Chapter 2.txt

“It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.” — Batman There I was, so proud to be in my new, windowless office, the brand-new supervisor of our Sixth District Special Assignment Team (6DSAT). I had formerly been the corporal of 6DSAT under Sergeant Dom Fazio. After years of working...

“It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.” — Batman There I was, so proud to be in my new, windowless office, the brand-new supervisor of our Sixth District Special Assignment Team (6DSAT). I had formerly been the corporal of 6DSAT under Sergeant Dom Fazio. After years of working together, my promotion came through. Like all newly promoted sergeants in our department, I was sent back to patrol. Shortly after my promotion, Dom was promoted to lieutenant, and he was sent back to patrol as a deputy commander of a district station. As a result, there was an opening for the sergeant of 6DSAT. I competed for the job and was selected. So, after a short time in patrol I came back and became sergeant of 6DSAT. Now, as a rookie sergeant, I was supervising my former teammates. I was also fresh out of my International Chief of Police Leadership in Police Organizations (LPO) school and riding high as a kite. Our SAT teams did some wild stuff. Each SAT team consisted of six detectives, a corporal, and a sergeant. Everyone wore plain clothes and drove undercover cars. We worked every type of special assignment from narcotics Leader Armor for Law Enforcement 36 and theft rings to burglary and robbery crews to homicide cases, and everything in between. These teams were comprised of the best of the best officers in the department. The competition to be a member of our teams was fierce and, at the time, 6DSAT was at the top of the heap, thanks to my predecessor Dom. Shortly after I became the new sergeant, the team experienced a dry spell with self-initiated cases. The number of our arrests fell. My boss didn’t notice but I did, and I knew the rest of the team did as well. I had given the team a couple of motivational speeches to address the issue and knew we would be back on track in no time. We had just finished roll call. I was back in my office when there was a knock on my doorframe (since my door was always open). Mark Gooding, one of my detectives who I considered a good friend, was standing there. We had worked together on the Fourth District Special Assignment Team (4DSAT) as peers. After I was selected as the 6DSAT corporal, I was on the panel that selected Mark to be one of the founding members of the team. While many claimed to be team players, Mark truly was one. He was, and still is, one of the best cops I know. If something ever happened to one of my family members and I had to put together a team of detectives to solve the case, Mark would be on that list. He was widely respected for his investigative skills and his work ethic. “Hey, Eddie, you have a minute?” Mark asked, when I looked up. “Sure. Come in and have a seat.” I assumed he was coming in to tell me something about how well the team was doing under my leadership. I had a smile on my face and couldn’t wait to hear his praise about how well I motivated the team. I was waiting for his compliments about my smooth transition from buddy to boss. I remember thinking, this leadership thing was easy and so much fun. Mark came in and shut the door behind him. He sat down across from my desk and said, “We need to talk.” As it turns out, I was half right. Mark was there to talk to me about my leadership and motivational skills, or lack thereof. Oh shit. This was going to hurt. Buddy to Boss; Going from Superhero to Supervisor 37 Confessions of an F.N.G. It’s okay to be the F.N.G. (That’s Friendly New Guy or Friendly New Gal for all you gutter minds.) I am giving you permission: permission to fail. It is going to happen so embrace that fact. Go ahead and say it out loud, “As a new leader, I’m going to screw up.” Some of you, my dear readers, are not comfortable with saying that phrase. Some of you are not even comfortable with reading that phrase. Get over yourself. No one tries something new and is great at it from the start. Everyone is the F.N.G., in this case, the Failing New Gal (or Guy). Still don’t believe me? Let me ask you this, don’t you think those you lead are going to figure it out? They’re going to know that you don’t know everything. They’re going to know that you are new. They’re going to know when you make mistakes. The idea is to accept that you’re going to make mistakes, but that you’ll learn from those mistakes, try not to repeat them, and grow in your role as a leader. Knowing and accepting this is how you start to build trust and respect with those you lead. So you might or might not be friendly. You might be a guy or a gal. You might be a seasoned supervisor, an aspiring leader, or a new promotee. There will always be some form of leadership, some skill you’re working on, that’s new to you. Humans go through stages of development, from infancy to toddlerhood to pre-teen to teenager to adult to middle-aged adult to old and forgetful. Wait, where was I again? You get the idea. Just as you grow as a person, you grow in your stages as a new learner. You develop the competence of any new skill in a certain order. This competence develops in stages. “As a new leader, I’m going to screw up.” Leader Armor for Law Enforcement 38 Stages of Competence You will progress through various stages of competence14 