Leadership Development - Assignment Example

Leadership Development Public Safety Leadership Public Safety Leadership contributes to the quality of life in every community. Law enforcement such as fire and rescue, emergency medical, probation and parole and corrections are essential to the welfare of every community. People who work in this field understand the importance of effective leadership and professional preparation for achieving the social and personal goals. The professional knowledge and skills that are required for Public Safety Leadership are as follow- Leadership Global perspective of public safety Making ethical decisions Organizational behavior and theory Conflict resolution and negotiation Organizational communications Analysis, research and problem solving Public safety leadership is essential because professionals demonstrate greater growth prospect when their strengths are promoted and feedback is provided for their weaknesses rather than focusing on their weaknesses. Public safety leadership is a good practice that is consistent with the law enforcement culture and is a better approach that puts strengths into deliberate practices by moving the professionals from strong to supreme thereby leveraging their strengths to help them keep their career on track. Sustaining innovation in the law enforcement agencies is the major challenge that has been assigned to public safety leadership. However this can be overcome by building internal capacity for seeding leadership development and by eliminating traditional stereotypes associated with the role of law enforcements which favors specialization. Importance of Public Safety Leadership Public safety leadership is essential for the following reasons- Creating a culture of leadership within different departments of the law enforcements firms. Promotion of lifelong learning as a value for leaders Collaboration for enhancing cross fertilization of ideas. Leaders teaching leaders always have a positive educational method Ongoing feedback in place of yearly evaluation is necessary for leaders and their subordinates and is becoming an essential. Alumni associations are important for creating networks of community experts who can help one another. The Command and Control Methodology which defines the public safety leadership is no longer viable. Such obedience often fostered insubordination and passivity and did not promote creativity. Command and control management style often hampered the full implementation of community policing. The paramilitary approach that was emphasized in the command and control methodology also neglects the distinction between police and soldier developments. Law enforcement departments now emphasize on strategic management and accountability. It helps in periodically assessing how the police agencies can achieve their goals (Demmon, Berger & Simpson). Compared to the leaders in other industries public safety leaders are unique in the manner and degree in which they visibly demonstrate integrity, safety and technical capabilities which are the essential characteristics of public safety leaders (Rogers, 2013, P. 112-113) Safety- An effective public safety leader has high standards for safe behavior that are consistently demonstrated while advocating safety. The best leaders make sure that their decisions reflect safety their communications are clear on safety, and that they consistently observe & coach others on the safety standards. They are approachable and open to inputs. Integrity- An effective public safety leader always demonstrate ethical conduct and honesty in addition to maintaining responsibility of the trust and confidence of the public, the regulator, corporation, employees, shareholders and community. They are transparent and self critical. Technical capabilities- Technical capabilities are crucial for every public safety leaders as they are involved in daily technical decisions that have immediate and long term implication. Applicable Leadership Theories in context of Public Safety Leadership Leadership theories are based on the type of situation that an individual encounters. Based on this four leadership theories have been allocated to public safety leaders. Transactional Leadership-Transactional leaders do not consider the needs of their subordinates and they look at the services that they can gain in exchange of some type of rewards. Ordering and coercing responders is an essential characteristic of transactional leadership. For public safety leaders it is essential to control and accomplish their missions. The rewards in these cases are no additional dangers, loss of life and injury to others. For example controlling traffic and non responders require multi agency approach on the part of the commanders. Emergency service commanders use transactional leadership to direct emergency operations. These types of leaders are mostly positional in nature, i.e., leaders by virtue of their rank or position in the departments. The rewards in this case can be contingent with performance. Most of the public safety departments conduct promotional processes where the advancements are decided by testing, peer reviews and feedback from the administrators. Transactional leadership also demands humanistic approach on the part of the part of the officers. They need to be concerned with the emotions of the followers, ethics, values, standards, morals, short term and long term goals, needs, motivation and desires. Situational leadership- situational leadership focuses on leadership practices in various situations. Situational leadership is based on the theory that different situation requires different approaches by the leader for accomplishing the goals. Situational leadership follows four approaches that are based