How many times do you regret not communicating with another colleague or agency, failing to acknowledge the accomplishments or significant events of others, not providing condolences at the passing of a community personality or scores of other situations where a short note from you would likely have meant a great deal to another person or organization?

More importantly, how successful were you in developing and maintaining the type of communications and acknowledgment systems that you had originally contemplated? As I reflect on my many positions, I must sadly acknowledge many unmet good intentions in early assignments, but a reasonably impressive level of good-intentioned achievements in later assignments. The key factor — more so than any others — was the skills and expected proactivity of my immediate staff.

Let me be clear: The difference between an organization that creates a massively impressive administrative footprint and one that does little other than giving daily attention to routine tasks can be a single staff member. Reflecting on past situations where I had literally hundreds of subordinates, I want to give a special “shout-out” to Kathy Bennett, Annabelle Sariemento, Cheryl Konarski, Kari Tesselaar and Teri Long-Mewborn as extraordinary employees who literally made an enormous difference in greatly elevating the visibility and stature of their organizations by their proactivity and thoughtful behaviors. These are the employees who understood and embraced the leadership intentions of their bosses and who, often without being asked, always ensured that significant events were acknowledged with a note, whether the death of a loved one, a birth, an Eagle Scout ceremony, a citizen achievement or scores of other issues for which acknowledgment would be appreciated. These are the folks who created and maintained a newsletter for both active and retired employees, and kept all members of the family, from the newest hire to the oldest retiree, abreast of critical and interesting issues.

Common factors shared by the above-mentioned employees were their great character, work ethic and commitment to the organization and its members. Additionally, I greatly respected their knowledge and skills and (hopefully) treated them somewhat as partners, and in many situations accepted their advice and recommendations. Listening to them made me a better leader, and they, in turn, were much more committed to the organization because I valued their input.

While I must sadly admit to having had problematic staffers from time to time, who were unwilling or unable to keep pace with my leadership activities, I want to emphasize that good bosses most often have the ability to bring out the best in their immediate staffs, with the results being staff members who are eager to help the boss to become even more effective. There have been situations, fortunately few, where I have had to make clear that those extra tasks were job-related and expectations of the position.

In addition to regular employees, it is important to recognize that most communities have citizens who are eager to volunteer their time and talents to organizations they respect. The assistance of retired persons with clerical, writing, stenographic or computer skills who volunteer time for several hours each week as part of your administrative staff, working under the guidance of a regular clerical employee, can provide an enormous boost to your productivity and should be considered.

Examples of “extraordinary tasks”

Recognizing that the lines can be blurred in defining expected versus extraordinary tasks, the following actions and behaviors are examples of my definition of going that “extra mile” in support of a proactive and particularly effective organizational leader.

Acknowledgment cards: These are most often initiated and completed without being asked, reflecting verbiage crafted by the staffer based on familiarity with the leader’s style and expressions. They are done extensively for a wide multitude of events, including employee birthdays, births and sad events, as well as community citizen recognitions such as significant events, passings, awards and other issues for which recognition would be appropriate and appreciated. When they are completed, the staffer just puts them in a special folder for the boss to sign, or perhaps personalize with a brief inscription before mailing.

Correspondence: In many instances, correspondence can be initiated for a response to issues for which the actions of the leader are completely predictable, and other than a signature do not require the involvement of the boss. Examples would include responses to letters of appreciation, acknowledgment of issues of interest or concern, requests for elaboration, interest in certain programs or products, and the list goes on. As with the acknowledgment cards, when completed, the staffer just puts them in a special folder for the boss to sign before mailing, or to ask for modification if deemed necessary.

Copies of commendatory documents: In my last several agencies, I initiated a practice of sending copies of commendatory documents to the homes of my employees, as I wanted to share the celebration of employee achievement with the families of my people. I am aware that these documents, usually in the form of a note from me, were appreciated and ended up posted on refrigerators. A word of caution: Make sure the employee information is current to avoid sending something to a hostile former family member!

Use of dictation

While often mistakenly discredited by bosses and support staff, the use of dictation is easy and can produce a significant volume of completed work. Although stenographers are a thing of the past, a competent typist with a computer, with the boss sitting alongside, can produce an enormous volume of work in a short period of time. Two competent persons working in this fashion can get a great deal of work done quickly, with the boss doing a final proofread while directing whatever changes or modifications are necessary — then with a tap on the Print key, the correspondence is done.

Beyond the team approach between the boss and the staffer, just about every electronic device now has a dictation feature where the boss can dictate items for the staff to complete, with the likely involvement of the staffer to “clean up” and possibly modify a few rough edges in the dictation. While not as efficient as the team dictation approach, the remote dictation can be very helpful, especially when the boss is out of the office; it is great to have a memo just awaiting signature upon your return to the office! The growth of artificial intelligence can be helpful to this process, especially in relatively generic matters.

Written versus typed notes

I think most would agree that a handwritten note is most often the preferred approach for something of a personal or semi-personal nature, but the tradeoff is a large volume of information versus the predictable backload or delay when intended written tasks pile up. I have addressed this issue by informing my staff of those matters that I prefer to handle as a written note and asking that a typed address envelope be prepared with a blank note attached for me to complete. Also, it is easy to add a happy face image or underline a portion of a typed note — tune up a note in any way you choose.

Personal examples

As the commanding officer of LAPD’s Hollywood Division, I found myself instantly underwater and overwhelmed at the administrative monster that I commanded, and that was without the many proactive notes that I would like to have initiated. This is where I first learned to use dictation, and I am so thankful for having developed this skill. I have been successful (usually with a good-natured ultimatum!) in causing many subordinate managers to develop this skill as well. Each day I would grab a batch of information needing responses or adjudication (disciplinary actions) and ask my secretary to “join me at the computer.” Going home at the end of the day (they were long ones) knowing that the large stack of administrative tasks had been addressed was a wonderful feeling!

Several years later, as the newly appointed marshal of San Bernardino County, I inherited a situation that was just the opposite. I took over a solid organization consisting of several hundred wonderful men and women, but it was in stagnation. Administrative tasks were being met, but there was no proactivity, ingenuity or initiative in evidence. Other than the badges, uniforms and doughnuts, the organization bore little resemblance to a law enforcement agency. I immediately ramped up everything within sight, including new stationery and information regarding the agency. I developed an awards program and retroactively recognized employees who had performed meritorious acts that had been overlooked. I revamped the evaluation system to ensure accurate descriptions of performance. I made deputies available to other agencies for various activities (parolee compliance visits, sex registration verifications, etc.) each afternoon (when many courtrooms went “dark” and the bailiffs were available). I assigned personnel to every POST course where I could get a quota. I also appointed deputies from each of the 13 divisions to redesign vehicle art and badges. Further, everything that was worthy of mention, from births to birthdays to meritorious actions, resulted in a widely distributed written memo of some type. In three years, the Marshal’s Department went from a backwater agency unfairly seen as an agency of last resort to a place with a backlog of applications that was aggressively sought by the county sheriff’s department for absorption (which occurred).

Summary

Men and women with guns and badges are certainly the backbone of law enforcement, but solid clerical personnel working in an administrative partnership with the boss are an often-overlooked force multiplier in getting essential things done in an efficient manner at a high rate of speed! More importantly, though, they are critical partners with you in building trust, teamwork and commitment within your agency, as well as within the community it serves.