whenever you learn something new. No matter if it’s learning how to be a supervisor, learning how to swing a golf club, or learning how to drive, you will start with the first stage and progress from there. We’re going to touch on these stages as they apply to your leadership journey. Stage 1: Unconscious Incompetence: At this stage, leaders are incompetent, but they don’t know it. This is when you don’t know what you don’t know. You’ve heard the aphorism, “ignorance is bliss.” That might be true for you, but not for those you lead. During this stage, you lack the knowledge, skills, and abilities (K.S.A.s) to lead. To add insult to injury, you are not even aware those K.S.A.s exist. At some point in your life, you were at this stage when it comes to leadership. You didn’t think about it; you didn’t consider leadership as a “thing.” To move beyond this stage, you have to understand that leadership is a skill (or set of skills) that can be learned and developed. Stage 2: Conscious Incompetence: Leaders at this stage are incompetent, but they know it. This is where awareness begins. You realize leadership is a thing and you start to accept that there are leadership K.S.A.s. You don’t have them, and you need to learn about them. Congratulations. Since you’re reading this book, you’re at least at Stage 2. As one of my childhood heroes, G.I. Joe, used to say, “Knowing is half the battle.” Once you recognize you need to learn and decide that you want to learn, you take steps towards building your competence. You seek out knowledge through books (like this one) and courses. You learn by observing others and asking them about their methods for leading. At stage 2, you become a student of leadership. Stage 3: Conscious Competence: Leaders at this stage have developed a certain level of competency and they know it. You’ve made a conscious choice to grow in your leadership role. You’ve figured out what works and what doesn’t. Through study, trial, and error, you know where your strengths lie and where you need work. While you have become good at leadership, it still requires thought and effort. You also realize Buddy to Boss; Going from Superhero to Supervisor 39 you must keep growing and developing your set of skills. One way to maintain your growth is to consider teaching others. Stage 4: Unconscious Competence: Two types of leaders make it to this level. First are those rare few who are considered to be “naturalborn leaders.” They are good at leadership but have no idea why they’re good. They do the right thing, get great results, but don’t know why they’re successful. If asked to teach leadership, they would be unable to, because they just do it. The second type of leader is one who has progressed through the first three stages. They’ve studied and practiced leadership so much that it’s become second nature to them. These are the rare Yodas of the leadership world, the Jedi Masters. They’re able to teach because they’ve spent years on the road to learning leadership through conscious development as students of leadership themselves. Part of developing your competence as a leader is understanding your new role. Most new supervisors have trouble transitioning from me to we. As a supervisor, it’s no longer about you; it is about those you lead. Sometimes those you lead are old friends and former coworkers. Sometimes they do not understand you are the same person you have always been, but now you have a new role. I Deserved That Promotion! By their nature, promotions are designed to be a competitive process. In most agencies, anyone with a certain time in grade may compete for promotion to first-line supervisor. Sometimes there will also be an education requirement, but either way, the pool of promotion candidates will be the largest at this level. The promotion process is designed to select those candidates who possess the highest potential to be successful leaders. Notice I used the word potential. The process does not guarantee those selected for promotion will be the best leaders. If you have been promoted, it means your agency believes in you and your potential as a leader. You have proven you have the basic knowledge, skills, and ability to lead. Be confident, but don’t get cocky. I want you to have a little humility. You now need to Leader Armor for Law Enforcement 40 fulfill your potential as a leader. That means sewing the stripes on your uniform is just the first step. You now have to prove you are worthy of them. Beware, there will be others who disagree, and that is okay. Be confident, but humble. Prepare yourself for jealousy. There will be someone in your agency, maybe someone on your squad, who was trying to get promoted but didn’t. You will know because you saw them at the promotion process, or you end up hearing the grumblings through the grapevine. How do you handle someone who tried to get promoted, but did not? My suggestion is to address the issue before it becomes a problem. Don’t stick your head in the sand. As a leader, you will need to be proactive. Meet with him/ her in private and in a neutral space, not your new office. Not sure how to start the conversation? Say something such as, “I was hoping we could talk openly with each other about what it’s like to work together in these new roles.” They probably feel they deserved the promotion instead of you. They might need to vent. Guess what, as a leader you will often be the recipient of venting sessions, so get used to