Tag Archives: police

Defining the TBL Leader

November 18, 2019Leadership, Squad CultureCulture, influence, law enforcement, leader, leadership, Performance, police, positive, relationships, TrainingThin Blue Line of Leadership

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!

Leadership Accountability Starts with Me

October 21, 2019Leadershipaccountability, Culture, expectations, law enforcement, leadership, Performance, police, relationshipsThin Blue Line of 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.

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.

The 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.

The 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

October 6, 2019Leadershipaccountability, Culture, expectations, law enforcement, leadership, Performance, policeThin Blue Line of Leadership

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.

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.

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?

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

Leading with P-R-I-D-E

September 30, 2019Decision-Making, LeadershipCulture, expectations, influence, law enforcement, leader, Performance, police, positiveThin Blue Line of Leadership

“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.

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.

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

10 Tips for New Sergeants

September 16, 2019Leadership, Squad Culture, Trainingbriefing, Culture, law enforcement, leader, leadership, Performance, police, positive, relationships, sergeant, TrainingThin Blue Line of Leadership

For the last 8 years, I have been a Field Training Sergeant. It is truly a pleasure knowing that I am having an impact on the future of my police department by training these new leaders. I see this responsibility as a vital one. If I do not do a good job, I am not just affecting that new sergeant, but every officer that serves on his or her squad.

Just so we are on the same page, here is how my department handles sergeant training. Sergeant field training is a 5 week process – 2 weeks with one training sergeant, 2 weeks with a different training sergeant, and then one final week back with the first training sergeant. At the end of each shift, the Field Training Sergeant completes a daily observation report (similar to FTO) that summarizes and scores everything the prospective new sergeant did throughout that shift. While writing these daily observation reports, I have noticed that there are certain bits of advice that I seem to be repeatedly writing for every sergeant I help train.

So, here are my 10 tips for new sergeants . . .

Successful sergeants spend 80% of their time working with people and 20% doing everything else. Sergeants that fail to inspire, have a poor squad culture, and breed negative officers focus more on everything else rather than people and building relationships.
Successful sergeants find ways to teach their officers to be adaptive decision-makers; not robots that only understand how to solve problems with checklists. When opportunities present themselves, sergeants explain their process for making difficult decisions and everything they took into account. Then, when their officers face similar situations they have been taught to apply their own similar process.
Successful sergeants never waste briefing time. There is always something that could be discussed, debated, trained, or learned in briefing. This is one of the few opportunities when sergeants have their entire squad’s attention at the same time; make the most of it.
Successful sergeants understand that policing is a complicated profession. Both sergeants and their officers are going to make mistakes at some point. Do not hide mistakes, share them openly and turn them into learning opportunities focused on improvement. Mistakes are fine, just don’t make the same one twice.
Successful sergeants recognize, reward, and promote good police work by their officers. They use whatever methods are available at their department to make this happen anytime an officer goes above and beyond. Not only does this create a more positive culture, but it also spurs on more officers to look for opportunities to go above and beyond. What a sergeant rewards will be repeated.
Successful sergeants have a vision of the culture they want to have on their squad. Squad culture is defined as the conglomeration of your officers’ actions, attitude, and effort. If you asked another sergeant to describe your squad in 4 words, what words would they use? That is your culture. If you don’t like those words, do something about it.
Successful sergeants do not lead from their desks. They get out on the road with their officers and find ways to serve them throughout each shift. They never believe themselves to be too good for the “grunt” work of being a patrol officer; they get in there and get their hands dirty occasionally.
Successful sergeants recognize that their actions, attitude, and effort tell their officers what is important to them. If a sergeant speaks negatively about their schedule, some situation at the department, or some aspect of the job, then don’t be surprised when the officers have that same opinion or are representing that opinion openly. Negativity breeds negativity.
Successful sergeants know what they do not know, then they find ways to compensate for those areas. If they are not good at tactical situations, they talk to the department’s SWAT officers about various scenarios and how they would handle them. If they are not good at traffic or investigations, they build relationships with motors or detectives that are respected. The most important aspect of this tip is that a sergeant never fakes knowledge and gives bad advice to an officer. This will kill their credibility. If an officer has a question that the sergeant does not know the answer to, the best thing they can do is say, “That is a great question, I don’t know, but I know someone who will. Standby and I’ll call you right back.”
Successful sergeants never allow themselves or their officers to stop learning. The minute a sergeant thinks they know it all is the moment they begin sliding towards mediocrity. A sergeant values training and realizes that the more training they can get for their officers, the better their officers will be on the road.