on the level of support and direction that are required by the followers from their leaders. These four approaches can be divided into two categories; supportive or relationship based and directive or task behavior based. In emergency services directive approach is practiced during emergency response, training, functions that require giving directions, establishing priorities, setting timelines, making assignments, and providing clear and concise communication that is usually one direction. At times supportive leadership is also adopted by emergency service leaders. This approach requires leaders to seek feedback from their followers, coach them to help them improve their skills and praise them for their success and good performance. This technique helps to build the self worth and pride of the followers boosts the morale and performance and strengthens unit cohesion. Although this approach takes more investment of time and effort than the transactional leadership, the results are impressive for both the leaders and the followers (Foster III, Nollette, Nollette, & Goertzen, 2012, P. 127-128). From the leadership perspective, both transactional and situational leadership is important, Commanders who give the orders have the authority to give them even though there asking is inappropriate, ineffective and even dangerous. Collaborative leadership- Collaborative leadership is the process of building relationships with mutually accepted goal. It has been adopted by a number of responding agencies where the groups and the individuals have to work together to address set of potentially overwhelming and competing demands. Collaborative leadership emphasizes the involvement of people who have knowledge and skills to perform relevant tasks that are given. The potential partners of collaborative leadership are- Private and public utilities Private and public schools Volunteer agencies Public health departments and area hospitals Local builders and contractors Local, federal, state and local politicians Plans and protocols Mutual aid agreements Interoperability procedures Transformational leadership-Transformational leadership is a process of changing and transforming people. Transformational leadership attempts to influence followers on a one to one level for influencing the whole organization and even its culture. Transformational leadership members of a team or unit to function not only as subordinate within the rank and file structure. Thus the police officer following the departmental policies and procedures can serve as a sole person responsible for the responses to and termination of an incident. Therefore each person in transformational leadership has a responsibility to provide leadership under certain criteria`s at times sudden, at times expected and at times for the necessity of saving the life of others including a member of its own team. Principles of Public Security Leadership The principles of Public Service Leadership are as follows- Positive and clear process safety leadership is the core of managing a hazardous business and it is vital to ensure that the risks are effectively managed. Public Safety leadership requires board level competence and involvement. For companies with boards located out of their country, the leadership rests with the senior most managers. Good public safety leadership requires constant active engagement which does not happen by chance. Board level promotion and visibility of public safety leadership is essential for setting positive safety culture throughout the organization Engagement of workforce is important for the promotion and achievement of a good public safety leadership. Monitoring public safety leadership is based on both leading and lagging indicators are essential for ensuring that the risks are being effectively managed. Sharing the best practices across sectors and industries and learning and implementing lessons from incidents in other organizations are important for nurturing leadership. Health and safety of the employees, visitors, contractors, and the surrounding community are an integral part of public safety business strategies, processes and performance measures. Providing leadership for ongoing health and safety improvements minimizes or control hazards in the workplaces and increases the internal capacity of the team. Providing an environment that enables all the employees to participate and work in collaboration for developing, improving, and promoting health and safety at work. Extend health and safety efforts beyond the workplaces and recognizing and supporting related initiatives within the community. Lead and participate mindfully within the organizations health and safety framework that will improve the health and safety strategies, performance and programming. The principle of public safety leadership is founded on the grounds that there should be continuous improvement of health and safety in workplaces and beyond its boundaries. Hence effective leadership of health and safety is vital for the successful operation of any business. Participation is a visible commitment from the business leaders, government and academia in this field. It provides and receives best practices for the enhancement of the employees and public`s physical, social and mental well being. The benefits are realized as these learnings are integrated into the business strategies, processes, and systems. Public Health Leaders have to work with other community partners. For the successful implementation of public safety programs and services the decision makers have to be involved in the overall planning and agenda. Public safety leaders also need to view the entire community within a systems thinking orientation. In strategic planning the public safety leaders what