Red Team Thinking for Law Enforcement Leaders
Over the past four decades , researchers have identified many , many more . Here are just a few :
• Sunk Cost Fallacy : This refers to our tendency to throw good money after bad , because we have such a hard time giving up on something we ’ ve already invested time and resources in , even if it ’ s not working .
• Status Quo Bias : Most people prefer to keep doing what the same thing they ’ ve always been doing , even if it ’ s no longer achieving the desired outcomes .
• Normalcy Bias : Most people have a hard time imagining just how bad things could get when confronted with an emergency or crisis , so they fail to act aggressively enough to deal with it effectively .
Again , these all serve some practical purpose : the sunk cost fallacy prevents us from giving up at the first hurdle , status quo bias keeps us from constantly rocking the boat , and normalcy bias allows us to sleep at night . But they all cause real problems for us , particularly when we ’ re trying to solve complex problems – like rethinking policing .
Of course , these biases and blind spots get magnified when you gather people together in a group . Worse than that , organizations breed even more problems – groupthink , careerism , and internal politics just to name a few . All of these things cloud our thinking in different ways , and all of them lead us to make poor decisions , at least some of the time .
That is where Red Team Thinking comes in .
The Cure : Red Team Thinking Red Team Thinking represents a major evolution of the Army ’ s formal red teaming concept . Red Team Thinking does not require a separate team of people ; it can be used informally with a small , ad-hoc group or even by individual decision makers . It is also easier to learn and simpler to practice . These qualities make Red Team
Thinking fast and adaptable , allowing leaders to make good decisions faster . There are many tools in the Red Team Thinking arsen .
They include :
• Six Strategic Questions™ : A simple tool designed to ensure that a strategy is solving the right problem and will lead to the desired outcomes .
• Assumptions Challenge™ : A technique for identifying and challenging the stated and unstated assumptions upon which a plan or strategy is based .
• Four Ways of Seeing : A tool for mapping out how a situation or plan is likely to be viewed by different internal and external stakeholders .
• PreMortem Analysis : A technique for figuring out how a plan could fail in order to make sure it doesn ’ t .
• The Enemy Within™ : A tool designed to expose the things your organization is doing to defeat itself .
There are many others as well , but they all work together to help leaders navigate complex situations , develop robust options , and select the best way forward even when faced with an uncertain future .
Red Teaming Policing “ In this ever changing , complex environment that law enforcement must operate in today , Red Team Thinking provides clinical , articulable methods to ensure that a mission or plan has the highest probability of success ,” says Matt Tomasic , a 23-year veteran of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department and executive director of the city ’ s Police Athletic League .
Matt and his former partner , Officer Octavio “ Chato ” Villalobos , helped establish the Westside Community Action Network ( CAN ) Center in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Kansas City . It was a beat fraught with
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