Got a tip you would give to a new sergeant?

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

3 Signs of a Miserable Law Enforcement Job

September 8, 2019Leadership, Squad CultureCulture, law enforcement, leader, leadership, Performance, police, positive, relationshipsThin Blue Line of Leadership

“High school kids at In-N-Out Burger and Chick-fil-A are doing largely the same job that kids at any other fast-food restaurant are doing, and yet there are a lot fewer miserable jobs at In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A. The difference is not the job itself. It is the management. And one of the most important things that managers must do is help employees see why their work matters to someone. Even if this sounds touchy-feely to some, it is a fundamental part of human nature.” – Patrick Lencioni

The premise of the book “Three Signs of a Miserable Job” by Patrick Lencioni is simply this – staying in a miserable job can have severely negative consequences on a person mentally, physically, and emotionally. These consequences can affect a person’s life both personally and professionally and it does not have to be that way. The good news is that, as supervisors, we have the ability to combat the 3 signs of a miserable job and it really is not that complicated.

Here are the 3 signs of a miserable job . . .

ANONYMITY

“People cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known. All human beings need to be understood and appreciated for their unique qualities by someone in a position of authority. . . . People who see themselves as invisible, generic, or anonymous cannot love their jobs, no matter what they are doing.”

IRRELEVANCE

“Everyone needs to know that their job matters, to someone. Anyone. Without seeing a connection between the work and the satisfaction of another person or group of people, an employee simply will not find lasting fulfillment. Even the most cynical employees need to know that their work matters to someone, even if it’s just the boss.”

IMMEASUREABILITY

“Employees need to be able to gauge their progress and level of contribution for themselves. They cannot be fulfilled in their work if their success depends on the opinions or whims of another person, no matter how benevolent that person may be. Without a tangible means for assessing success or failure, motivation eventually deteriorates as people see themselves as unable to control their own fate.”

In relation to law enforcement, if an officer is miserable in their job due to the factors of anonymity, irrelevance, and immeasurability, then what is the cost to them personally, their squad, their department, and the community they are supposed to be serving? Personally, they carry their misery home which adversely affects their family life. They become the salty grump in the back of the briefing room that complains about everything and sucks the energy out of all around them. To the department they are a liability because of the negative impact on the culture and the unpredictability of their actions on the road. The community suffers because the miserable officer represents the worst of the police department which erodes public trust and makes the job that much more difficult for the officers that are not miserable. How many officers are you picturing in your head right now that match this description of a miserable officer?

Here are 25 ways law enforcement supervisors can combat anonymity, irrelevance, and immeasurability . . .

ANONYMITY

Create a team atmosphere within the squad where it is believed that we is greater than I.
When you get a new officer, meet with them individually and get them on board with the squad culture from day one.
Recognize good police work in briefing. What you reward will be repeated.
Have officers debrief good calls for service and share their expertise and successes with others.
Get out of the office and on the road with your officers. Try to get on a call for service or backup each of your officers during each shift, if time allows.
Rotating having officers conduct briefing training based upon their policing strengths and interests.
Meet with officers regularly to discuss their career goals and seek out opportunities to help them fulfill those goals.
Get to know your officers’ families. Create opportunities for them to all get together with the other families of the squad.
Send handwritten thank you notes to your officers’ spouses or significant others to let them know that you appreciate the commitment that the families make to law enforcement, too.

