A leaders role in creating a resilient organization

I recently had the privilege of attending the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) - Leadership in Police Organizations (LPO) partner agency conference. During the conference I was asked to speak on the issue of stress and resiliency with the goal of addressing leader strategies to build a more resilient organization. Those of you who know me know that I have been speaking about the issue of stress in Law Enforcement for a number of years, which is why I was asked to speak on the issue at the IACP conference. I was humbled to be asked and I saw it as a great opportunity. I would be speaking to Law Enforcement leaders from not only the United States but Canada as well. I was notified that I was going to follow the key note speaker, US Army Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Ty Carter.

Sgt. Carter spoke to the group about the actions that lead to his being awarded the Medal of Honor. Sgt. Carter not only spoke about the events surrounding his award but about what he went through mentally and emotionally after the battle was over. He spoke of his struggle with PTSD and the associated problems that came up: drinking, disrupted sleep, and marital problems. Sgt Carter was wonderful to listen to and learn from, he stated that he felt that he did not deserve the award and that the men who died that day deserved it more. What he was describing I would call survivors guilt. It is something we experience a lot in our profession with our officers whenever we loose a fellow officer. Through his recovery, Sgt. Carter decided to use the medal as a way to raise awareness among soldiers regarding PTSD. He wanted to make asking for help a normal part of Army culture. He stated his goal is to make it OK for soldiers to ask for help and show that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of strength. While listening to Sgt Carter share his experiences and his ongoing efforts to change the culture of the US Army, I couldn't help but relate it to my own efforts and passion that I have for doing the same for us in Law Enforcement.

When it came time for my presentation, I wanted to carry over from what we had heard Sgt. Carter speak of and show that there wasn't much difference for those of us in Law Enforcement. By the way, if you are curious what situation stress looks like, just imagine what it feels like to follow a national war hero as a speaker, and you will have a pretty good idea. For my presentation I focused my discussion on the issue of control. In Law Enforcement we are looked upon by society as those who have been chosen to bring order to chaos. In other words bring bad things under control. When I talk to a group of officers about stress I will point out that there are 3 primary sources of stress for them: the job itself, the organization or administration (depending how you want to look at it), and the home life. I will then ask, of the three, which causes the most stress in their lives. Every class has the same answer, the organization/administration causes the most stress.When I ask why they feel that way, the response usually has to do with "they are doing it to us" - in other words, making decisions that affect us and our jobs without any input. What they are really complaining about has to do with the issue of control. All human beings will complain about things that impact their lives that they do not have control over, for police officers this can become a real source of frustration. What I tell my students is relatively simple, and boils down to, if you can't control it why are you worried about it? All cops, and really all people, will complain about their boss, they will say things like, I love my job, if "they" would just let me do it. What I point out is that statements like that and the emotions that surround them show two things. 1) You are frustrated by something that was decided that impacted you. - and - 2) By your feeling of frustration you decided to give power over your emotional response to "they" that made the decision. I tell my students that you cannot control what "they" say or do, but you can control how you choose to respond. If someone is frustrating you, because of their decision making or leadership style, why then do you choose to give them more power by letting them be in charge of your emotions. I choose not to let someone else control my emotions and remind myself of this every-time I get frustrated by my boss. This is important for all of us to understand, because if I am frustrated by my boss and upset there is a good chance that I will treat the people I supervise in a similar fashion, and in the process make them frustrated and upset with me. As I was speaking I could tell from the students' reactions that they understood and could relate to the issue of control. As leaders in Law Enforcement it is important that we look for strategies that will lessen the amount of stress we are putting on our people.

As leaders our leadership style can, and often does, actually create more stress for our people. There are a number of studies that have shown demanding autocratic management styles will lead to a higher likelihood of employees suffering from cardiovascular disease (heartache) or other health related problems. These type of leaders will also have a higher than average level of sick time use from their employees, which will be very costly to the organization. The more we can have effective two-way communication and create an environment that values trust, by involving our followers in the decision making process, particularly when the decision will have a significant impact on their job, the less they will suffer from the long term health impacts of chronic organizational stress.

Once we understand why we think administrations or organizations cause most of our stress, and how we can minimize the impact of this type of stress on our lives, we can begin to focus on those sources of stress that can be devastating to our lives. Sources that are long lasting and often have catastrophic impacts not only on our lives but the lives of our followers. Those stresses are often referred to as cumulative stress, that is stress that piles up over time. I began my presentation by talking about how our long term exposure to critical incidents and trauma will manifest itself in many of the same ways that were described by Sergeant Carter. Those being substance abuse (largely alcohol), relationship problems, higher than average suicide rate, and a number of health related problems (heart disease, diabetes, cancer).

When I talk about the cumulative nature of secondary trauma I will use a stress bucket analogy. What I will describe is that when we come into this profession we are given a mental bucket. During our career we will put all of the bad things we experience in that bucket so that we can focus on doing our job. As police officers we see the worst of the human condition, for example human generated violence (murder, rape, aggravated assault, child abuse etc.). Because of our roles as police officers we cannot respond to the emotions we may feel, so we have to put those emotions somewhere so that we can focus on our jobs. The closer the trauma we are exposed to relates to our personal lives, the greater the chance that it will have a long lasting and possibly devastating impact. It is important that we find ways to empty our bucket or it will overflow and cause problems in all areas of our lives.

Why is it important for us to know this as a leader? There are a number of reasons but the biggest have to do with -  The impact cumulative stress has on our lives and our need to take care of ourselves. - and - The impact this type of stress has on our people. As leaders we have an organizational responsibility to help our people take care of themselves. Our job is to make sure we are in our best place mentally and physically, by taking care of ourselves, because if we are feeling stressed it will be transmitted to our people. As leaders we must work to create an environment and culture where our people feel OK to ask for help when they need it. It is our responsibility to provide resources and information to our people on how to empty their bucket. There are a number of tools to build resiliency and I would recommend that all leaders be familiar with the ten that are recommend by the American Psychological Association - http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx

Law Enforcement is a male dominated, "macho" culture, where asking for help is traditionally seen as a sign of weakness, really not that different from what Sgt. Carter had described as the culture of the US Army. I would submit that if a national hero and Medal of Honor recipient like Sergeant Ty Carter, can publicly talk about his struggles and how he asked for help, there is no one that has an excuse for not doing the same. It is not a sign of weakness but rather a sign of strength. Our most important job as a leader is to work towards creating a resilient organization where our people can thrive.

Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Ty Carter with the author