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…
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…
Most good employees don’t wake up one morning and decide they’re done trying. It usually happens a little at a time. They come to work wanting to do a good job, take responsibility for things that aren’t necessarily theirs, help coworkers who need it, and try to fix problems before those problems become somebody else’s…
The first time I went through the police academy was in 1998. On January 19, I’ll start all over again. Because I’ve been out of law enforcement for more than 15 years, my Alabama certification is no longer active, so I have to complete the whole academy. There isn’t a shortened version based on the…
Small-town accountability gets personal pretty fast. There’s a good chance I know the person I’m dealing with. I may know his parents, his kids, where he works, or what he ordered the last time I saw him at lunch. Sometimes I know everybody involved. That’s part of living and working in a small town, and…