The Work of the Criminal Justice Leader - Personal Statement Example

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE Part Self-Assessment The leadership theory being considered for my personal leadership assessment is the situational leadership style, based on the Situational Leadership II (SLII). The situational leadership works based on the philosophy that leadership is not static and that the style and attitude of a leader depends on a prevailing situation (Adade, 2001). The validity of this song is in the fact that “general human tendency in decision making differs time to time and depends on the circumstances” (Babou, 2008). On the situational leadership II, The Ken Blanchard Companies (2011) notes that it “is the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and practical method of effectively managing and developing people, time, and resources in the world.” My personal leadership assessment is based on my results from four situational leaderships. Four situations were selected because they offer varying leadership situations and scenarios that are very likely to arise in typical leadership endeavours. For instance the situation 1 describes a common problem faced by an organization during downsizing. The second situation also describes a problem of lack of follow-through by an enthusiastic employee. The third situation concerns an employee who has developed some kind of experience and understanding of what is required of them. The final situation describes some concerns that arise for a director attempting to identify the right person to head a new office or department. Based on my selected answers for actions I would take in each situation and the interpretation given by the resource material, my personal leadership assessment is described as follows. From my results, it is right to conclude that I bear the participating or supporting leadership behaviour. This is because most of my answers were directed towards opening up to other people and for that matter employees to take up responsibilities in the decision making process. Even though on the whole, I did not select answers that leave the entire responsibility into the hands and control of subordinates but to a large extent, I try to involve subordinates whiles having my own roles to play in the decision making process. Changing Minds Organization (2011) notes that with participating/supporting leadership, followers exhibit “High competence, variable commitment / Able but unwilling or insecure.” On the part of leaders themselves, the Changing Minds Organization (2011) states that the leaders are low task focus and are of high relationship focus. Characteristically, NBSL Organization (2011) explains that participating or supporting leadership “is now shared decision making about aspects of how the task is accomplished and the leader is providing less task behaviours while maintaining high relationship behaviour.” From this explanation, it is deduced that as a leader, I must be very tactical in the type of task that I give out to followers. As an assessment of my own self, I would say that I have come very far in identifying the type of task that I give out to my followers. For instance in the judicial justice organization, I give out only low demanding tasks that have to do with inter-departmental decisions. Decisions that have to do with the organization at large or at executive level are taken over personally by me. Part 2: goal setting and action planning. Skills, competencies and characteristics required of a criminal justice leader The leadership setting being considered for this part of the paper is the correction and specifically, Probation and Parole Facilities. The Probation and Parole Facilities are central parts of the criminal justice system as the Florida Department of Corrections (2011) notes that the facility is a place where “offenders are monitored and supervised by the Probation and Parole Field Service offices.” Leadership in such a facility requires a great deal of skills, competencies and characteristics in order to excel. This is because working at the home involves different classes of people from different background including “offenders released from prison on parole, control release, conditional release, or conditional medical release and offenders placed on court ordered supervision including administrative probation and probation” (Florida Department of Corrections, 2011). One other reason that makes leadership in the correction more demanding for skills and competency is the technicalities associated with working in the facility. That is, leaders and for that matter officers are expected to influence the lives of inmates in a positive manner. To this effect, the following skills are discussed to be possessed by leaders at the corrections. Strong ethical sensibility A leader in the correction is expected and supposed to have a strong ethical sensibility. This means that the leader must be abreast with ethical issues in the criminal justice system and further on be ready to put these ethics into practice in their leadership in a passionate way that will constitute sensitivity. The Go Criminal Justice Schools (2011) advises that the need for leaders to have the competency of strong ethical sensibility because as a leader, “he or she works to promote adherence to laws and to prevent law-breaking, as well as determining consequences for those who do not follow the law.” There are several ethical issues in the criminal justice system; two of which includes bribery and search and seizure. Leaders are expected to be exemplary in their leadership and as such are supposed to stay away from bribery and unlawful seizure; especially at the hands of inmates and subordinates. Leaders must also be in a position to travel this all important leadership virtue to their all followers. The ability to be highly observant Any leader at the correction and for that matter in the criminal justice system has several lives he or she is supposed to watch with vigilance. Some of these people the leader is supposed to keep watch over include staff and inmates. Even though it is painful to admit, some of the inmates have criminal records and thus can get ‘tricky’ if not given close watch. Whereas some of the inmates pose a threat of braking barriers, others can really get violent against others. It is for this reason that the Go Criminal Justice Schools (2011) note that “someone who works in the criminal justice profession must able to notice changes in people that many others would not notice.” Professionally, the leader must be in a position to “determine whether a behaviour is suspicious, whether an environment is safe, and whether a certain course of action is acceptable” (Go Criminal Justice Schools, 2011). An observant leader will also be able to relate events and situations to best practices to exhibit in the occurrence of those situations (Amankwa, 2009). Communication Skills The leader at the corrections needs to be a good communicator because as it is put, he or she is working on people. As