the stakeholders who is the public wants. A determination of these needs have to be made to assess the level of organizational performance by potential public safety organization. Public safety leaders also need to determine how the public will perform relative to the goals and objectives in a given community. Another important aspect that is always ignored is the necessity of stakeholders’ development. They need training in safety and leadership to develop a virtual learning community. Public safety leaders also need to look out for new or emerging resources as they develop. Partners from outside the service community play a very essential role. Although at the transactional level, recruitment of new stakeholders will lead to reciprocity concerns. Often dealing with leaders in the stakeholders’ situation, motivation strategies remain very important. In this case relation needs to be on a person to person level. If relationships tend to be position to position basis they become conflictual. There has to be both transformational and transactional gain if the collaboration is to be inferred successfully. Decisions need to be made about carrying out the ten essential public safety services without hindrances. Whenever strategic planning activities occur or the public safety assessment process is undertaken, it is important that the community partners become involved in the process. Public safety practices require a systems view of community. Public safety managers and leaders should strive for good relationship with their staff inside the agencies. It also needs to maintain good relationship with their clientele inside the community. Good relationship in the agencies means that relationship outside the agency stand a better chance of success. Public safety leaders also need to nurture and maintain good relationship with their community stakeholders for bringing them together as partners in the public safety enterprise. Public safety planning is an important form of rationale decision making. It involves the development of public safety objectives and goals and ordering necessary actions that are important for accomplishing the goals. It is essential to use an approach that will generate innovative public safety strategies while keeping in mind the essential services of public safety. The first step in the panning process is to decide the goals and objectives. The next step is to determine the constraints of the planning process and the manner in which the changes in the environment take place. They also have to figure out what policies actions and programs they must implement. This implementation will lead to the achievement of desired objectives and goals. Leaders should be aware of the factors that can undermine the implementation process and can modify their activities as a result of unexpected happenings. As planning is often viewed as a routine task, something that the managers do instead of the leaders, strategic thinking by the leaders is hampered. Therefore leaders should be involved in the planning process because it can provide an important set of techniques that can help the leaders to realize their vision. The planning process can be formal as well as informal. Formal planning leaves a paper trail because all the decisions are documented whereas in informal planning it is less organized and guided by social interactions. Although planning is considered to be a waste of time, it gives structure to the activities that are that are directed towards achieving the desired goals and can also save money for monitoring such activities. Planning does not eliminate change but fosters change. It also fosters the implementation process. The escalated flow of funds to the public safety services has created a need to plan the expenditure of the funds. According to Rohre, there are three planning model that are typically used in the public safety field. The Rational Planning Model circles fact finding, problem defining, goal setting, implementation, monitoring, feedback and evaluation. This model aims at reforming the internal operations of an agency. The Community Development Model is empowerment oriented that promotes local citizen participation in all the planning activities. In this model decisions are reached by consensus. The Activist Model is approach is applicable where community groups are threatened by particular danger. Apart from these models the Strategic Planning Approach is commonly used. The strategic planning approach is directed towards achievement of goals that are significant or even ultimate ends. As public safety is an extremely important task and largely falls on the shoulders of the leadership, strategic planning is very important in this aspect (Rowitz, 2009, P.15) Public Safety Leaders therefore must- Use the core functions and the essential services that are the foundations of public safety service. Learn how to use the different planning methods for choosing the appropriate model for a given initiative. Determine the actions that are important to achieve desired community safety goals and objectives. Use the planning and scenario building to discover innovative public safety strategies. Be involved in all kinds of planning activities Create community partnerships to carry out planning activities Public Safety is the most vital activity in any country. Public Safety Leadership Programs aims at producing men and women who are prepared to be leaders in their respective agencies. It emphasizes on the best practices in the public safety sector and address communication, cultural diversity, problem solving, law and ethics. The public safety leadership programs are geared towards the public safety areas such as: Law enforcement Firefighting Emergency medical techs 911 operators