlling that which I can control. I can set clear expectations that provide a vision of the future, not just repeat rules and policies. I can provide training, instruction, coaching, counselling, and mentoring. I discipline when necessary to educate, not punish. Finally, I recognize good work and positively reinforce it every chance I get. All of these are methods are ways for me to influence those I lead and the circumstances I am a part of through my actions, my attitude, and my effort.

Whenever I find myself feeling stressed while handling a leadership situation, I hit my mental pause button and change the internal question I am asking myself from “How can I control this?” to “How can I influence this?” Suddenly, the feelings of stress and anxiety begin to dissipate and I begin working the problem using what I can control – MYSELF.

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.

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!

Leadership Accountability Starts with Me

Leadership, , , , , , ,

Accountability – the actions, attitude, and effort necessary to merge expectations with performance.

As we move forward with our discussion about leadership accountability, I must address two common myths that often send leaders down incorrect paths, or worse, make them appear to be hypocrites.

MYTH #1: Accountability is a team thing.

WE

When I read books or listen to someone speak about leadership, I notice the theme of building positive, supportive, and unified teams is everywhere. Heck, I often write about the power of teams here on the TBLL Blog and fully endorse the benefits of building strong teams. However, when it comes to accountability, especially leadership accountability, it is not a team concept. The idea of “you hold me accountable and I, the leader, will hold you accountable” sounds great on paper or when said aloud, but there is one significant flaw in this logic. There is a complete lack of internal accountability being demonstrated where I recognize that I have the power to control both my expectations and my performance. If I am relying on someone else to hold me accountable, am I really being accountable at all? The team accountability concept is based upon others controlling or setting my expectations for me. It means I am turning over the power of controlling my actions, attitude, and effort to say I need you to watch me and make sure I stay on the right path or do the right thing. Ultimately, the most significant issue with leadership accountability under this model becomes who is really leading, forging ahead, and setting the example?

MYTH #2: Accountability is something I, the leader, bestow upon other people.

THEMThe second myth of accountability is that accountability is only something I do to other people. Specifically, the people that work on my squad or unit. If my view is that accountability is an external process of me holding others to my expectations or those of the department, then I am creating a culture of “them” and “they.” With this idea of accountability, I believe I must hold them accountable at all times and attempt to control their performance towards my expectations. This often comes across as micromanaging to those being led and to me it feels as if my entire job has become running around putting out fires all day. To those I am holding accountable, their perspective becomes one of contempt and I have now become part of the infamous “they.” The generic pronoun used to describe those higher in power within an organization when we feel there is not a choice in whatever matter is at hand. Ultimately, this style of accountability is only sustainable for as long as the leader can manage the energy to keep it up and are physically present around those they are “leading” to enforce their expectations. Once the leader becomes too tired to keep it up, they retract to the confines of their office to hide because they just cannot manage the level of effort required to constantly hold six to eight people constantly accountable. Worst of all is that none of those on the squad or unit have ever learned how to hold themselves accountable to these expectations because the boss has always done it for them.

TRUTH: Accountability, especially leadership accountability, is all about me.

METhe truth about leadership accountability is that it is all about ME. It starts with ME. It sustains with ME. It grows with ME. It can be ended by ME. The concept of anything in leadership being “all about me” is a colossal departure from 99.9% of what I read and hear about good leadership, but when it comes to leadership accountability it truly is controlling MY actions, MY attitude, and MY effort that dictate my application of accountability. Leadership accountability is an inside out process. It is through internal accountability that I set the proverbial bar or expectations. Those I am leading see what I am doing, how I am doing it, and most importantly I explain why I am doing what I am doing. As the example is set, then I have earned the right to set external expectations of those I am leading because they know that I am not and never would ask them to do something I am not doing or willing to do myself. In other words, I must exemplify accountability before I can ever expect it from those I lead – that is leadership accountability.

Once the example of leadership accountability is set, then it begins to grow. In the next TBLL Blog, we will discuss how accountability grows through the leader’s example.

