Editor’s Note: In PoliceOne “First Person” essays, our Members and Columnists candidly share their own unique view of the world. This is a platform from which individual officers can share their own personal insights on issues confronting cops today, as well as opinions, observations, and advice on living life behind the thin blue line. This week’s essay comes from PoliceOne Member Casey Day, an officer with the Anderson (Calif.) Police Department, who writes about the differences between leadership and management. Do you want to share your own perspective with other P1 Members? Send us an e-mail with your story.
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By Casey Day
Anderson (Calif.) Police Department
Within the walls of American law enforcement organizations, the terms leadership, management and administration seem to be used synonymously to describe police managers or executive staff members. To the contrary, management is an appointed position of power, a paid position if you will. A leader is respected for his or her leadership abilities and obtains natural power among the members of an organization. The abilities to influence and not control another person or a group of people to achieve a common goal are what a leader does best. A leader is someone who has earned the trust and respect of their team.
Are managers necessarily leaders though? The answer is yes and no. Some managers were already respected as leaders within their organization before they promoted to a managerial position such as sergeant or lieutenant. Upon being promoted, they furthered their skills as leaders to be more effective managers. This kind of person is both a leader and a manager because they were probably the go-to-guy or girl prior to being promoted anyway.
Every now and then other members of organizations are also promoted for an onslaught of different reasons. Spoils, good-old-boy method, longevity, and just plainly slipping through the cracks are a few examples of how this might happen. In these situations, a newly appointed manager may fit the criteria of being more of a follower than a leader and it is important that department members realize this.
All police managers should strive to become strong and effective leaders. Remember, being promoted brings respect to your rank, not to your abilities as a leader. If you truly want the respect that goes along with being a leader, you will have to earn it, and in truth, it will probably be harder to obtain than the stripes or bars you have just attached to your uniform.
Leaders lead by example. This means showing your subordinates that you can get your hands dirty and that you are not above doing what you ask them to do. Leaders are looking for the good things people do — not just the negative things. If a leader is not looking for the good things his or her team is doing, it will pass them buy and it will never be seen. Finally, a great leader is a great communicator. Just because a manager is good about passing on the commands wishes down the chain of command, does not mean he or she can get away with not communicating requests and needs of the line staff up the chain of command. This is usually where there is a notable difference between leaders and managers.
In closing, it is important that we stop identifying all police managers as leaders. Let’s save the title “leader” for those officers who really deserve it. These men and women earn the respect of their team everyday. Leaders within our police departments can hold any rank but may not necessarily be police managers or executive staff.
Casey Day is an active 10-year municipal police officer. Day was also a U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant prior to his career in law enforcement. Casey Day is a Masters of Public Administration student and holds a B.A. in Organizational Leadership.
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