Be the Lighthouse of character...guaranteed career success

Career Success…Guaranteed

In today’s law enforcement environment, there are multiple influences which create performance factors in the law enforcement officer. Those factors are derived from both internal and external influences. These influences can be broken down into a simple matrix to predict organizational behavior in both stressful and non-stressful conditions. The individual attitude plays an integral role in performance and career success.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES:

Media:

It is no secret the “news” media is a commercial market. In a commercial market, the supply and demand pressures drive the news market. In today’s news market, truthful and comprehensive reporting of objective facts is not only optional, but it is virtually extinct. From an advertising perspective, more viewers or readers equals more advertising revenue. Advertising is typically the primary funding source for contemporary news sources. Controversy and sensationalism sells copy in a far higher volume than non-sensational topics. Simply put, if a news vendor creates a controversy, viewership increases resulting in increasing revenue.

All “ethical” bandwagoning aside, this simple market pressure has created a news-er-tainment industry which creates controversy and sensationalism out of fact based framework. This newsertainment philosophy prevails throughout the industry regardless of the political position of the authors or corporations.

Some of the least defensible victims of the newsertainment industry are those men and women serving in the law enforcement field. The adversarial nature of law enforcement has built in controversy and sensationalism. In those rare cases where misconduct is involved amongst the ranks, the “I told you so” mentality stains the entire profession. Due to the blanket coverage of this suspicion, created by the newsertainment industry, law enforcement is presumed to be dishonest until proven otherwise.

As a class of people, this blanket discrimination against law enforcement is socially accepted. However, if this same mentality were applied to a specific race, religion, gender, or orientation group, it would be an outrage and a constitutional violation. There would be protesting in the streets.

Public Opinion:

In the United States, our average adult population spend about 34 hours each week watching television. Because of this significant amount of time spent in front of the television, those Americans spend less time reading and performing complex reasoning tasks. This has created a telezombie culture which waits for the television to tell them what and how to think.

Resultantly, as a nation our population is rapidly losing reasoning abilities and moral grounding. This produces a strong social undercurrent which believes all newsertainment facts are true and objective. The information fed to them through newsertainment creates a belief system in the viewers which views law enforcement as dishonest and conspiracy driven.

The pressures created by public opinion have a profound effect on the law enforcement community. These pressures drive elected officials, officials appointed by those elected officials, and internal administrative processes. The collective affect this has on the profession can be catastrophic to the criminal justice process.

Public Interest Groups:

This media created environment of suspicion has caused the formation of numerous public interest groups. Arguably the most visible is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Groups such as these scour our culture seeking out what they perceive as social injustice and pursue legal remedies against officers and organizations. These groups seek out case law which inhibits law enforcement from performing certain duties such as using force or conducting searches.

As these cases get newsertainment coverage, the controversy perception is elevated. The simple act of creating suspicion fuels financial input to these organizations, funds newsertainment, and discredits the law enforcement profession.

 INTERNAL INFLUENCES:

Management:

The culmination of these external forces often determines which people end up at decision making levels within law enforcement organizations. This style of appointment can be a mixed bag. In organizations which genuinely value public safety, this factor may not have much influence. In organizations which are highly politicized, this can have a long lasting generational decline of purpose and mission focus.

In the worst case scenario, an organization looses it’s focus on its mission: providing public safety protection. In these cases where leadership is politically driven, the decision making is made with political ambition as its primary drive. This causes appointments to be made based on politics and favoritism. The rapid decline of an organization follows causing morale to fall, productivity to plummet, and employee retention to fail.

In the best case scenario, those same pressures exist on leadership. However, appointments are made based on abilities, experience, and genuine qualifications. This protects the integrity of an organization and ensures reward for honest hard work. This environment encourages hard work, ethics, and building true character.

Unfortunately, not all organizations promote and appoint for all the right reasons. This unpredictability causes a loss of focus. For instance, if executive management promotes a specific leadership model based on integrity and servant leadership but rewards employees based on politics and nepotism, a mixed message is sent. The employees trust and belief in the organization fails and the organization eventually fails.

This mixed message culture can create an atmosphere of organizational mistrust and suspicion. In the event a truly committed employee is rewarded with promotion or other benefits, the true character of that employee can be in question because of the mistrust of leadership.

Administrative Influences:

In the instance where the culture of mistrust develops within an organization, administrative process comes into scrutiny. When internal administrative actions are perceived as agenda driven or unequally enforced, more mixed messages are delivered. Due to the confidential nature of personnel investigations, mitigative efforts cannot be made to repair the damage. The rumor mill and innuendo take the place of true leadership. Suspicion continues to build, further decaying the organization.

When an administration is viewed as truly objective, as rewarding hard work and experience, as mission driven, the organization operates at it’s optimum.   The suspicion around administrative processes is non-existent. Human nature is reward seeking behavior. When all the right activities are rewarded, others are encouraged to do the same. Administrative discipline is viewed more objectively. The mission of the organization remains intact.

PERSONAL INFLUENCES:

In the book of Philippians it is written, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure…” (NIV) How does this apply to law enforcement? We have an organization and an organizational mission. The word organization is based on the Greek word organonare which means instrument or implement. Another derivative word of organonare is organism. Each organism has differentiated components or organs. Some of those organs perform tasks which appear mundane, such as a toe nail. Other organs perform tasks which appear more important, such as the brain. However, without each of these organs, it would not be a complete organism. Regardless of tasking, an organization is completely interdependent on each organ (person). Often, individuals want the important tasks but grumble about the mundane tasks. Others do not want the important tasks because of the accountability which follows. In reality, each individual should view each individual task as important, because it is.