regularly as often, the leader interacts with followers and inmates in his or her control. For this reason, the leader must have as a skill, an ability to speak to freely and be spoken to freely. In a typical criminal justice system the Criminal Justice Degree (2011) states that “communication and people skills are critical in everything from directing traffic to conducting an interview to testifying in court.” Speaking of communication skills, it is important to note that communication skills come in the form of both verbal and non-verbal. Verbally, a leader must be fluent and well mannered in his or her articulations. Non-verbally, even more is expected of a leader to interpret facial expressions, gestures and where necessary, sign language. With all these skills, a leader will be able to build a welcoming and highly participating leadership environment because there will not be any hindrance for the leader to entertain other people’s views and opinions in decision making and in the issuance of instructions. The ability to handle stress The work of the criminal justice leader at the corrections is very stressful. This is because it does not only involve physical exertion of force and strength but also involves the use of the mind and emotions. As noted by the Mountain State Centre for Independent Living (2011), “Many different things can cause stress -- from physical (such as fear of something dangerous) to emotional (such as worry over your family or job.)” The nature of the leader at the corrections also makes him or her prone to all these causes of stress. Without a good ability to handle stress, a leader is likely to be tagged as a bad leader because he or she is going to be found always transferring his or her fury on followers. In state of fury and confusion, the leader is not likely to take informed decisions for followers and inmates. It is even possible that unmanaged stress will cause a leader to be static with laissez faire leadership style or dictatorship when the leader can be open up to act according to prevailing situation. Strengths and Opportunities in my Leadership Style After a critical review of my personal leadership assessment and the review just done above, I find that I have a number of strengths and opportunities as a leader in the criminal justice department. My strengths and opportunities also act as avenue for me to become even a better leader in the nearest future. As part of my strengths, I am a leader, who is not very much bordered about the need for other people to get involved in what I do. This makes it possible for me to get very participatory in my situational leadership portfolio. It also creates the avenue for me to train my followers to take up leadership roles without feeling alarmed of losing my authority or position. As another strength, I am very experienced with the need to work under pressure. This makes it possible for me to deal with very stressful situations and handle them perfectly. I am therefore never found under pressure to impress. As an opportunity, I have a very dedicated and committed workforce and followers who have shown great signs of readiness to learn from me. Because of this opportunity, I am never bordered about the issue of succession as I am always assured that there will be people to take after me. I am therefore able to leave my leadership legacy at the work place. Personal Leadership Goals I have two major personal leadership goals. The first is to train as many followers as possible to be good leaders and second is to influence the convicts and inmates I handle in a positive way so that their lives after the correction facility would be better than before. In my first personal leadership goal, which is raise as many leaders as possible to take after me, I shall do this through the kind of leadership style I exhibit. As McKinney (2008) documents, leaders who want to influence their followers to take after them are managers who tend to be seen as a consideration oriented person and try to attain mutual respect from subordinates. Apart from my leadership style, there shall be specific leadership training. This means that the training goal will be achieved through an integrated and holistic approach. Below are some of the specific steps that will be taken: 1. Practice hands on leadership style where followers will have enough room to practice. 2. Live exemplarily leadership lifestyle for followers to copy me as their mentor. 3. Organize periodic training retreats and seminars for followers. 4. Make room for followers to expand their skill and knowledge by furthering their education. 5. Instituting promotional portfolios in various departments so that hard working and deserving followers will have the opportunity to start practicing right under my watch. On my second goal, which is on influencing the lives of the inmates positively, I shall also achieve this with 1. Exemplarily leadership. 2. Improving the counselling and guidance division under my watch. 3. Instituting behavioural reinforcement – particularly rewards to attract the interest of all inmates to put up good behaviour. 4. Institute career enhancing programs and activities for the inmates to be engaged in. 5. Showing commitment towards the welfare of all inmates. REFERENCE LIST Adade G. A. (2001). Leadership: as and when to do what. Righteous Hall Printing Hall: Toronto Amankw L. G. S. (2009). Criminal Justice Leadership and Professionalism. Paperback Press Releases: California Babou A. A. (2008). What is Situational Leadership® means? Retrieved October 21, 2011 from http://leadershipchamps.wordpress.com/2008/02/27/what-is-situational-leadership-means/ Changing Minds Organization (2011). Hersey and Blanchards Situational Leadership. Retrieved October 22, 2011 from http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/situational_leadership_hersey_blanchard.htm Criminal Justice Degree (2011). Top 10 Qualities of Criminal Justice Professionals. Retrieved October 20, 2011 from http://www.criminaljusticedegree.org/criminal-justice-resources/CriminalJusticeDegrees-top10.html Florida Department of Corrections (2011). Introduction to Information on Florida Correctional Facilities. Retrieved October 21, 2011 from http://www.dc.state.fl.us/facilities/index.html Go Criminal Justice Schools (2011). Qualities of Good Criminal Justice Professionals. Retrieved October 21, 2011 from http://www.gocriminaljusticeschools.com/qualities-of-good-criminal-justice-professionals.html McKinney C. (2008). Modern Leadership Theories in Criminal Justice. Associated Content. Retrieved October 20, 2011 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/686905/modern_leadership_theories_in_criminal_pg2.html?cat=17 Mountain State Centre for Independent Living (2011). What is Stress? Retrieved October 22, 2011 from http://www.mtstcil.org/skills/stress-definition-1.html NBSL Organisation (2011) Situational Leadership Theory. Retrieved October 21, 2011 from http://www.nbsl.org.uk/get-the-knowledge/leadership-and-management/item/51-situational-leadership-theory Read More