The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | May 2017
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family breakdowns . By the time you are on your second or third marriages , it ’ s too late . These 5 strings lead to a hostile working environment , comprising bad behaviour , leaders are aware that this is happening , but because criminals are being successfully tackled , they fail to act on the negative culture bubbling beneath the surface , which can only lead to damage , either in terms of emotional well-being or financial damages . It ’ s “ a problem lying in wait ,” as Gordon Graham explained later in the week during this year ’ s course .
Chief Williams calls this the FACTS theory ® - the Fundamental Association of Control , Trust and Success within law enforcement . Guess what ; there ’ s more . For every reaction where we trust less and try to control what we cannot control , trying to reconcile this officers tend to lean towards feelings of hopelessness and helplessness . Somewhere around the four year mark is a fulcrum where the balance of control and trust and success is about right , and officers are working healthily within the zone , and if they remained at this point they would continue on a successful trajectory .
But it doesn ’ t last , as the years pass by , officers fail to recognise that they are in the zone , they are both efficient and effective , so they go on to attempt to control more and more , and their willingness to trust lessens . When the people they love or work with cannot be controlled , then that ’ s when the fun starts .
This crossover manifests as a triangle representing feelings of hopelessness , helplessness , and worthlessness , and suddenly three sides of the triangle of those who commit suicide come into stark focus , this FACTS theory mirroring feelings of suicide exactly .
This final side of worthlessness comes about by no longer being seen as successful as the toxic traits take over , and officers then begin to have a heightened sense of their 2 phobias , in their 1 life . Chief Williams says this is your chance to countdown to thinking about making a change : 5 , 4 , 3 , 2 , 1 …
Wait a minute though , I have yet to mention those two phobias ( you may be sitting there thinking officers aren ’ t scared of anything , are they ?). However , these 2 phobias are writ large like sharks , or venomous snakes ; firstly the fear that we can get caught controlling too little , or worse still , the fear of being caught trusting too much on the street .
Read them again so you understand them .
We then replicate this at home and fear it in the office too . In remaining cynical , pessimistic and bitter , these beliefs and values will soon affect your state of mind , and are a pre-cursor for ethical collapse , both at work and at home .
Chief Williams likens this self-reflection to a foggy mirror where the guardians of law enforcement lose their way . Good leaders will reflect at this stage . If you are thinking this may be you , you may have a little apologising to do at home yourself , and you should remind yourself to snap out of it .
So here ’ s the interesting thing ; at our level we broadly all do the same job , have the same shared experiences and responsibilities , and come from similar backgrounds , but we can all make different decisions … don ’ t let yours be based on those 5 strings and try and remember who you really are , who you really were when you joined the job . This will be difficult , but like breaking the sound barrier , “ the cockpit shakes hardest just before the breakthrough .” ( Charles Elwood ‘ Chuck ’ Yeager USAF , first to break the sound barrier ). ( For more info www . breachpointconsulting . com )
I think you ’ ll agree that this is a hard act to follow , but follow it I must , and did so with an input on “ Employee Engagement and Coaching for Leaders ,” and whilst the success or otherwise of this sessions should be left to those attendees to comment upon , Chief Williams ’ session played right into my hands . So how do we leaders prevent those good people who join us from becoming cynical and pessimistic , and prevent their 5 strings being pulled ? Leading through those dual challenges of control and trust ! Leaders turn to Employee Engagement .
In contrast to the fast paced delivery of the previous Chief , I remained silent for some 3 or 4 minutes at the beginning of the presentation , and just watched the faces of the delegates as they squirmed , writhed and felt awkward , frustrated by my lack of engagement with them as a trainer . Although I hate to say this , but it looks like my presentation was going down like a lead balloon , the participants were definitely not being inspired . Together we explored this further , and found even stronger emotions being displayed as a direct consequence of this lack of engagement , lack of information , lack of instruction ; these disengaged observers were no longer incentivised to continue . Even though it was only a few minutes of disengagement ! The emotions that
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