A Primer on Future Leadership in Policing

Leadership is a multidimensional discipline with distinct nuances across industries and professions. While its core principles may remain constant, specific aspects of police leadership differ significantly from other professions given their distinct natures. This will be increasingly so in the future as policing gets more complicated. In this primer we explore a few basic leadership theories; then explore police-specific characteristics; and, finally, look towards its future evolution.

Fundamental Theories of Leadership

Literally thousands of books and probably millions of articles have been written on leadership. When the future is considered in the context of future policing, the basics of three fundamental leadership styles will be critical for for leaders to incorporate into their own uniques style:

Transformational Leadership: Leaders motivate followers by painting a vision for the future, exuding charismatic personality traits and encouraging innovation and creativity;

Transactional Leadership: These involve routine activities with rewards or punishments tied directly to performance;

Servant Leadership: Leaders that practice servant leadership prioritize the needs of team members by emphasizing personal growth, wellbeing, and community development; and,

Situational Leadership that was was conceptualized by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard. It suggests there is no single best style of leadership; that effective management depends on task relevance; and that successful leaders adapt their style according to an individual or group's readiness level (their skills and ability plus their willingness) to accomplish the assigned task.

With situational leadership, leaders’ styles must adapt, sometimes quickly and with the same followers, based on the followers’ readiness levels. These leadership styles are:

Telling (Directing): For newcomers or those unwilling/unable to perform tasks themselves, leaders provide directions by outlining roles and providing instructions as to the when, where, how and why of tasks to be completed.

Selling (Coaching): Leaders provide direction while selling their message in order to bring others along for the ride.

Participating (Supporting): Leaders share decision-making responsibilities among their followers; participation or support are available when needed or desired.

Delegating: For those capable and willing, decisions are made without control residing with leaders alone - instead followers control decisions taken in that manner.

For example, a leader’s style while he or she supervises a rookie cop might be quite Telling while a Delegating style would be more appropriate when supervising a veteran officer. Matching the wrong leadership style with a particular follower’s readiness level will frequently lead to frustration and poor outcomes.

Police leadership has a unique operating environment and distinguishes itself through several distinct characteristics.

High-Stakes Decision Making: Police officers often find themselves making life-or-death decisions with immediate, irreversible effects;

Public Scrutiny: Few professions come under greater public scrutiny than police work does today with social media focusing on every move made by law enforcement personnel;

Political Pressure: Officers and leaders alike must successfully balance performing their duties while meeting political expectations.; and,

Community Relations: Police work is unique in that its success can often be measured through community trust and confidence rather than simply results.

Being Nonpartisan in a Political Environment

Police leaders do their work within an inherently political environment. Nonetheless, it is essential they remain neutral, nonpartisan and apolitical. To accomplish this, especially in the future, police leaders must:

Prioritize Integrity and Trust: Be transparent and accountable even when mistakes are made is of utmost importance;

Engage Proactively With The Community: Engage regularly with community engagement sessions can increase understanding;

Educate and Train Officers: Officers should be educated about the significance of impartiality and the risks of political interference; and,

Engage in Boundary Management: Personal views should remain private in order to remain impartial for professional decisions.

Sustaining success in an increasingly unpredictable political environment demands that police leaders develop extensive skill sets that are focused on the interpersonal and strategic aspects of the job – not the traditional policing skills they needed earlier in their careers. These skills should become leadership habits that future leaders practice everyday. A few of the more important of these habits are:

Acquiring a constantly evolving appreciation for the policing environment as it is, not as they wish it to be;

Adopting a anticipatory posture: thinking about how events and issue today could affect their policing environment tomorrow;

Developing skillful communication: clearly explaining the purpose, values, mission, roles, and challenges of their police agency to the public;

Innovating and adapting to a constantly changing environment by looking for new ways to be good stewards of the taxpayer investment in policing, more effectively controlling crime and enhance the community trust and confidence in the police;

Understanding and conducting stakeholder analysis and engagement as a means of establishing relationships with elected officials, community leaders, and other key players within their locality; and,

Seeking support on both personal and professional levels by finding allies among nonpartisan organizations or figures to provide essential support during difficult times.

Future Leaders in Policing

The effectiveness of future police leadership will be determined by several factors. For example:

Technological Advances: From artificial intelligence (AI) to advanced surveillance systems, leaders will need to be adept at using technology responsibly while adhering to ethical considerations.

Increasing diversity of society: As societies become more diverse, police leaders must ensure inclusivity within their ranks and cultural proficiency during interactions.

Mental Health Awareness and Intervention: Recognizing and responding to mental health within both the force and within communities will become ever-more essential.

Collaborative Policing: Partnering with community organizations will become even more necessary.

Constant Learning: Given the rapid rate of change, a future police leader must constantly adapt and learn new situations and challenges as they arise.

Conclusion

Police leadership, while founded on general leadership principles, requires an intimate knowledge of its particular challenges and dynamics. To effectively lead their force into the future, police leaders must prioritize adaptability, community engagement, integrity and lifelong learning if they wish to navigate its evolving landscape successfully.