The Shield is Mightier Than the Sword

“With great power comes great responsibility.” – Ben Parker

?I know this saying wasn’t invented in the Marvel Universe, but it sure was popularized by it. Lots of people in the policing and security sectors want to climb the ladder and get promoted, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Once they are promoted however, I have found that too many people are easily fixated on their newly found “rights” and “powers”, while often forgetting the responsibilities that come with it. This is unfortunate. Instead of concentrating on the new sword attached to their belt, these supervisors should be concentrating on the shield they carry their back. My colleague, Jamie Day posted a great excerpt from Simon Sinek about always being critical (see link here https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/jamie-day-0b5122261_leadership-activity-7182391125591093248-gXdc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop). That’s the sword.

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Yes, it’s your job as a supervisor to make sure your people are doing their jobs properly, and holding them appropriately accountable, but consider how important it is that you now hold the shield that is supposed to protect them. Not just from people outside the organization, but from inside as well. Protecting them takes many forms, and it’s not just softening messages from up the chain. It’s having their backs when the boss is “kicking ass and taking names”. When there is a shortfall because of someone on your team, it’s telling your boss that it’s your responsibility as a supervisor, you’ll look into it, and then take care of it (and my advice – report back what you did). That doesn’t mean your team member won’t have consequences, but being the shield means taking responsibility for what you knew, or ought to have known, and not throwing your member under the bus.? I was the lead investigator on a file when we were conducting an undercover operation which involved giving money to a suspect. ?I was just a Corporal, and the Inspector (3 ranks above me) wanted us to stay on the bad guy long after the money exchange to see if we could find out what he might do with the cash. As the afternoon got late, a few members of the team wanted to be released due to previous family commitments. There were enough people left to cover it, so I let the other team members leave. When the Inspector called me later, he wanted to know how it was going and if everyone was still there. I told him a few people had some family commitments, but we had enough people still to cover it so I let them go. He asked me several times who left, and on round 3 I said, “It doesn’t matter. They didn’t leave me short, and we have enough people”. Thankfully he didn’t press the issue further and he refrained from ordering me to give up the names. (Side note - that Inspector was a good boss and I already had a decent working relationship with him. Over the years I later developed a friendship with him that remains to this day.)

Being the shield is just one element of being a supervisor and a leader, and it won’t fix all your team issues.? But your team will know you are doing your best to look out for them, and that helps to build trust.

If you want some good thoughts on leadership and/or supervision, consider following Hi Nguyen and Jamie Day who both put out really good content on an almost daily basis.

#supervision #security #policing