Emergency Management Public safety leadership programs will help to meet the national demand of 5 lakhs trained professionals which will arise by 2015 in United States alone. These programs will help to develop the skills and knowledge to meet the market place demands. Public Safety Leadership programs are important not only because of criminal activities but also because of the domestic and international threats present in every country. Public Safety Leaders should possess the knowledge and skills to provide effective leadership that can effectively deal with complex and multi dimensional safety and security issues. Public safety Leadership Challenges Public safety leadership is essential for solving the major public safety issues that every country is facing today. It can be in the form of increased rate of violent crimes, initiating anti terrorism efforts to protect different communities and responding to the social justice issues. In these cases leadership is often the deciding factor for success. Unfortunately the public safety leadership capacity and the talent needed to respond to the various public safety issues have received little attention and current leadership development models do not address the challenges faced by the public safety leaders. There is an urgent requirement for developing a new public safety leadership model that can prepare public safety leaders to confront critical issues and strengthens public safety as a profession. This new model should be an imperative for meeting the 21st century safety challenges. Lack of attention to public safety as a profession has been continuing from the time when the world became more complex and multidimensional. New public safety challenges are emerging every day which are beyond the dealings with career criminal. They range from pressures to enforce immigration, responding to alarming levels of youth violence, escalating gun crime and shooting rampages, homeless, mentally, to a large number of individuals being released from the prison. In spite of this, there is a void in reality based education of the public safety leaders, a void which the theories of leadership, years of corporate researches or the model adapted from the United States could not fill. Filling this void is essential for shaping the next generation of public safety leaders, supporting the current leaders and building leadership capacity for this particular field. The role of the public safety leaders are now being compared to a change agent CEO in a private industry. While the decision making process for a public safety leader includes traditional organizational development process, these processes are employed in a paramilitary structure where the chain of command is different from the traditional organizations. The responsibility of deploying large number of uninformed officers into a particular community, the legal rubrics under which they have to perform, the gravity of the consequences of the actions that they take, and concerns about the abuse of the authorities given to them are unique to public safety. The changing environment and the competing demands are also things that a public safety officer has to face while exercising leadership. In this field developing partnerships with other communities and agencies, monitoring policing efforts led by intelligence, ensuring preparation for homeland security threats, protecting the civil liberties, creating a transparent and accountable organizations. The challenges and demands that these factors create must be integrated into any model that focuses on the development of public safety leaders (Ellen Scrivner). Personal Leadership Development and Opportunity Leadership development is the systematic development that begins with the assessment of organizational needs, leadership capabilities and developmental gaps. Self awareness is the key of being a responsive and effective leader. Self Directed Leadership involves setting of specific goals. Personal goals support leadership development. Self Directed Leadership involves making choices, setting specific goals, taking action and minimizing self sabotage. Proactive behavior that includes both self assessment and assessment of others is critical for the success of personal leadership development and management of the self. Personal leadership development provides an opportunity to learn new things within the context of work teams. For personal leadership development, an individual should identify their development needs by comparing their portfolios of experiences and skills to those needed in target jobs. Once they have identified the skills and capabilities that need to be developed, they can review their personal and their work roles that are needed for potential learning experiences in their personal live (James, 2001, P. 123) References Rogers, M. J. (2013). Nuclear Power Leadership: Lessons Learned from US Operators. U.S.A: PennWell Corporation. Demmon, D & Berger.(2007). LEADERSHIP FOR PUBLIC SAFETY: Professional Dimensions of Leadership in Law Enforcement. [Pdf]. [Available at] [Assessed on 7 March 2013] Foster III, D. T, Nollette, C, Nollette, F. P, & Goertzen, B. J. 2012. Emergency Services Leadership. U.S.A: Jones & Bartlett Publishers Brennan, J. A, & Krohmer, J. R. (2005). Principles of Ems Systems 3e. U.S.A: Jones & Bartlett Learning Rowitz, L. (2009). Public Health Leadership: Putting Principles into Practice. U.S.A: Jones & Bartlett Publishers Scrivner, E. (2008). PUBLIC SAFETY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: A 21ST CENTURY IMPERATIVE. [Available at] [Assessed on 7 March 2013] James, R. W. (2001). Personal Leadership: A Practical Approach for Achieving Individual and Organizational Freedom. U.K: Crisp Publications. Read More