\u00a0<\/p>\n
My very first job and first elected office, I was voted president of the Mighty Mouse Club by the kids in my neighborhood.\u00a0 Mighty Mouse was a cartoon I had a conversation this week with an officer from a Midwest state who called me out of the blue.\u00a0 He said he was a reader and that he wanted to get it across to his superiors that morale was very low and the trainings they are having don\u2019t seem to address this issue or things that were important to the officers.\u00a0 He said there has been a little bit of research in their department that showed that job satisfaction was in the low 20 percentiles and that was a major issue. \u00a0It was heart wrenching to have a guy say that 80 percent of his department isn\u2019t crazy about their job anymore, a job many of them probably dreamed of taking.\u00a0 He asked me how do I get a training on something that really mattered to his officers doing the job.<\/span><\/p>\n I personally have seen low morale across the country lately and want to spend a couple of paragraphs to address this issue.<\/span><\/p>\n When times are difficult, it is easy to forget to make the people who work in our departments happy, but it is ultra-important.\u00a0 When we are busy fighting negative opinions that come from all directions, how do we make a work environment happy and keep morale up?\u00a0 Why should we be worried about inside things when the outside is falling apart?\u00a0 In the theater, it is said if you are not enjoying yourself on stage, why would anyone enjoy watching the show.\u00a0 In sports, you should rid yourself of the negative influences in the locker room if you want a better chance to be a winner.\u00a0 A family run with only negativity will not likely produce good kids.\u00a0 The examples go on and on. \u00a0Why would we not want good morale in our departments?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo Doc, are you saying I should buy ice cream for all my officers.\u201d\u00a0 Actually, that might work temporarily.\u00a0 The Hawthorne Effect is a way psychologists look at morale.\u00a0 There was this shop in Cicero Illinois, Hawthorn Works, and they commissioned a study to find out whether workers would produce better under low lights or higher lighting.\u00a0 This was back in 1925, well before most of us were born.\u00a0 What the researchers found is that neither lighting was the most effective, what was effective was the fact they were observed and there was change.\u00a0 Essentially, the employees felt that someone cared about them as was shown by changes in lighting.\u00a0 Even to this day, this result is produced over and over in many studies.\u00a0 Some say it is an observer effect, but to me it just shows people care about you caring.<\/span><\/p>\n So \u201chokie\u201d motivational posters and\u00a0 ice cream truck buys do have an effect.\u00a0 Giving officers attention does have an effect especially when the attention is positive and perhaps not earned. \u00a0Caring about an officer\u2019s family has a huge effect, or caring about their dream.\u00a0 \u201cHow\u2019s the condo at the beach going Bill, or does your daughter want some police mini badges \u2013 I have a few for her from Wisconsin and Indiana.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When I worked consulting for the FBI the phrase \u201cfamily first\u201d started circulating.\u00a0 I saw an immediate impact to job satisfaction back then.\u00a0 When I had a chief instill a police trivia contest and give out weekly prizes, big effect.\u00a0 Joke of the month \u2013 good morale booster.\u00a0 All of these kinds of things can have a big impact on a department, but there is much more.\u00a0 Trainings, roll call videos, programmed smiles, family involvement, kid\u2019s involvements, public awards, public relations, recognizing the everyday officer, etc. all can have an effect on officers.\u00a0 I heard of one department\u2019s respond to minority tensions in the community by having a barbecue for the residents.\u00a0 Here on Long Island they do an annual Cops vs. Transvestites volleyball game on one of the surrounding beaches with many, many people in attendance.\u00a0 Ask yourself, how do I let people know I care about them, or we care about each other, and then make it happen.<\/span><\/p>\n There are tons of articles on building morale in companies, but it really is more art and not so definable.\u00a0 Morale building cannot be learned from an article.\u00a0 Morale takes some creativity and a lot of support for the people doing the work as well as for you.\u00a0 Cops tend to forget the last part, and any morale system will never work if you don\u2019t take care of yourself first.\u00a0 It is not about being a popular boss, but about being a good boss.\u00a0 In these times, it may be more about making a family of your precinct or department, within your community.<\/span><\/p>\n I made a commitment to the man that called that I would work with him to get his satisfaction rating up past the 20 percentiles.\u00a0 I would come up with ways to help his morale and the morale of his department.\u00a0\u00a0 I have hours of ideas on my own, but I want to also ask my readers, what have you done that has brought good morale to your departments? \u00a0 I will collect the ideas together and let you see them when I have finished, if you give me any ideas that work.\u00a0 That\u2019s what a family does!<\/span><\/p>\n![\"mighty-mouse\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/mighty-mouse.jpg?resize=164%2C159\")
super hero mouse character that beat up cats in the 40\u2019s 50\u2019s and early 60\u2019s.\u00a0 The club members talked behind my back and all got a pen<\/span>ny from their p<\/span>arents and each gave me a penny for my being the president.\u00a0 I was so honored.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t tell me I was going to be paid!\u00a0 I remember I was about kindergarten age at the time.\u00a0 I remember I snuck to the ice cream truck when it came by later in the day, and I spent that seven cents on seven ice cream cones and gave one to each of the seven kids in the club.\u00a0 I remember I didn\u2019t order one for myself because I didn\u2019t think I had enough money, but the ice cream man gave me one anyway.\u00a0 (When I look back, my mother probably really paid for the cones, she had to watch while I went into the street).\u00a0 I thought I was doing something that made all the kids happy. \u00a0I remember a girl named Margery, who lived two doors down from me, saying before we left that day that it was the best club in the whole world.<\/span><\/p>\nDifficult Times<\/span><\/h2>\n
What Works?<\/h2>\n