“Gordon Graham here,” was the familiar greeting to a packed room of law enforcement leaders at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference from renowned risk management expert Gordon Graham.
Graham presented “Beyond Good Enough: Strategic Leadership for Tomorrow’s Public Safety” at a session introduced by Dale Stockton and sponsored by T-Mobile’s T-Priority. Graham examined critical leadership principles for leading change in law enforcement.
Overcoming resistance to change
All organizations are resistant to change, and Graham began his presentation with this advice for emerging leaders to implement change. His tips were:
- Don’t go in alone. Get a colleague to cosponsor change with you.
- Get someone higher in the organization to support your idea.
- Convince the boss your idea is actually their idea.
- Be persistent and don’t give up.
- If it’s an ethics issue, make the appropriate notifications inside and outside your agency.
7 principles for leading strategic change
Graham’s principles for leading strategic change are based on the work of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, father of the nuclear Navy. Graham illustrated each principle with colorful anecdotes and plain talk about the importance of law enforcement leaders stepping up to challenges facing the profession that will only be solved with strategic change.
1. Continuous improvement
Continuous improvement is a foreign concept in too many government organizations. Law enforcement agencies need to constantly get better and let go of the “we’ve always done it this way” mindset and drive improvement through measurable data.
Graham drove this point home by contrasting how private employers, like Southwest Airlines, rigorously measure and reduce lost-time injury rates in comparison to public sector employers that often fail to even have the most basic data on injury rates. Graham noted private employers reward managers with promotions and financial incentives for making data-driven improvements, something that rarely happens in the public sector.
2. Quality people
Top-notch people are critical to an organization’s success. Graham focused on three critical pieces of finding and keeping quality people in your department. First, look to every officer to recruit at least one person to the department.
Second, today’s law enforcement recruits are evaluating departments based on their tech. Graham believes departments are losing great applicants because they have outdated technology.
“Good technology will draw people to the organization,” Graham said.
The third critical piece of retaining great people is supervision that catches people doing something right. Recognize, reward and incentivize personnel to do the right thing.
3. Key role of supervisors
Graham stressed that supervisors who avoid their responsibilities pose a significant risk. Supervisors must address issues directly, assess employees honestly and support their development. Their role is crucial to driving necessary change.
4. Respect risk
Very few people understand risk and risk management because they’ve never learned risk management.
Graham reminded the audience about the Below 100 program, which aims to drive down preventable line-of-duty deaths and injuries. He noted traffic collisions are still a leading cause of death for police officers. Tragically, law enforcement leaders are still ignoring things that are predictable and preventable. For example, almost six in 10 officers who die in vehicle collisions are not wearing seat belts.
“None of these risks are sneaking up on us. Why don’t we get out of the way?” Graham said, imploring attendees to respect risk and confront the risks racing toward them.
5. Training must be constant and rigorous
Graham doesn’t believe most law enforcement training is serious or effective.
“The primary mission of the training officer is getting people signed in, not ensuring they are learning,” Graham said.
Every law enforcement job has core-critical tasks that are high-risk, done at low frequency, with no time to think, such as shoot-don’t shoot, and these don’t get enough training attention.
“Every day is a training day focusing on the core critical tasks for your job description,” Graham said. “Not random training, but (training for) the highest probability things that will cause us grief.”
6. Audit function
“You better have a robust audit function to make sure what you say you are doing is getting done,” Graham said.
Graham is critical of the quality of audits done by law enforcement agencies. Most audits are conducted by middle managers who are reluctant to shine light on any wrongdoing or leadership lapses because they fear they are jeopardizing their own career.
One component to improving behavior and performance is management by walking around.
“Catch your people doing something right,” Graham said. “Knowing you are making a difference every day encourages future good behavior, which leads to things getting done right.”
7. Continuous learning
“How many of you have read the Ferguson report?” is a question Graham has asked law enforcement leaders across the country. He is constantly disappointed by how few people have learned the important lessons from Ferguson, noting that the hands raised in this session were actually more than what he usually sees. Graham encouraged law enforcement professionals to always be learning. “It’s our profession,” Graham said. “We need to be constantly learning to protect our profession.”
Bonus advice
Graham concluded his presentation with this advice about new technology adoption:
- Think it through and take your time with any new technology purchase.
- Consult with other chiefs about what’s worked for them and what they wish they knew.
Ask questions of the technology vendor, especially to ensure interoperability and compatibility with your existing systems.
