Three Lines That Changed Our Perspective Of Engagement

In January 2010 three public safety organizations participated in a ground breaking study on engagement in public safety. In the course of the study over 600 officer and administrative staff responded to questions relating directly to their engagement. So what made this study different? For starters it was developed by actual public safety officers who put their lives on the line with the rest of their team mates. These guys actually know the culture and developed questions that were relevant to the professions. Lastly, unlike most surveys which take a top down approach to the engagement of the employees this study looked at engagement from the bottom up. Change your perspective and new insights arise into the causes of old problems. This allows new solutions to be developed that work instead of applying age old solutions that do not work in this new generation of workers.

The study included 49 questions pertaining to the level of knowledge an employee had of their organization prior to employment through their intentions to stay with their organization, equipment issues, and lastly internal communication issues. Some of the results of the study were published by the FBI in the December 2011 edition of the Law Enforcement Bulletin.

Now to the critical information: Three lines which changed the perspective of employee engagement in public safety. Conventional wisdom says an employee begins work in public safety and as the years go by their engagement slowly drops. Well the research brings a new perspective to light. The problem on the loss of engagement is not solely on the individual but the organization itself significantly contributes to the disengagement of employees through the lack of responsiveness to the needs of employees.  When you look at the PowerPoint, at the bottom of the blog, you will see three lines. These are the three lines which redefine how we look at public safety engagement. The lines represent the question and results of the most important question in the study, what drives your engagement or disengagement:

• My organization is mostly responsive to my ideas and I have increased my performance and willingness to suggest ideas.
• 11.8% 66
• My organization is mostly responsive to ideas and responsive to ideas and I am satisfied with meeting organizational performance standards and do not wan to suggest ideas.
• 2.3% 13
• My organization is not always responsive to my idea, but O continue to suggest ideas and maintain my high level of performance
• 51.1% 285
• My organization is not always responsive to my ideas, but I will continue to maintain an acceptable level of performance and suggest some ideas.
• 27.4% 153
• My organization is mostly responsive to my ideas and I have increased my performance and willingness to suggest ideas.
• 11.8% 66

People do not simply give up when their organizations are not living up to expectations. No, they fight, scream, and kick, before they finally give up and become disengaged. People desperately try to suggest idea and make changes which they believe will improve their organizations. When they feel they are ignored they begin to give up. This reality does not start 10 years into a person’s career, no, we found it begins immediately upon employment. That’s why it is so critical to be honest with applicants about who you, the organization, are and provide a realistic picture to perspective employees. Once someone is hired and they feel they have been lied to they are going to be pissed and get angry. Now you have an angry, disengaged, employee who will be on your payroll for the next 20 years. Congratulations, you met your recruiting goals. 

As individuals move up their organizational charts and take on more responsibility, and take on a more strategic role, they begin to loose connections with the first line officers. As the commander makes long term strategic decisions based on his or her needs, and that of the organizations budget, they forget that their decision has a real word impact on the officers and their willingness to perform. The officers in turn, try to either say, “I’m on board and let’s rock, “or “Hey this is a bad idea and I have a better, cheaper, way of doing something.” As the officers feel they can not get their feeling know to people who can make changes, or worse they feel they are being ignored, they become frustrated. Frustrations turn to anger, and anger turns to disengagement.

This does not have to be the final answer; No, but it required command staffs to open their eyes, and try new things. For instance, give up on out dated managerial ideas that were created during the “greatest generation”, stop listening solely to professors who have no real world experience but simply regurgitate ideas that worked in the past and rehash old studies in order to obtain job security in their university. No, simply think outside of the box. No, create a new box for other to try and thing outside of. Do something radial for command level personnel. Get out of your office and talk to the officers. If they have an idea which make sense, is financial viable, and benefits the organization, let them run with it. Take your egos out of the equation for the benefit of your most valued asset: your officers who do the grunt work everyday.

Take a look at the Power Point, again. If every organization is operating at the same effective level, imagine what you could do if you move simply 15% of the people who said their organization was not listening to them but they were fully engage and move them to the 11% who stated their organization was fully responsive and they were fully engaged. You would be a Rock Star in the world of Performance Management, with only 26% of your organization stating they were fully engaged. People would be beating down your doors to find out how your organization is now the mega-star in public safety.  You can do this by simply changing your top down perspective to a bottom up perspective and make the changes that need to be done.  If you don’t believe me, try it and see. If I am wrong then I guarantee you will have still learned something new about your organization. If I am correct, repair to move into your new home, because your local government is going to raise your salary or a large organization is going to bring you in. It is your choice, remain the same mediocre organization or become the Rock Star Leader you think you are.