it. Here’s the hard part. Don’t get defensive or sucked into an argument about why they should have gotten the job. In Chapter 8, we will discuss a SIMPLE model for listening. Use the techniques from this model during this meeting. After they have had their say it is important that you display empathy and clarity. They need to see you’re rising up and acting like a leader. Empathize by saying something such as, “I would probably feel the same way if I were you. The decision was made and now here we are. It is really important to me that we have a good working relationship. I Guess what, as a leader you will often be the recipient of venting sessions, so get used to it. Buddy to Boss; Going from Superhero to Supervisor 41 have a new job, a new role now. That means I need to help our agency accomplish the mission through leading our team. We went through the same promotion process, so I think you understand what it will be like to be on this side of the equation. I need to know that you are supporting me in my new role. As the boss, I also need you to understand that I will support you and help you in your own goals.” The best way to help them get over their jealousy is to show them you are a good leader. See what you can do in your new role to help them. Maybe you can work with them to study for the next promotion exam. You can help them get into a training classes to up-level their skills. Take a genuine interest in them and how to get them to where they want to be. Helping them rise in their own career is the path to get them past seeing you as an adversary and instead view you as an ally. Can You Still Be Buddies While Being the Boss? If you become a supervisor, there’s a good chance you’ll end up leading some people who know you and maybe are your friends. Going from buddy to boss is a difficult transition. You’re learning your new role and your friends and former co-workers are learning to work with and for you in that role. Embrace that being a new supervisor, like being new at anything, means you’re bound to make some mistakes. If you admit this, right up front, to the people you lead, you’ll start to create an environment of honesty and trust. Yes, you’re taking a risk and showing them, by example, that you don’t know everything. By doing this, you’re creating an environment where your squad members feel safe to admit when they don’t know something and will not be humiliated for speaking up about mistakes, ideas, questions, or concerns. You’re creating psychological safety.15 Understanding and applying psychological safety is a crucial piece of your leader armor. Wait. Stop! How can admitting you will make mistakes and being vulnerable be part of your leader armor? This sounds backward. You have the stripes. You’re the leader. You’re supposed to know everything Leader Armor for Law Enforcement 42 and be in charge, right? How can you do that if you admit you’re gonna screw up? You might be shaking your head, saying, “There’s no way I’m going to admit that I’m the F.N.G., especially if nobody knows me.” You might be thinking, “I’ll just fake it until I make it.” Many law enforcement leaders pretend they have all the answers; they try to fake it. The problem with that is your people know better. Think about the leaders you’ve had throughout your career. Didn’t you know when they screwed up? Yup, every time. Cops are smart; they observe everything; they know about people. They’re going to know when you make mistakes and when you don’t know something. So why pretend? Admitting that you’re new to your role, admitting that you’ll make mistakes doesn’t make you weak; it shows your strength. You might have been a great street cop, but your role has changed. Your duties have changed. Your responsibilities have changed. It’s vitally important to understand that your new role is different from your old role. If you used to be a road officer or detective, your primary duties no longer include running calls or taking on cases. You might be asked, “How come you spend so much time in the office?” or “Why don’t you hang out with us like you used to?” Give them an honest answer. Explain how you now need to spend time scheduling training, writing ratings, preparing the weekly report, and so on. Be clear and honest about what your new responsibilities are. I’m not saying that you never run calls or help with investigations, but you now have a different set of duties and responsibilities, and the people you now lead need to know this. Allocating your time between your supervisory duties and spending time with those you lead requires balance. If you never leave the office, you won’t see how your people are performing. You’ll lose touch and lose their trust and respect. If you spend all your time running calls and making traffic stops, your supervisory duties will be neglected. Training won’t get scheduled. Ratings won’t write themselves. Timesheets will go unapproved. You’ll still lose trust and respect, but not only from your people but from your boss. Buddy to Boss; Going from Superhero to Supervisor 43 You can still be friends with those you lead. The key is to set clear boundaries. You now see things differently than you did as a first-line worker. Your friends and former coworkers do not have the advantage of your point of view. Be open to ongoing conversations and input from them. Let them know that you will sometimes be put in a situation where you have to balance their needs with the needs of