Leadership is a term that is used in many parts of our lives. In law enforcement, poor leadership glares like a forward-facing red light; it is probably easier for each of us to describe poor leadership than it is to describe and define good leadership.

Leaders must be able to manage personnel, but being a manager is far different from true leadership. Good leadership qualities are not automatically bestowed upon an individual who is promoted within an organization. Good leaders are developed, practice their skills and openly share good leadership qualities. Officers always hope that their new sergeant, lieutenant or captain has been promoted because they already displayed good leadership. However, we know that too often “management” prioritizes good managers over developing and encouraging good leaders.

In my years working in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), I encountered leaders who could be described as good, bad and horrible, as well as managers with no leadership skill.

One of the good leaders during my career was a captain who always entered the building through the door adjacent to the detective squad room. Unlike other captains, Captain Good would walk around the room talking with the detectives. He told silly “dad jokes” and, most importantly, listened and often asked the simple questions “What do you think?” and “What can I do for you?”

The Tin Soldier never listened, often spoke in a condescending manner and ignored the wealth of experience that surrounded him.

One of the bad leaders was higher-ranking, but someone I interacted with regularly. I’ll dub this bad leader the “Tin Soldier.” The Tin Soldier looked good in uniform, had worked prime assignments and was highly favored by upper management. However, the Tin Soldier never listened, actually talked over people, often spoke in a condescending manner and ignored the wealth of experience that surrounded him. The Tin Soldier would definitely score a negative number on an emotional IQ test.

Ranking as horrible was the captain who earned the nickname “IA.” In this case, IA did not stand for Internal Affairs, but was an acronym for Ignorance and Arrogance. Captain IA was at a very busy patrol division, but sadly, he had next to no patrol experience. Captain IA never met with the troops to understand their concerns or needs. Instead, Captain IA wasted time and money redesigning his office and restriping the parking lot. Worst of all, he disclosed an investigative key to local media during a homicide case, after being told that homicide detectives were not disclosing that particular fact.

The manager with no leadership skills always said “No” without ever giving a moment’s consideration. His nickname was Lieutenant No. He blamed “the boss” for everything, instilled no inspiration and seemed afraid to be an autonomous decision-maker, thus merely managing as he believed the upper echelon expected him to manage.

Each of those experiences contributed to the formation of my leadership style and helped me identify keys to good leadership more than any class, workshop or seminar. A good leader is someone, at any level of the organization, who is willing to adapt and be flexible, is confident in their decisions, encourages others to be confident, inspires creativity to solve problems and builds trust through openness and inclusion.

Being a good leader starts with having the ability to understand and manage your own behavior and having an awareness of others’ behaviors and emotions to give them guidance. Self-awareness, in my opinion, is one of the most overlooked characteristics of leadership. Officers will immediately sense when someone is unwilling to listen or be introspective.

A primary tenet of policing is adaptability and flexibility. I learned the concept of adaptability and flexibility in the police academy and applied the concept throughout my career, even carrying the concept into my personal life. Every successful leader develops and practices good leadership principles and is unafraid to adapt to changing situations, personnel and/or working environments. In a large department like LAPD, the types of assignments where you could find yourself being a leader are quite varied. A good leader knows that the group of seasoned investigators at a specialized unit requires a different approach than the young officers at a busy patrol division. The leader must account for the groups’ goals and needs to be effective. 

We have all met confident people in our lives and encountered arrogant people. Confident people are comfortable with themselves and have a firm understanding of what they do not know. Confident leaders are not afraid to make decisions on their own and, just as importantly, to seek input from others. Arrogant people are generally insecure and believe that they are or should be the smartest person in the room. Arrogant leaders are afraid of being open and seeking input from others for fear of exposing their own weaknesses. Good leaders seek out others’ strengths for balance, are not afraid to identify a weakness and work toward strengthening it. Real leadership has no room for arrogance. Arrogance can, in fact, be dangerous in law enforcement situations. 

Much of police work is problem-solving, whether it’s investigating a crime, resolving a family dispute or solving a homicide. A good leader encourages their people to use all available resources and employ creativity to solve problems. To encourage creativity, the leader must allow an open exchange of ideas and discourage behavior that demeans or belittles the creative thinker. If an employee trusts that their leader will listen, provide honest and constructive feedback, and overall “have their back,” that employee is more likely to participate in creative problem-solving. 

If you don’t trust your peers and supervision in tactical law enforcement situations, the potential for physical harm rises. In non-tactical situations, a lack of trust will erode the team, reduce productivity and create anxiety for an employee, further diminishing trust and productivity. For a leader to build trust, there must be openness. Openness is as simple as actively listening to the concerns of your employees and providing feedback at all stages of their work. Employees who give input are more to likely be productive and embrace a change if change is necessary. Transparency and inclusion build trust in the team. A major responsibility of a good leader is to develop their people into future leaders. Delegating responsibility, empowering and supporting your people builds trust and shows them that you believe in their abilities. 

Being a leader in law enforcement can be very rewarding. The rewarding part of leadership isn’t always about being the most popular person. A leader will sometimes have to make unpopular decisions. The difference between a good leader and a bad leader is the willingness to articulate the reason for an unpopular decision and to listen to those affected by that decision. Officers can understand the reason a good leader makes a decision, even if they don’t agree with it. 

The rewards of leadership come when you look at the body of work that was accomplished by your group with your encouragement, guidance and leadership. Giving everyone the same opportunities to develop their own leadership skills and watching a future leader grasp hold of an opportunity to lead is the most rewarding aspect of leadership and a sure sign of your success as a leader.