Be the Change You Want to See in Agency Culture

Be the Change You Want to See in Agency Culture
By: Lt. Robert Spano

A recent issue in law enforcement is the ability to recruit and retain employees in this particular climate. There are some departments out there that are at full staff, however many are not. A major part of the equation to try and fix this issue is agency culture. Agency culture has a direct and profound effect on recruitment and retention. Departments should strive to have an agency culture where the focus is on strengthening and empowering our employees and teaching them to go out and be the best version of themselves.

Providing Customer Service
In most police departments in the United States, the common and best practice is to give outstanding service to the public. We do not sell a product. Our product is customer service. As leaders, we instill in our subordinates to always give outstanding customer service and to treat the public better than we want ourselves and our family members to be treated. This is nothing new for most of us who are in leadership positions. I think that it is safe to say that this is the common best practice.

Treating Employees Well
Money is not everything. Employees want to be treated well and work in a positive environment where they feel they belong and share a common purpose. We need to make sure that our agency culture creates a positive environment where employees feel supported. How we treat our employees will have a direct impact on this. Employees also need to feel that they have growth opportunities within their organizations. 

The problem I see is that most police departments treat the public better than they treat their officers. This is a major problem when it comes to retention. It also affects the agency’s ability to recruit. Imagine if we as police leaders could change the culture of our agencies and make it common practice to treat our employees the same positive way that we treat the public/members of our community. Imagine the impact this would have on most departments’ retention levels, as well as recruitment efforts.

Empowering Employees
Our goal should be to strengthen and empower our people and put them in positions where we know they can win. We should be using tools like mentoring and coaching to promote this type of positive agency culture where our people feel supported and feel like they matter. This will give them a sense of purpose and will give them more buy-in to the mission and to the organization as a whole. This makes it easier for all of us to achieve the police mission, which is to serve the public. We promote the environment where we expect our officers to go out and give outstanding customer service, to always go the extra step. We lead by example. We set clear expectations. To support all of this, we must give our employees the same great level of customer service that we expect them to give to the public. In most cases, this costs us nothing but time.

Think about how much time and money we invest in onboarding a new employee. Why would we not want to protect our investment? Well, in order to do this, we should be treating our people well, strengthening and empowering them and putting them in positions where they can win. This produces happy, loyal, and productive employees. We should be out there leading from the front, establishing or reinforcing our positive agency culture. We should be just as employee-focused as we are focused on giving outstanding service to our community members.

In addition to agency culture, employee-focused mission statements, mentoring and coaching, is the new initiative for agencies to have peer support teams and be concerned with employee wellness. This is another step in the right direction where we show our employees that they matter and that we are concerned about their well-being. I am happy to see our profession move in this direction where we are more concerned about our employees’ health and well-being. This is truly a well-rounded approach to retention, which in turn improves our ability to recruit.

Conclusion
In conclusion, we need to treat our employees the same way we treat the public. We need to mentor and develop them, and we need to be concerned with their health and well-being. People will tell you money isn’t everything. It’s true. Most employees want to feel a sense of belonging, accomplishment and to feel that they matter to their agency. What better way to do this than to strive for an employee-focused agency culture where we expect excellence from our employees and we give them the best in return by strengthening them, empowering them and place a major emphasis on their health and wellbeing. Be the change you want to see in your agency.

Robert Spano currently serves at a University Police Department in Northern Virginia, where he has served as a Detective/Background Investigator, Police Lieutenant/Patrol Watch Commander, and Police Captain/Patrol Operations Division Commander. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from Widener University in 2000 and is attending the FBI National Academy, Session 287