The New Leader's 4 Stages Of Responsibility
May 4, 2024 – Many new leaders in criminal justice agencies feel pressure to have a clear positive impact early in their tenure, and that’s usually attempted by way of “fixing” things quickly after they begin work in the new role. Unfortunately, when new leaders jump into action too fast, a lot of unintended consequences ensue.
More than jumping into action or taking a stand, leaders like you will benefit from listening before initiating change. The pause before action allows for
- A thorough assessment of the situation that includes input from diverse perspectives.
- Time to demonstrate thoughtfulness and to build trust with team members.
- More opportunities to make more informed decisions.
By taking your time, you can avoid costly mistakes, foster collaboration, and ensure that your actions are aligned with the organization’s goals and values. Overall, listening and pausing are essential practices for effective leadership and organizational success, especially at the highest levels.
ACJI recommends a four-stage process for new leaders. These leadership responsibilities apply to any new leader, but we’ve seen them work especially well in justice system organizations.
New Leadership Stage 1: Listen
The work of listening includes asking for feedback, digesting the results, and engaging the system in what you found. As with all listening campaigns, not all information is actionable, meaning some pieces of feedback received will remain unaddressed as it does not rise to the top of the list of priorities.
Communicating an “I heard you” message can go a long way to help your team members feel understood. Plus, this helps keep the information pipeline open for feedback in the future. Using feedback received, leadership can identify opportunities and priorities for the future and work to create systems that align around the vision.
New Leadership Stage 2: Vision
Using the feedback received in the listening stage, you and your team can work to develop a clear vision for the future of the system as a whole. This includes identifying:
- Highest-impact strategies that support a shift toward the desired organizational structure and culture
- Non-negotiable components that will be used to create benchmarks and metrics to gauge movement over time, and
- Key values for the organization.
This model then become a lens to filter policies, practices, and processes through to engage staff in the organizational shift as well as insulate progress from the many competing interests that exist within the justice space.
New Leadership Stage 3: Assess
Once the vision and model have been developed, the leadership team can then rely on ACJI’s Five Dynamics of Effective Implementation to assess a baseline of where the organization is at in relation to the vision and model that was developed in the visioning stage. This creates opportunities for capacity building and engagement across the organization. The baseline assessment then becomes a guide for the work moving forward and reassessments are completed yearly to gauge progress.
New Leadership Stage 4: Align
Once the assessment stage is completed, the leadership team can identify priority areas for those responsible for aligning policies, practices, and policies with the desired vision and model. Most important to this work is to create feedback loops that engage the leadership team in the process and build implementation skills among those responsible for addressing barriers and challenges as they are identified.
Creating Feedback Loops Lead@Work Episode
To Sum Up
Stepping into a leadership role is both exhilarating and challenging. While new leaders may feel compelled to make immediate changes, it’s crucial to first listen and reflect. This approach helps to understand the dynamics of the team, build trust, and make well-informed decisions.
By prioritizing thoughtful assessment over hasty actions, leaders can avoid unintended consequences, foster collaboration, and align their initiatives with the organization’s goals and values. Ultimately, effective leadership and organizational success hinge on the ability to pause, listen, and carefully consider the next steps.