IRRELEVANCE

Making policing relevant is about getting back to the “why.” Know why you chose to become a police officer. Know why you chose to be a supervisor. Share your why with your officers. Get to know their why, find opportunities to relate their why to calls for service, and discuss the relationship in briefing.
As a supervisor, you set the tone and create value in community service. If it is important to you, it will be important to them.
Promote public commendations in briefing by reading them aloud for all your officers to hear.
Teach your officers to be good beat cops and take pride in their assigned part of the city.
Get away from the term customer service and focus on community service. The term customer service cheapen what we do as police officers and builds irrelevance.
Have discussions in briefing regarding who your officers serve. Point out that they serve not only the community, but they also serve each other. Discuss that you, the supervisor, are there to serve them.
Teach your squad to have a focus on finding solutions while on calls for serve; not on producing statistics, being a band aid, or handling them as quickly as possible.
Exemplify and promote a culture of positivity on your squad through your actions, attitude, and effort.
Provide good feedback and evaluations to your officers. In return, ask for them to do the same for you.

IMMEASUREABILITY

Of the 3 signs of a miserable job, immeasureability is the most difficult for law enforcement supervisors to deal with directly. There is no limit to the number of statistics that can be measured for each officer: calls for service responded to, self-initiated activities, arrests made, tickets written, response times, amount of time spent on each call, number of community policing activities, etc. The question becomes, are we measuring the right things?

Clearly define what the “rock star” police officer would do on a “perfect” shift based upon the mission, vision, and operational goals of the department.
Determine what statistics officers and/or the department have the ability to capture that correspond to the “perfect” shift. If part of the “perfect” shift includes community policing and/or positive interactions with the community, then a way to count those interactions must be determined, as well.
Set specific goals based upon what the “perfect” shift would look like that clearly define what success looks like for officers and provide them with a way to track those numbers.
Ultimately, whatever is chosen to be measured must be supported by the officers’ direct supervisors because the direct supervisors will give the statistics being measure their value.
Supervisors must assist officers in seeing the positive perspective to their seemingly negative activities like making arrests or writing tickets.
The question to be answered is how do you measure community policing activity effectiveness? Do you count the number of positive citizen commendations, the number of people that say “thank you” after being arrested/written a ticket, or the amount of time dedicated to solving beat problems? This is where the difficulty in the measurability of policing comes into play and must be answered by departments everywhere.

There are many more ways to combat anonymity, irrelevance, and immeasurability in policing. If these 3 signs of a miserable job are not addressed by law enforcement supervisors, then they will have to deal with the miserable officers they are allowing to be created.

“If you’re still not convinced that this makes sense or that it applied to you, this would be a good time to consider resigning your position as a manager and finding a role as an individual contributor.” – Patrick Lencioni

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

10 Steps for Teaching Leadership in Law Enforcement – Part 2

September 3, 2019Leadershiplaw enforcement, leader, police, promotion, TrainingThin Blue Line of Leadership

This is Part 2 of 10 Steps for Teaching Leadership in Law Enforcement. To read Part 1, click here.

Leadership-Based Promotional Processes

When it comes to promoting higher in rank, every department seems to have their own unique process; usually some combination of written tests, assessment centers, oral boards, etc. Most of these evaluation tools focus more on the managerial qualities of rank rather than leadership qualities. In order to promote the continual learning of leadership, promotional processes must be based upon leadership demonstrated in the past, present, and most likely into the future. That is what a leadership-based promotional process must be based upon; the prediction of continued leadership into the future. I will not attempt to give a generic process that a law enforcement agency should duplicate, but I will try to make a few points that any agency could focus their process upon in their own way.

(1) How has the promotional candidate represented the definition of leadership as described in Step #2 in their current and past assignments?

(2) Has the promotional candidate contributed to the future of the agency as a Field Training Officer and how have their Officers-In-Training turned out?

(3) Is the promotional candidate an instructor of anything; do they share their knowledge and expertise with others to make those around them stronger?

(4) How has the promotional candidate responded to failure and/or correction in the past?

(5) How does the promotional candidate make others feel around them?

(6) Does the promotional candidate lean more towards being an optimist or a pessimist?

(7) Has the promotional candidate shown an ability to bring a team or squad together?

If an agency creates a process that focuses on these 7 questions, they will identify the future leaders that should be promoting and those who should not.

