Script 4 – Staying Positive
Hello, I’m Dennis Bowman, President of Public Safety Specialists Group.
In previous sessions we have examined how Organizational Change is a process that will happen whether you plan for it or not.
We’ve discussed why a planned change is better than an unplanned one and have identified how Focus Groups and Strategic Planning ( that includes lots of stakeholders) will lead to the “buy-in” that makes change a positive experience – even when it is hard.
In this final session on “Organizational Change in Law Enforcement” I’d like to identify strategies for developing a new organizational paradigm.
To begin , I’d like for you to think about a specific area you hope to change in your own organization.
Your first step is to consider whether there are changes that have taken place in the populations your serve that are driving a need for change.
These are factors that will have an impact on the department, its officers and other personnel and will certainly impact the necessary resources you have to carry out new or revised functions and tasks.
For example: a shift in population could have changed so drastically that you may need new language skills or translators to help your officers either right away or in the near future.
As you plan for this change you will need to make certain that you are operating with a shared purpose, with trust and organizational support and collaboration.
You will need to encourage or even demand contributions from all strategic levels of the department.
Employees who will be impacted by this change must be given the opportunity to understand the value of the proposed change and have an opportunity to be heard through open communications and collaboration.
Without question, law enforcement is functioning in challenging times. It is our responsibility to redirect, reprioritize, re-evaluate or even cease certain practices to meet the expectations and improve the practices of our mission with the communities we are sworn to serve and protect.
This will call for better and more broad-based relationships with policy makers and budget officials within the nearly 18,000 police jurisdictions in the United States.
In fact, law enforcement will need to take steps to rebuild broken relationships, educate the public in credible ways and engage with policy people and citizens in ways that have probably never happened before.
It will be a time to accentuate the positives both within your departments and within your communities.
There are Victories that happen in law enforcement on a daily basis.
It is important to bring those to the attention of outside stakeholders and to showcase and applaud these Victories inside the department to acknowledge the positive culture you want to instill with everyone.
And the Victories may be in many arenas such as helping senior citizens, working with at risk youth, solving a neighborhood problem, restoring trust in minority communities.
These are Victories that happen every day. Combining the efforts to honestly communicate with external stakeholders with the hard work that it will take to create organizational changes within the department that mitigates the incidences that have led to criticisms, will put law enforcement on a path to strong and supportive community relationships with the internal “buy in” that it will take to keep those relationships positive.
On behalf of all of us at Public Safety Specialists Group, I thank you for participating in these sessions. You are welcome to print any of the texts of these sessions.
We have additional resources for you to assist you as you pursue organizational changes on our website at Public Safety Specialists Group dot com
We are certainly available to consult with you on those plans should you need us.
I’m Dennis Bowman, President of the Public Safety Specialists Group,
Stay Safe
