February 2026 | The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine 46
Leading The competencies of Leads, Develops and Achieves highlight the art of leadership. Those who tend to be more subordinate recognize their leader holds good character and care and the more confidence they have in their ability and the easier learning each competency will be. People want good leadership, to see standards set and upheld fairly and consistently. This is where the attributes of a good leader begin to shine and be seen from subordinates, peers and superiors.
The competency of Leads has two aspects of influence and conveyance. A leader uses influence within the formal chain of command by both directly leading and informally interacting with others, not just directly in the command chain to get things done.
Conveying influence derives from how the leader leads by example, clearly communicating intent and the conditions for success either verbally or by word, and leveraging the leader’ s interpersonal relationships, built on trust. Reputation precedes action and actions always speak louder than words.
Development Developing self and others is a continuous competency for leaders. Listed as Develops in the LRM, this involves self-development, unit development and agency development.
Leaders lead teams, from a small 3-man task force to statewide agencies. The level of development depends on the size and scope.
A leader’ s effectiveness is training the next generation of leaders that all are engaged and focused with a positive and cooperative attitude that encourages development. Being a leader requires self-development as well as unit development, to ensure standards as set, taught, and enforced.
Maintaining unit awareness of what is happening in and out of the unit requires trust and Communication and it is necessary to be aware of issues that may hurt agency’ s reputation or support from the community or other agencies. Leaders reflect the agencies they serve, and the last part is strategic development, to ensure long range policies, programs, and regulations are made to keep the organization relevant for the future. Doing this becomes the stewards of the profession.
Achieves Achieves is the summation and synchronization of all of the above; can the individual deliver and get results? Did they do the right thing, the right way, at the right time? Do they still have the trust and confidence of superiors, peers and subordinates? Work does not make work, people make work, and sometimes the pressure of success overwhelms an individual’ s ability to discern what is right and wrong. Good leadership is more than just results.
Leaders set the tone, good or bad, and toxic leadership is still leadership however bad. Sometimes it is not ego, but external pressure; leaders are always under the microscope and sometimes the pressure of getting results at any cost comes at the expense of subordinates, values and disregarding rules means the foundations that professions are built on are undermined. The mark of a good leader’ s decision is that it is done fairly in the present for the issue at hand, and consistently with the organization’ s values for the future.
In closing the Army’ s Leadership Requirements Model is a leadership blueprint to use, regardless of title or position, for what defines a good leader. This lists the core requirements and establishes the expectations for the leader. Leaders are different because people are different.