Questions to ponder . . .

  • In my current leadership position, did I set the expectations first or set the example first?
  • What are the benefits to be gained from exemplifying a solid foundation of leadership accountability?
  • As a leader, do I control those I am leading or do I influence them?

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.

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!

*** Parts of this blog are paraphrased from the excellent book, QBQ: The Questions Behind the Question by John G. Miller.

Internal vs. External Leadership Accountability

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What is accountability? Take a brief moment to ask yourself what this word truly means to you. Can you define it? Put it into words? Does it involve other people or just yourself?

What is leadership accountability? Once you take on a leadership role, does the definition of accountability change? If so, how does it change? Does it involve other people or just yourself?

These are questions leaders need to consider and have a grasp upon for themselves. Over the next few Thin Blue Line of Leadership blogs, I am going to attempt to answer these questions on accountability and leadership accountability.

From this point forward in the blog, I am going to write in the first-person because I am a leader, too. A leader that has made leadership mistakes, struggled with my own accountability, and asked myself questions about how to appropriately hold other people accountable. When writing or speaking about accountability, it is too easy to hear the pronoun “you” as a challenge or an attack. So, as you read this blog further, please personalize this information for the benefit of yourself and your specific situation.

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Accountability in this diagram is represented by the green rectangle filling the void between expectations and performance. Here is how I define accountability – Accountability is the actions, attitude, and effort necessary to merge expectations with performance.

Why actions, attitude, and effort? Because in life, the only things I truly have control over are my actions, my attitude, and my effort. Those three things are the building blocks I have to work with for solving any problem I may face; including problems related to accountability. My actions, my attitude, and my effort are not only the lens through which I react to my perceptions of my world, but also serve as the ammunition with which I have to influence the world around me.

There are two types of accountability to consider before moving on: internal and external. Internal accountability is when I control or support the expectation and I also control the related performance of the a situation or circumstance. One example of an internal accountability issue would be body weight. If I have an expectation that my goal weight should be 200 pounds, then it is only through my performance, control of my actions, attitude, and effort, that I have any real chance of meeting that expectation.

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External accountability is when I control or support the expectation, but the performance is controlled by another person. Specifically, it is controlled by their actions, attitude, and effort. For example, if my police department has an expectation that officers should always wear their seatbelt when driving in their patrol vehicle, then that would be an expectation that I must support through my actions, attitude, and effort. However, in carrying out the performance associated with this expectation, it will be the officers’ actions, attitude, and effort that will determine if performance meets expectations. The difference in between and closing that gap is where leadership accountability comes into play.

It has often been my failure, or maybe reluctance at times, to recognize who controls expectations and who controls performance that has led to my worst leadership decisions. Whether it was setting unrealistic expectations, expectations that did not challenge, or failing to take into account who really controls the performance of an expectation; all of these can cause a leadership accountability failure. Ultimately, when speaking on accountability, it is the responsibility of the leader to recognize what they control versus that which they influence.

Over the next few weeks, Thin Blue Line of Leadership will continue to explore the topic of leadership accountability and attempt to answer this question – Why does leadership accountability seem so simple on its face, but often times is incredibly challenging to put into practice?

Questions to ponder . . .

  • Do we really control our actions, attitude, and effort? At all times? What gets in the way?
  • What is the difference for a leader between control and influence? Which lasts longer?
  • What are a leader’s options for merging expectations with performance?

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.

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!

Leading with P-R-I-D-E

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“Leadership is influence; nothing more, nothing less.”  ~ John Maxwell

The most fundamental building block of policing is decision-making.

  • Make contact or leave the person alone?
  • Ask or command?
  • Search or don’t search?
  • Arrest or don’t arrest?
  • Shoot or don’t shoot?

These are just a few examples of major decisions made by officers every day regarding issues of communication, search/seizure, legal authority, and use of force. These decisions, along with a multitude of lesser ones, get them through each shift – most of the time good, sometimes not so good dependent upon their decision-making. Law enforcement leaders must understand how they influence officer decision-making because safety, public trust, and lives are on the line. To put it bluntly, law enforcement leaders must learn to lead with P-R-I-D-E.

