HQ Content - Focus on Leadership

Ironically, not understanding your strengths can amplify your weaknesses by leading you to hold back when the potential for your impact is greatest. This problem is compounded by the premium we tend to put on humility. For fear of coming across as arrogant, we hold back even more, but the result can be that we leave important opportunities for serving others on the table.

I had trouble figuring out where to begin this year’s renewed version of the Police Leadership Program. The challenge was too many options. The leadership issues in policing today range all the way, for example, from community mental health to organizational budgeting to technical skill development.

Yet leadership effectiveness is, simply put, about people understanding people. It is a skillset that can be learned, and that depends quite simply on leaders investing in themselves. With social-scientific discoveries, self-awareness, and powers of observation and communication, leaders can pull others together around a common goal. Among others, the below three skill sets help to get you there:

Modern policing is complex. Whether mediating a dispute or managing a crisis, it’s a job that not only requires a deep understanding of the law and society, but also the ability to lead with confidence and compassion.

Under the leadership of Chief Jim MacSween, the executive leadership team at York Regional Police (YRP) established a mission to re-imagine leadership development within the organization. YRP knew that standardizing leadership principles and delivering them to all ranks of the organization would enrich the development of ethical and professional leaders.

Public order hubs provide a collaborative response to multijurisdictional demonstrations

Leaders often assume that they - themselves - should have all the answers, simply because they’re in a “leadership role” and all eyes are on them. Not being the expert can be unsettling. However, leaders need to acknowledge that it is gravely difficult (or perhaps an impossibility) to “know EVERYTHING”.

Collective Leadership for Current Challenges and Changes in Policing

Building a coach-like culture in policing