A Dangerous Excuse

All too often, I hear the reasons and excuses of why people are unable to invest in themselves or others because they lack self-actualization, or in other words, they lack the ability to recognize their own or others’ potential. In the realm of law enforcement, lack of training for the fight is unacceptable, but why do so many agencies provide inadequate training? Agencies have adopted a culture of “hope” instead of investing in the potential of their employees and setting an actual operational plan. “I hope we don’t get sued. I hope no one gets hurt. I hope that doesn’t happen here.”

For Employers:

           Hope is not an operational plan! It does not cost much to invest in your employees. It does not cost much to set a standard and uphold it. In society today, we have tools and information at our fingertips; we can inexpensively access tons of information to improve ourselves and those around us. In a profession where people’s lives can be put in danger in an instant, there is never enough training that we can go through to grow mentally and physically tough to protect those that we serve and work alongside. We must continue to develop ourselves, and as leaders, develop others. If we stop trying to improve ourselves and others, we plateau, and this can lead to safety concerns and other liability issues. If you find yourself at the top of a mountain, do not put your stake in the ground and say,” I did it!”. There is always another mountain to climb, or another goal to set. The world constantly evolves, as should we. 

For Employees:

It is up to each of us to transition from a culture of doing the bare minimum and hoping that the consequences are not too dire, to a culture where we think ahead and continue to develop and recognize our potential. We cannot rely on others to determine our potential. To make a change, each of us must truthfully answer two questions: “How am I a liability?” & “What can I do to overcome being a liability?”

There is a simple guideline that you can use to analyze your contributions:

Recognize a pattern of errors that can connect back to a significant flaw.

For example, do you find yourself unable to keep up with a criminal in a foot chase,  has a partner gotten hurt on the job because you were not able to prevent their injury, or have you been hurt because you were not able to prevent someone from hurting you because your flaw is being dangerously out of shape, therefore, making yourself a liability and putting others’ lives at risk?

Identify the causes for your shortcoming.

Going with the previous example: If you are out of shape, are you physically, mentally, or both? Why are you out of shape? Do you have poor eating habits? Do you use being too busy or too tired as an excuse to not go to the gym? Do you not have a strong enough support system to talk to about the difficulties of putting your life on the line to protect others?

For each cause, you should also try to trace it as far back as possible. If you have poor eating habits, why? If it’s because you have shifts where you get off late, and the only accessible food is fast-food, convenience stores, etc., why do you not pack yourself a healthy alternative? IF you do not pack a healthy alternative because you do not go shopping frequently, why do you not invest the time to go? The list can continue on until you recognize that there is a need for change.

Divide and conquer.

If you find that there are many causes for your shortcoming, focus on one of them and determine how you can stop it from contributing. Do not try to tackle all the causes at one time. If you make small goals, you will receive gratification more frequently, therefore allowing you to recognize personal progress and motivating you to continue at improving until you have created a positive habit.

When you reach a dead end, reassess your information and go through the guidelines again.

*The example in the guideline is only a case of point. We can recognize and overcome flaws from any aspect of life, whether it be a short temper that causes conflict with others to a fear of not fitting in that prevents one from joining the Parent-Teacher Association.

Main Takeaways:

·      Do not hope for change, be the change.

·      Invest time and money into your employees so that they can recognize that they matter and fulfill their potential.

·      If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

           Thank you for taking your time to read my article. I am more comfortable with getting my ideas and points across verbally, but I was recently challenged to step out of my comfort zone. I enlisted the help of my daughter, who is much better at writing than I am, to be my overseer on this adventure. Please feel free to leave me comments, questions, and/or feedback.