Gordon Graham
Category: Public Safety
Gordon Graham here with Today’s Tip from Lexipol. Today’s Tip is for everyone in public safety leadership. Whether you wear stripes, bars, or stars – or you’re the informal leader in the room – it’s important to talk about training your people on leadership skills.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Leadership? That’s for supervisors, right? Wrong. Leadership is for everyone. Because whether you’re leading an entire agency or just setting the tone for your shift, good leadership is what keeps us safe, effective, and professional.
“Start developing your future leaders today. Because when a crisis hits – and it will – you want leaders, not just rank-holders, on your team.”
Let’s start with a hard truth. Bad leadership is expensive. It can cost an agency in morale, retention, mistakes, or liability. Poor leadership leads to poor decision-making. And in public safety, bad decisions can mean injuries, lawsuits, or even loss of life. Yet too often, we assume people will just “figure leadership out” after they’re promoted.
Here’s where training comes in. If you’re not actively developing your people’s leadership skills before they get promoted, you’re setting them and your agency up for failure. Leadership training should start early and continue throughout a person’s career. It’s not just about tactics and policies. It’s about communication, accountability, emotional intelligence, and decision-making under pressure.
And leadership training isn’t just for supervisors. Every person in your organization should understand how to influence others positively, how to take ownership of their decisions, and how to build a culture of integrity and respect. The time to adequately train agency leaders isn’t after the promotion. It’s before any formal elevation into a leadership role takes place. Remember, the organization expects leaders to continually train their replacements. That’s called continuity of operations, and it’s critical for organizational success.
So here’s your action step. Make leadership training a priority, not an afterthought. Start developing your future leaders today. Because when a crisis hits – and it will – you want leaders, not just rank-holders, on your team.
And that’s Today’s Tip from Lexipol. Until next time, Gordon Graham signing off.
