INSIGHTS
How do you prepare individuals for their next promotion or assignment prior to their appointment ?
A Police Chief must be the Bus Driver : ensuring he / she is allowing the right people on the bus , getting the people who need to depart the bus off and figuring out where people should sit on the bus . Hiring quality people is essential to ensuring a successful succession process . If the right people are not on the bus , the bus will not go in the right direction and will break down or go in circles . Removing the negative employees will help keep the bus running smoothly and moving in the right direction . Understanding where people should sit on the bus is extremely important because to be able to mentor someone , you have to know that person and their capabilities . Some people are not cut out to be supervisors where others seem prepared when they walk in the door , others have potential but are in need of mentoring to reach their full potential . A chief of police must know this about his or her employees before they can move people into the right seats on the bus .
A good Chief will task them , train them and include them . Task officers , supervisors and any other employees who are wanting to move up with assignments as if they are already in the position they are vying for . Let them be the “ Chief for a Day ” if necessary to show them how many different areas they have to be familiar with to do this new job . Let the officer approve reports at the end of the shift or do the
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‘ pass-on sheets ’ for the oncoming shift just to allow them to step out of their comfort zone . Train officers for the job they are wanting to attain by sending them to necessary training and educate them on what is necessary to get to that position . Include them in meetings that they were not privy to before and show them what this new position entails like dealing with problem employees and shift allocation . Introduce them to community leaders , political leaders and other important people who can help them be successful in their move up the ladder . An employee needs to understand all of these to be able to function in their new position .
One of the most difficult tasks a chief has to face is the preparation of employees to move into the next position . It can also be the most rewarding when you see the succession plan working and these employees thriving . If a Chief follows these steps , their success rate will continue to soar as it allows these employees to move forward with the right people in their lives to help guide them .
Chief Mansour has been the Villa Rica Police Chief for 15 years . With 39 years of law enforcement experience , he previous served at the Floyd County Police Department , University of West Georgia Police Department , and the Carrollton Police Department . He holds a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and a Master of Public Administration in Police Sciences . He is also a 2000 graduate of the Georgia Command College
Chief Dan Flynn
Leaders who best prepare subordinates for potential promotion or transfer to a new desired assignment begin by working to inspire them to strive for advancement . Once inspired , they become motivated and their motivation leads to goal-directed behavior . Thus , if an individual who wants a new position badly enough and realistically believes he or she can attain it , he or she will work to train , learn and prepare for it . Therefore , the key to good mentoring is to help them visualize themselves in the new achievement and encourage them to seek or compete for it .
Effective mentoring goes hand-inhand with a fair merit-based promotion system or selection process . It logically follows that if applicants perceive they will have a fair chance to attain a desired position , they will feel encouraged to engage in goal-directed behavior ( learning , preparing and role modeling ) in order to strive for the desired position . Police officers in particular naturally comprehend and appreciate basic fairness in the workplace