Leadership-Based Sergeant Training Program

First-line supervisors have the most direct influence on their officers and sworn officers make up the largest percentage of any law enforcement agency. Even though sergeant is typically the lowest rank of official promotion, this influence gives them a great deal of power within the organization and in the development of the department’s culture. Therefore, it is imperative that law enforcement agencies have a well thought out leadership-based sergeant training program. The word sergeant comes from the Latin term “serviens” which means “one who serves” and it is important that a sergeant training program emphasizes this belief for the good of the department and the continuous teaching of leadership. Creating a Sergeant-In-Training (SIT) Program for officers that are seeking promotion which occurs prior to promotion and mimics a Field Training Officer Program, provides the agency with consistency in training among their leadership ranks. A good Sergeant-In-Training Program should be built upon the department’s definition of leadership. As the sergeant-in-training progresses through the phases of the SIT Program, the experienced training sergeant must ensure that the SIT adheres to the department’s definition of leadership in their decision-making, interactions with officers, running of critical incidents, and in all other duties of a sergeant. In these actions they will be evaluated and only upon successful completion of the Sergeant-In-Training Program will they officially promote.

Experience on Rookie Schedules

The most easily influenced officers within an agency are the rookies. They come out of the academy full of piss and vinegar ready to save the world only to realize once they step foot on the streets that they really do not know nearly as much as they thought they did. Upon making this humbling realization, they become the most malleable officers with the entire department. Therefore, if there are schedules (ie. nights and weekends) within the agency where rookie officers conglomerate due to their lack of seniority, then there must be a mechanism in place to exemplify the application of the department’s definition of leadership as they learn to work within their new world as police officers. It is vital to have sergeants and hopefully a couple of experienced officers, possibly FTOs, they can work alongside that represent the highest standards of leadership within the agency. Having these models for rookies to watch and emulate at the early stages of their careers perpetuates both the desired culture and leadership style of the department. If change is sought within an agency, start by influencing the rookies. Over the long run, the rookies will work their way through the years of their careers and possible promotion to eventually complete the cycle of teaching leadership throughout the various schedules and ranks of the department.

Mentorship at All Levels of Command

In order to support the department’s definition of leadership at all levels, there must be a trickle-down effect of mentorship. With a single, consistent message being passed through the ranks, the cycle of leadership will be further disseminated. Experienced officers should mentor newer officers. Sergeants should mentor their experienced officers. Lieutenants should mentor their sergeants and so on throughout the agency’s ranks. The key is that the agency’s definition of leadership must be the one consistent message throughout. (Example “Trickle-Down Leadership”)

360 Evaluations & Feedback

The final step for teaching leadership in law enforcement creates the guidelines for making sure all involved in the teaching of leadership remain true to the message. Having an evaluation system established that takes into account the perspectives of those above, at, and below each rank in the chain of command will provide the feedback necessary to motivate leaders to stay true to the department’s definition of leadership. True leaders should not fear what they may hear from those they work with and around in their evaluations, if they have been true leaders directed by the definition of leadership put forward by the department. They welcome the feedback and opportunity to learn and improve as leaders. If evaluations of a leader are negative, then that should serve as an arrow pointing out the direction in which additional leadership training and mentorship should take place. If negative feedback continues after additional training and mentorship have been given, then consideration should be made into whether or not the department wants that leader to remain in a leadership position because it will be at the expense of those they are supposed to be leading. These evaluations need to be active and on-going. Receiving feedback once a year is not nearly enough to provide an accurate guide for leadership. Once a quarter would provide a more regular supply of information, but the key is that the evaluation process must be quick and simple. A time consuming evaluation process done 4 times a year would do nothing but add more paperwork to an already administratively burdened profession. The key to having success with this type of process is that the definition of leadership is clear, trust in the process is developed, and an environment of education and learning is supported.

By implementing these 10 steps to teach leadership in law enforcement, the department gains a clear and concise message of leadership throughout the organization. Once all ranks within the department share the same message, the effort needed to sustain this culture of leadership will lessen. Inspired leaders will inspire officers which will improve policing and thus improve the community they serve.

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

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.

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.

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!