There are thousands - probably tens of thousands – of courses on ethics, values, integrity, morals, ethical leadership, and so on.  In most, a lot of time is spent on having students define these words and how important they are to organizational leaders.  This lesson is designed with a starting point that the students already have this basic understanding.  It is taught by an instructor that has been involved in the discipline of over a thousand employees including the termination of over 250 employees.  While serving as the Director of the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training (AZ POST) Board, he and his staff were involved in the decertification and suspension of certification of over 100 officers.  After his time as the AZ POST Director, he represented the DPS Director on the AZ POST Board and oversaw the decertification and suspension of certification for conservatively another 100 officers.  Much of the discipline that the instructor participated in throughout his career was the result of a failure of leadership – much of it at the first-line supervisor level. 

This lesson will discuss how discipline can be avoided in most cases by establishing clear ethical standards and reinforcing them on a regular basis, in many cases by holding employees accountable for minor transgressions.  This accountability can be as simple as the supervisor letting the employee know that they are aware of what the employee did and then reminding them of what the expectation is.  This lesson is heavy with student interaction and a number of relevant, actual cases of officer discipline are discussed in detail with students having to offer solutions about how this discipline could have been prevented.  The lesson will finish with several strategies on how leaders can create and maintain an ethical culture.  However, a leader’s ability to create and maintain this culture is only possible if they have credibility with their followers, which is built upon a foundation of honesty and personal integrity.

There was a lot of research and experience put into the preparation of this lesson, but it is not designed to be all-encompassing.  It is created in a manner in order to stimulate discussion in the classroom and the student’s organization. The ultimate goal of this lesson is to raise awareness about the leader’s responsibility for the conduct of their followers and the ethical culture of their organization.  These are the major topics to be discussed throughout this lesson:

* Identifying the Characteristics of Admired Leaders.

* Building Leadership Credibility.

* Affirming shared values – organizational and Personal.

* Implementing Leader Strategies for creating and maintaining an ethical culture.

* Using Ethical Autopsies to determine causes of employee misconduct.

* Reviewing Case Studies demonstrating failures of leadership.

TARGET AUDIENCE:  This one-day class involves a lot of student interaction and is recommended for every member of a police department – civilian and sworn.