Picture the organizational mission as the overarching compass of an organization. On an individual level, that needs to steer the direction of the organization and it’s individuals. Even in the previously discussed worst case scenario, the individual has the responsibility to follow the compass, ignoring the distractions. Law enforcement officers are hired for many reasons, but their character should be a primary factor. That character has to carry over into day to day work.

 Morale:

Morale is like the ocean. The tide ebbs and flows. Storms arise, and calm is restored. The day to day waves are a natural part of an organization. An organization should be built to be resistant to the external factors, but many are not. An administration should be mission driven, but some are not. This sometimes leaves the responsibility on the individual employee to be mission driven.

There is no argument against the fact each individual is personally responsible for their actions in the performance of their duty. Each individual needs to take responsibility for their own morale. There is no excuse for an individual to allow organizational challenges to prevail internally and to spread negative morale.   This employee becomes a cancer to the organization and needs to be removed.

Every individual has absolute control over how he or she treats those around him or her. When individuals make a conscious decision to spread positive morale, good work ethic, and dedication to the organization mission the culture shift can be profound. Suddenly a broken and decaying organization can become revitalized from the bottom up. This is truly lasting change because the source is from the foundation of the organization. Conversely, that cancerous employee can bring a healthy organization to it’s knees.

Personal Experiences:

Most people have worked with, or been, someone who has been treated adversely by an organization. This experience changes their perception of “how things work.” The rose colored glasses become jaded. For each individual who has been wronged by an individual, that presents a fork in the road. One choice is to become a “victim” of the circumstance. This road leads to resentment, bitterness, failing work ethic, and cancerous behavior. It is unacceptable for an organization to treat an employee wrongly. However, it is equally unacceptable for that individual to retaliate against an organization through malicious undermining behavior. Here is the reality: bad things happen. When it happens, deal with it, emotionally digest it, and move on. Keep working for the organizational mission, forgiving the individuals’ wrongdoing.  The 'forgiver' always benefits far more than the 'forgiven.'

The other fork in the road is an opportunity. A true person of character can work through bad tides in their careers. When good character prevails, the individual wins. Believe it or not, others watch you when good and bad things happen. They watch to see how you react and carry on. When you are unwavering in character and humility, people take note. You serve as that positive role model. If you throw a tantrum, take your ball and go home, people watch that as well. Now your behavior can taint the whole bushel.

Individuals can uplift one another through hardship just through setting a positive example for others. Think back to a time when you were astonished by someone’s unstoppable character, leadership, compassion, or other positive trait. Remember the positive affect that had on your life. Now think back to a moment when you were astonished by a co-worker's negative behavior. How did that affect your professional life?

SECRET TO SUCCESS:

Regardless of your individual status or rank inside an organization, always remember an organization is made up of individual human beings. Each person represents an organ inside that organization. Those people deserve to be treated with importance and worth. There are thousands of individual influences which ultimately have an effect on the organization. Some of those influences are external, some are internal. All these influences become interrelated pressures on both the organization and the individual.

Here are five points which will guarantee the success of a law enforcement career and bring about a “Bullet proof” organization:

1. Character Matters: We hire individuals based on certain criteria such as training, education, job performance, credit rating, etc… The law enforcement community has to focus on hiring the individual person based on character and courage. At an individual level, always exhibit good character. Good character garners trust and culture.  Always do the right thing for the right reasons.
2. Know the rules: When an individual unquestionably knows the rules of engagement, there is no “gray area.” This mitigates stress hesitation, bad or uninformed decision-making, and the “I didn’t know” factor. This holds each individual accountable, but also protects the individual through having clear set boundaries. The umbrella of policy protection protects both individual and organization.
3. Serve the Mission: Regardless if you are at the top of the ladder or the bottom. Never lose sight of the mission, providing public safety protection to your citizens. If your actions hinder that effort, you are in the wrong. If your actions enhance that effort, continue forward. This career is a public service career; it should be seen as that. Never put personal ambition or negative attitudes in the way of public safety.
4. Stand up for what is right: The newsertainment industry will make every effort to discredit this profession. Yours is a noble calling. Honor that calling and your oath of office. The day we begin to settle for anything other than the right thing because of political pressure is the day we need to step away from this profession. If there is wrong doing in the ranks, at the top or bottom of the organization, it cannot be tolerated. As an executive level employee, if your organization or your individuals are wrongly accused, stand up for them. That is the right thing to do. There is no gray area in right and wrong. It is EITHER right or wrong…never in between.
5. Be the example: regardless of your status inside a law enforcement organization, you are seen as a representative of that organization and the profession. Your neighbors, co-workers, superiors, subordinates, and other members of the community watch what you do and how you do it. When individuals treat this profession as a privilege and not an entitlement, the attitude shifts. Always be the positive role model in terms of attitude, work ethic, ethical behavior, thirst for knowledge, creativity, etc… This is often the exception in all workplaces.   Think about how law enforcement could change the world if this were the norm everywhere.

Law enforcement is a noble calling. You eagerly put yourselves in harm’s way to serve others. You deal with the worst society has to offer on many levels. Why is it most of your stress comes from within the organization? This is because of these pressures corporately have taken us away from our mission and why we joined into this career. This has caused our career field and organizations to become politicized and nepotized. Stand up for right, don’t accept wrong.   Work hard, work honest, spread positive attitude, seek knowledge, seek experience, and remember your oath. If you follow these ideals, you are guaranteed a successful and rewarding career.