Most organizations don’t keep bad employees because nobody realizes there’s a problem. They keep them because everybody realizes there’s a problem and dealing with it is harder than working around it. The supervisor knows who isn’t carrying their weight. The coworkers definitely know. Sometimes customers know, and in government the public probably knows. Yet the…
Most scams don’t work because the person on the other end is especially convincing. They work because they convince you that you don’t have time to think. You get a phone call saying there’s a warrant for your arrest. A message says your bank account has been compromised. Someone claims a family member is in…
When somebody really needs the police, there’s a good chance they’re already having a bad day. They may be scared, angry, confused, or worried about somebody they care about. That’s a terrible time for me to discover that the first relationship we’re trying to build with them is happening in the middle of a crisis….
Most of what I call experience started out as questions. I ran into situations I hadn’t seen before, slowed down, listened, asked what happened, and tried to figure out what I was missing. After enough years, some of those questions turn into patterns. I recognize certain problems faster now than I did early on. That’s…
The stories and ideas I don’t want you to miss.
I like the idea behind Cal Newport’s Deep Work. There are certain things I do better when I can shut everything else out and concentrate on one problem long enough to actually think through it. Writing is one of them. So is working through policy, reviewing a complicated issue, or making plans that affect the…
When I’m trying to decide whether somebody is coachable, I don’t put much weight on whether they nod, agree with me, or thank me for the feedback. I’ve seen people handle a correction perfectly in the moment and then do the exact same wrong thing on the next call. Coachability shows up after the conversation….
I’ve heard employers complain about employees for most of my working life. They can’t find anybody dependable. Nobody wants to work. The new employee has a bad attitude, can’t handle the pressure, won’t take direction, or isn’t what the company thought they were getting. Sometimes they’re absolutely right. There are bad employees, and I’m not…
Holding somebody accountable for a standard I never made clear isn’t accountability. It’s me blaming them for something I assumed they knew. That’s an easy trap, because the longer you’ve been on the job, the more things start to feel obvious. I can look at a report and know what’s missing. I can hear about…
I’ve never had a problem with a sheriff wanting deputies he can trust. I’ve felt the same way throughout my career in both the public and private sectors. When you’re responsible for an organization, you need people who will carry out your decisions, follow your direction, and represent it professionally. That expectation doesn’t change with…
If you only see the blue lights, you’re only seeing a small part of the day in a small police department. From the outside, quiet can look like we’re sitting around waiting for something to happen. From my side of the desk, it usually means I finally have time to work on everything the last…