The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | March 2024
Continued from previous page In the end , however , the result would be that the injury was properly treated and the wound would fully heal .
The lessons should seem all too familiar to today ’ s leaders .
1 . When we fail to discipline properly ( or at all ), the unresolved and underlying issues fester and cause more damage , eventually creating the need for much more invasive intervention in the future .
2 . Proper discipline ( especially in more serious cases ) can be difficult for a leader to execute . It will likely anger the employee , his or her peers , and sometimes the union to which the employee belongs .
3 . Just as the doctor naturally recoils from causing pain to a patient , human nature makes us naturally resistant to doing something that we know will have a short term negative impact on the employee ( loss of pay , organizational stress , potential negative career impact ).
4 . Focusing on the fact that he or she is doing what is best for the patient ’ s long term health is what gives the doctor the will to do what is right and overcome the resistance to delivering the difficult , yet necessary treatment . This also gives the doctor the comfort and clarity to make difficult decisions with a clear head and conscience . This lesson holds true for all leaders , regardless of profession .
Failure to properly discipline employees and ignoring employee-related issues can cause much larger problems and fallout down the road — a lesson some leaders and organizations learn the hard way .
In the case of the Dutch shipbuilder , his commitment to undertake the harder path was rewarded — an evaluation showed the rot had spread to the hidden area , allowing his team to identify and fix the problem that festered out of sight before it did significant damage and threatened the seaworthiness of the ship .
Despite a long list of leadership quotes , snippets , and clichés that filled my digital notebook throughout my career , there is only one that sat permanently as a daily reminder in the upper corner of the large white board in my office :
Soft healmasters make stinking wounds .
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