Policing is a very complicated profession and inevitably mistakes are going to happen. Therefore, law enforcement leaders must proactively discuss decision-making with their officers in terms of the process, not just in terms of right or wrong after the fact. While officers makes their own individual decisions, it is the leader that creates the environment they work in. That environment can either nurture or devastate good decision-making.

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Part of the P-R-I-D-E Adaptive Decision-Making Model is a large blue circle with the following words written around it: Culture, Mission, Goals, and Why. This is the Leadership Circle. All decisions are influenced by this circle because culture, mission, goals, and why create the lens through which officers view their policing world. This is how law enforcement leaders influence and manage officer decision-making in advance of them having to make those critical decisions in the moment.

If there is a squad of lazy, negative officers that are constantly having issues, it is absolutely related to the environment allowed to exist by their “leader.” If there is a squad of hard working, positive officers that are constantly being recognized for their excellent work, it is related to the environment created by their leader.

CULTURE: Culture is simply defined as the prevailing actions and attitudes of a group over time. The leader of a group must play a significant role in setting the culture. The key to setting a culture is that the leader knows what they want their culture to be. Once the desired culture is defined, then the leader must identify ways to repeat, recognize, and then reinforce actions and attitudes that promote that culture. If a leader fails to define and implement their desired culture, then another one will form and the leader is no longer leading. For more on culture development, see our blog “Culture in Just 4 Words.”

MISSION: Mission starts with the department’s mission statement which is usually posted on a wall somewhere. Leaders must find ways to take the words off of the poster and make them part of the culture as defined above. On a smaller scale, each call for service officers respond to has its own more specific mission. Identifying the purpose of a mission is a must for operational success. Many times, the mission can be defined by the role(s) that must be played by the officer in order to achieve a successful outcome. Does this call need a guardian, a warrior, a caretaker, a social worker, or an enforcer? Understanding large scale and small scale missions is important to good decision-making because mission sets the vision. For more on mission, see our blog “Shifting Gears in Policing.”

GOALS: Goals can exist on multiple levels; for example, department goals and personal goals. Many departments set goals for their officers with the intention of creating a method for tracking their officers’ activity or productivity. Where many departments fail with goal setting is that they set arbitrary goals that are not tied to their mission. In other words, there is no understanding as to why the goals exist or the purpose they serve. Department goals must be tightly correlated to the department mission to give them meaning to the officers and to provide meaningful information to upper staff. Personal goals should be set by the officers and related to their desired career path. Their career path sets a long-term vision which enables the officer, hopefully with the assistance of their leader, to determine specific goals that can be worked on each shift. Meeting incremental personal goals are the building blocks to an officer getting where they eventually want to go within the department. Leaders should put this into perspective for their officers so they understand that each shift is essentially part of the interview for their job of the future.

WHY: No one goes into law enforcement because they are going to get rich or be famous. Deep down there is something special in each person that decides to pin on a badge that drives them to run towards conflict, put their lives on the line, and serve a community. Whatever the reason, that is their personal why. The why fuels the fire to continue working when times get hard and empowers officers to go above and beyond when those opportunities exist. Law enforcement leaders must help officers identify their why, be able to articulate it, and help them hold tight to it for the entirety of their career.  For more on why, see our blog “HELP WANTED: Police Officers.”

When a person chooses to promote within a law enforcement organization, they essentially have raised their hand and said, “I’m willing to lead.” It is not permission to do less, but a mandate to do more. Leading takes effort. Leading takes skill. Leading takes caring. Leading takes passion. To build influence in officer decision-making, those that promote must stand up and lead. They must create environments that focus on culture, mission, goals, and why. The leaders that take the time and make the effort to create these positive environments will be rewarded by the outcomes seen in their officers’ decision-making and they will spend less time running around putting out fires created by a bad environment.

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.

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!