3P Leadership – It’s All About the People
It was sometime in 2011, and I was just assigned to Lieutenant over Special Services, which included the Office of Professional Standards (OPS). One of the important functions of OPS was to oversee the hiring of new officers. The process for hiring back then was similar to what most departments do today:
-Job announcement
-Physical Agility test
-Written test
-Panel interview
-Psychological evaluation
-Background investigation (including taking a polygraph)
-Interview with the Chief
-Hired
For the first process I supervised, we had four open positions we needed to fill. We announced the opening and set a date for the physical agility test on an upcoming Saturday morning. 160 people showed up to compete for four openings. 160! Of course, there were several that did not pass the physical agility test. For those that did pass, I then met with them and provided a list of dis-qualifiers that would immediately remove them from consideration. Examples of dis-qualifiers included a DUI in the last 7 years, any previous use of a felony level drug, or marijuana use in the last three years, just to name a few. Several people got up and left, including one guy that smoked dope that morning on the way to our testing!
Now we were down to approximately 100 applicants. Those applicants then took a written exam. About 20 failed, leaving 80 eligible applicants. Once the rest of the steps were completed, we ended up with approximately 50 applicants that were eligible for hire. Not only did we fill those four positions quickly, but we also had a list of applicants that we could choose from until we tested again the next year. This hiring stuff was pretty easy………
Those days are long gone.
Just this morning, we had our weekly testing. Three of the eight scheduled to test showed up. We are still hiring some great candidates, but it is harder than ever to hire and retain good public safety personnel. People are leaving the profession in droves for safer jobs, better hours, better pay and a more stable family life. Now more than ever, the first P in 3P, people, must be the primary focus of leadership.
Our best shot at finding and retaining good people is to create a culture where leadership adds value to those people. I firmly believe that more than ever, we need leaders that are engaged in a transformational leadership approach. Copious amounts of research have demonstrated this leadership style will most likely result in a higher level of employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. These leaders are perceived as more approachable and more responsive to employee needs which creates a higher level of job commitment. Transformational leadership is ultimately about creating a healthy culture and adding value to our personnel.
In 2019, I conducted a police leadership research project which involved surveying Metro-Atlanta area police chiefs and officers at several different police departments. This study reinforced the results of other studies done on employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The research clearly demonstrated the more Metro-Atlanta police chiefs engaged in a transformational approach to leadership, the higher level of job satisfaction and employee commitment was realized by officers. Those officers working for chiefs that led with alternate approaches were not nearly as satisfied or committed.
So, leadership absolutely must be about our people. This is certainly a 30,000 foot view of the first P of 3P leadership. In future blogs, we will discuss what people centered leadership looks like from a practical perspective. In the meantime, let me finish with a question we can all ask ourselves every day we come to work. If we allow this question to be at the core of everything we do in our roles, this will help us maintain a people centered leadership approach, no matter what our day may bring. Every day, ask yourself………….
How can I add value to my people?
If we fail to add value to our people, how can we expect them to add value to the community we serve? The below picture is of one of our hallways on the second floor of our headquarters, which is home to our command staff. It serves as a reminder for all of us of why we come to work every day.
