In September 1962, then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas, challenging the people of the United States to collectively support a mission to send a man safely to the moon and back before the end of the 1960s. He described it as a leap of faith—the benefits were unclear and the barriers to success were huge. He asked people to accept the challenge “not because it was easy, but because it was hard.” It would be a mission to an “unknown celestial body, on an untried mission” and would require a commitment of “resources already thinly spread.” In his closing words, President Kennedy said, “We choose to go to the moon… and if we are to do it right, and do it first, before this decade is out, then we must be BOLD.”[emphasis added] 1
This moment in policing is a call for bold leadership! It calls for leadership that is thoughtful, reflective, inspiring, and transforming. This bold leadership must happen while we are doing our day jobs of running police agencies, bureaus, shifts, or divisions, which carry real and unending demands.
Today’s challenges are complex, deep, and varied. Policing worldwide must resolve issues involving community trust, calls for reform, budget and staff reductions, internal and external legitimacy issues, use-of-force concerns, officer health and wellness, and even dispirited and often confused line officers. How do we guide our officers and offer them purpose, clarity, and support in today’s climate?
Great leadership allows police organizations to be both well managed and well led. If we extend that idea out, we might say that most police organizations are very well managed—a concept that Gary Hamel in The Future of Management refers to as “smart organizations.” 2 Smart organizations are very good at strategy, technology, image, budgeting, staffing, policy, training, and so forth. Effective management is essential to a smart organization, but it is not enough!
Police organizations must not only be smart, but must also be “healthy.” Unlike a merely smart organization, healthy organizations excel at minimizing politics, minimizing confusion, sustaining high morale, generating high productivity, having high engagement, and making their people feel safe. Healthy organizations are well led, while smart organizations are effectively managed. Today’s police organizations require both leadership and management for success—effective policing requires a smart and a healthy organization.
The burning question, then, is how do we create this smart and healthy environment? Successful police organizations place the highest priority on the three principal influencers on organizational behavior: leadership, culture, and education.
Leadership is the highest of all callings because it requires a passionate commitment to self-development while also contributing to the growth and development of others. While management is about control, leadership is about release. It is the unleashing of human potential that is grounded in purpose, principles, values, and courage. Leadership demands a blending of professional will to do what is right and just and a deep sense of personal humility that serves a cause greater than oneself. It is only through this level of leadership that officers will feel safe to do their jobs, engage the community, and take the risks that are inherent in police work.
Culture is a poorly understood, yet powerful influencer of an organization’s behavior. When police officers talk about poor morale, they really are speaking about a weakened culture. A key leadership responsibility is to consciously and intentionally become the architect and guardian of the desired organizational culture. In too many police organizations, the informal culture rules trump both leadership and the formal culture that is reflected in a stated mission, policies, and training. Understanding the power of culture allows us to understand that new policies and new trainings, without influences on the culture, will produce cosmetic and short-lived changes at best.
Because culture ultimately drives behavior, culture must be a clear area of focus by every leader today. Leaders must understand that our every word, action, or inaction shapes organizational culture. While much of today’s discussion is calling for change in policing, that chorus is loaded with remedies of increased oversight legislation, body-worn and in-car cameras, early warning systems, and reforming use-of-force training and policy. While these solutions are worthy of thought and discussion, their power is diminished if directed effort and attention to police culture are absent.
Education must be our focus, not a mere calling for new and upgraded training. Training should be a part of an education process designed not only to instill skills and muscle memory, but also to influence the hearts and minds of our officers. With a focus on education, we can elevate our people’s level of thinking, reflection, and discernment. Discernment is considered a virtue that allows one to override perceptions and shallow judgments. In terms of the implicit biases we all possess, it is discernment that allows us to rise above our natural instincts. Wisdom is the application of learning to life and is a product of education, be it formal or experiential. Our goal should be the development of “cop scholars”! Dr. Sam Souryal, the great criminal justice professor and author from Sam Houston State University, used to preach that our police officers should be the most educated people in our society because they are the street-level arbiters of justice 24/7. 3 The continued education and development of our officers is a key leadership responsibility that cannot be ignored.
In succeeding at his “moon shot,” President Kennedy mobilized a nation, and the benefits, beyond getting to the moon, were game changing. This moment in policing requires our bold “moon shot” to create smart and healthy organizations that are both well managed and well led. How will we fuel the spirit of our people while reengaging their hearts and feeding their minds? How will we improve our relationships with the communities we serve and increase trust in the process? How will we reform the aspects of policing that demand change while preserving the core and the best of our profession? Big questions require bold leadership!
Robert M, Gates concludes his new book, A Passion for Leadership, with this quote and challenge:
The Nobel Laureate Anatole France once wrote: ‘To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.’ To those who believe our institutions can be better than they are, I say, Dream, Believe, Plan, Act.4
What a great challenge for this leadership moment we find ourselves in today!♦
Notes:
1“John F. Kennedy Address at Rice University on the Space Effort,” Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, v. 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1962), 669–670.
2 Gary Hamel, The Future of Management (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2007).
3Sam Souryal, professor, criminal justice and ethics, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas.
4 Robert M. Gates, A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2016).
Please cite as
Terrence M. Cunningham, “Policing’s Leadership Moment,” President’s Message, The Police Chief 83 (April 2016): 6–7.
