Edward Brown, M.S.
The police profession can be conservative. Although, police leaders have to juggle the
competing interests of constituents, leaders can use innovation to become more
effective. It has been said that the higher one goes up the police hierarchy,
the less accountability there is. In other words, you cannot force police
leaders to consider new ways of doing things unless they view change as
aligning with their self-interest. In
keeping with this notion, police leaders who have climbed to the top of their organization
should consider their legacy and how history will view their contributions to
their department as well as the profession.
Are you satisfied with mediocrity? Before police leaders can speak persuasively, they
must first formulate compelling ideas through advanced critical thinking
skills.
Police leaders, as transformational leaders, use their
insatiable curiosity and ability to spot departmental inefficiencies to
innovate services. But, what is
innovation? Innovation is simply the
foundation of new beginnings. In short, looking at old traditions through new
lenses. Through innovation, you can discover
new ideas, learn new techniques, offer better quality, and even help personnel
increase productivity. However, what
many police leaders do not realize is that innovation can be used to help move their
department to the next level. “Next
level” sounds cliché, but the mission is really to focus on the ability to
think about a police department as a living organism and feeding it the proper
nutrients to grow. Corporations are
always borrowing ideas from other industries to improve productivity and
profitability, which is part of their DNA. Police departments shouldn’t be any different.
Police leaders can use critical thinking to innovate and
transform their departments in several ways.
It can be as simple as having access to the right information so that they
know what the latest and greatest schools of thought are. Taken from the IBAR
Critical Thinking Method, formulated by Edward Brown, this is called
“Benchmarking.” In benchmarking, you compare and contrast your departmental operations
to industry leaders, standards, or best practices. By comparing departmental operations
with these standards, leaders are able to select the options best suited for their
usage.
Think it is too difficult to manage innovation on your own?
Simply send your most promising employees to a critical thinking class to
encourage them to look at your internal operations differently. Or, assign a group of creative people to manage innovation
independently. Leaders will be amazed at the services that can be improved, as well as the
efficiency of even the simplest of tasks, when innovation is encouraged.
Leaders have to be secure within themselves when a transformational idea comes
from someone else or the process is doomed for failure.
Because of the reluctance to change, innovating is a
challenge to get started. But, there are enormous resources available to
effectively begin the process. Start reviewing books, websites, organizations,
and many more avenues that are available on innovative thinking. Although you are spending time, resources,
and money on finding the answers, learning how to make your department
innovative, will enhance your department’s operations. Innovation changes every single day. Have you
thought about your true contribution to
the police profession and how your legacy will be viewed? If you haven’t, you
still have time.
For more information on developing the critical thinking
skills necessary for innovation, click here:
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