Here we are Supervisors… crying out for you to listen not only from across the nation, but across the world. The complaints echoed from your line employees match those in this same job, but from across all corners of the earth. In an already toxic job these days; it is the responsibility of the supervisor to ensure their employees are motivated enough to withstand the negativity. It is up to the supervisors to take heed, and listen to their employees. Here are a few examples of what we are asking of our supervisors.
Care about your Officers-
This is one of the most important things a supervisor can do for their employees. It’s simple: CARE. Care for your employee and the personal things they may be going through in their home life. Believe it or not, and whether you like it or not, our personal lives and the turmoil and stress we are going through DOES drift over in to our work life. (This really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.) It WILL affect our job performance. Putting on the uniform and duty belt is not some secret “Pause” button that makes everything stop until we end our shift. Simply reaching out to your employee to let them know that they are NOT required to share their personal drama with you, but that you would listen if they wanted to share, can make all of the difference. During one of my recent monthly meetings with my Sergeant, he took the time to ask me how I was doing. He knew the turmoil I was going through in my personal life with my recent divorce to another employee (and the drama that goes along with that). It was touching that he actually had the guts to ask me if I was okay, instead of doing what everyone else was doing which was ignoring me because the topic is uncomfortable.
Be trustworthy-
If and when your line Officer DOES decide to confide in you about their personal life and/or stress at home, listen to your employee, and then keep it to yourself. The Police Department can sometimes be referred to as “High School.” Anything your employee told you in confidence should not be repeated (you know… keep it in confidence!). Information that is repeated to others is rarely repeated correctly, with good intentions, or for the right reasons (also known as gossip…we will touch on that in the next paragraph). If your employee doesn’t trust you, they will not work hard for you and you will have broken any bond you may have built up until that point.
Don’t engage in gossip-
Do I really need to explain this one? Come on, guys (and ladies). Supervisors should NOT ONLY refrain from engaging in gossip amongst their employees, but they should be the ones to shut it down. In my career, I had a direct supervisor START rumors about me working out with another male employee on our lunches once or twice a week. Seeing as I was the only female on the shift, and the fact that I had no other female employees to work out with, it severely affected my work environment due to the fact I felt even more isolated. It was extremely disheartening to hear that my own supervisor was starting these rumors about me amongst my entire shift. Don't be that supervisor. Stop the negative talk.
Positive Reinforcement-
I once had a supervisor do nothing but tell me negative things about my performance. He would pick at simple grammatical errors that I would make on a report while completely sleep deprived in the middle of the night. This supervisor continuously beat me down mentally until I finally asked him during one of our monthly meetings if he ever had anything positive to say about my job performance. He answered, “Do you need me to tell you every time you do something good?” I responded, “No, I need you to tell me SOMETHING good.” Don’t be ignorant, supervisors. We are not much different than we were as children. We NEED to hear something positive. It motivates us, fuels us, makes us WANT to work for you and make YOU look good to your boss. If you only supply your employees negative feedback, then what would it matter to the employee to do better?
Try to make the job fun again-
Fun… you say? I hear the sarcasm in your voice as you read this. I know, I know… encouraging a supervisor to make this job “Fun” seems like an absolutely ridiculous request. But, I once had a supervisor that did just this. He will remain unnamed due to the fact I don’t want the higher ups finding out a supervisor was actually liked by his employees (*GASP*). This supervisor let us “Bowl” down the hallway in patrol using a tennis ball. The objective was to hit a water bottle filled with a couple of dollars from our entry fee we paid to join the game. This quick and simple game lightened all of our moods before we hit the streets to work for the night. So, if you have any interest in motivating your employees with happiness by playing stupid games before work, then be creative and go for it! Your employees will appreciate it.
Don't micromanage your employees-
One pet peeve of Police Officers worldwide are the Sergeants that hover over their every move on calls, pretending to “Supervise.” We get that you are doing your “Supervisor thing” (said with extreme sarcasm) but we don't actually need you breathing down our necks. I once had a supervisor that could not, WOULD NOT, let me work on my own. He would show up to calls and would order me to arrest when a citation would have been sufficient. Even though I had already made my decision as the responding officer, and a decision I felt was best, he took away my discretion by giving those orders. We were hired to be independent thinkers, make our own decisions, and work alone most of the time. LET US DO OUR JOBS. Be confident in your employees and their decisions.
Psssssst…. sometimes it can make the employee nervous when you SUPER-supervise (I just made that word up, but you get what I am saying). One of the big perks of this job is that we are mostly autonomous. We all enjoy being able to make our own decisions, using discretion where we see fit, and patrolling the way we like. Sometimes, humans do things correctly, but just in a different way than you. Try to let the employee do THEIR job THEIR way, as long as it is done a RIGHT way. (Remember, there might be several “right” ways.)
Stand up for your people-
We all know that “blacklisting” exists in this job…. hence the entire Fit Cops “Blacklisted gear” (available for sale). When you get blacklisted as a Police Officer, you can usually expect a weaker supervisor to cave to the pressure from command staff to punish the blacklisted employee with whatever stupid things these administrators can create. We also know that you, as supervisors, can also get blacklisted and punished if you speak out against it. You are not immune to the backlash. What we are asking of our supervisors is that you DO stand up for those that are being wrongfully targeted. Your employees will have the utmost respect for you if you sacrifice some of the safety of being a “Yes man” and choose to stand strong behind your employees that are being harassed. This is the only way to create change in this culture of punishing our own. Supervisors will find that their sector will be the most cohesive, be much more proactive, and produce the greatest amount of results.
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If you want to get the most out of your employees you can take these simple suggestions. Make it a “Happy work environment”… not a “Hostile work environment.” You will see amazing changes in your employees and their work product.
Kayla Walker | Fitness Contributor
KP is a veteran police officer, mom, wife and fitness competitor. Having faced the challenges of being a small (5'-3") woman on the street and all the negativity that faced her as she entered the fitness competition realm, KP started an online community via Facebook (facebook.com/fitcops) and Twitter (@fitcops) and Instagram (@fitcops and @kpatfitcops) to support fitness oriented officers. That online community has grown and she's started a third career as a writer to help share the fitness message and to focus on challenges that face female police officers in today's world.