the organization. These situations can cause friction in the friendship. Agree, ahead of time, to work things out like adults and as professionals. Called into the Principal’s Office Were you ever called into the principal’s office when you were in school? No matter if it was for doing something good or something bad, I felt anxious and nervous. When Mark closed the door and sat down in front of my desk, I got this feeling in the pit of my stomach, a bad trip to the principal’s office feeling. “Eddie, you remember when you said you have an open-door policy?” Mark continued as he closed my office door behind him. Of course, I remembered. It was just a few days ago. I had probably said it a few days before that too. I prided myself on being an open communicator. At this point, I had been a hostage negotiator for a few years and knew I had good listening skills. The problem with being a good listener is sometimes you can be hard of hearing. While I was listening for compliments about my great leadership, what I heard was something different. “We all know the team has been in a big slump lately,” Mark continued. “Even Tommy can’t seem to make a spot.” What he said was true. I had certainly noticed our case numbers had been down lately because I had constantly been comparing our stats to the other five teams. He was also The problem with being a good listener is sometimes you can be hard of hearing. Leader Armor for Law Enforcement 44 correct about Tommy. Tom Tippett was the best SAT officer I’d ever seen. He was normally the first one out of the office and the first one to get a spot. A typical day began in our office, where we held roll call. Everyone finished their paperwork from the night before, and then, if we didn’t have a current case, they trickled out of the office to “freelance” in a particular area. Within minutes of leaving, Tommy usually observed someone using drugs, engaged in a drug deal, or was in the right place at the right time to witness an assault or armed robbery. The saying among the team was that he had a lucky horseshoe up his…well, he had a lucky horseshoe. But lately, even Tommy’s horseshoe had run out of luck. “Look, everyone’s trying. Everyone is reaching out to their informants, everyone is leaving roll call and looking, but we’re just not finding anything,” Mark said. “I know that, Mark,” I replied. “I know, we’re falling down to the middle of the pack. That’s why I’m trying to motivate the team. I want you all to get out there and find something.” Mark nodded and was silent for a few moments. I could tell he was struggling to say what was coming next. “That’s part of the problem.” “What’s part of the problem?” I asked. Mark hesitated again and finally blurted out, “You, Eddie, you’re the problem.” I was surprised to hear that. “What do you mean?” “Well, you see, what started out as a little slump…you made it worse. You’re constantly reminding us about the numbers, about the statistics, about where we stand compared to the other teams. It’s not just about the numbers, Eddie. Yeah, we could go find someone smoking a joint in a car, but we’re not about blunt mobile cases. You’ve told us the same thing every day at every roll call and it’s become so annoying it’s become counterproductive. We know you’re trying to motivate us but lecturing us every day about how we should go make an arrest has gotten on everyone’s nerves and, quite frankly, we are sick of it. It’s not helping. You gotta back off.” Now I was the one struggling to say something. I was quiet for a while and finally said, “You said ‘we.’ Does the rest of the team feel the same way?” Buddy to Boss; Going from Superhero to Supervisor 45 “Yeah. We’ve all talked. We didn’t want to gang up on you, so we decided I should come in here and tell you.” I was a newly promoted supervisor. The entire team thought I was overbearing and making the situation worse. I was just what I told myself I would never be. I was a rookie supervisor, and I sucked at it. Crap! So, as the FNG, I screwed up. Mark’s conversation was a gift, because now I knew what I was doing wrong. Knowing is half the battle. In researching the material for this book, I met Mark for coffee. Even though that conversation occurred fourteen years ago, he still remembered, “I came to you because our relationship was such that I knew I could say those things to you. I knew you really did want us to tell you the truth. I knew you were trying to do the right thing with the team, but you were going about it the wrong way.” I took a sip of my coffee and replied, “I’m glad you did.” Mark smiled and said, “The best thing was you didn’t get defensive. You just thanked me for telling you. You wanted us to get better, and the only way was to talk about stuff. We always talked about cases, about takedowns, afterward to figure out what we could have done better.” Leader Armor for Law Enforcement 46 Chapter 2: Lessons Learned As a leader, you will make mistakes. View these situations as a gift, an opportunity to grow and develop. Learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them. Your competence, in any new skill, goes through stages from unconscious incompetence (you don’t know what you don’t know) to unconscious competence (Yoda-level mastery). Work to create psychological safety with those you lead. They should feel safe to tell you the truth, no matter the situation. Understand your new role includes duties that are different from your former role.