Leadership in tackling crime

A leadership case study by Niall Kennedy MMKtng

When I lived in New York, it was a very scary place. 42nd Street was a disaster and crime was everywhere. Within a few years it was one of the safest cities in America. There is no doubt that the transformation was a result of excellent leadership. There is debate about which leader transformed New York City and it was probably a combined result of the Mayor, Police, Transit Authority and Borough Leaders. So no matter what state your environment is in it could not be as bad as New York with rampant murders and other terrible events. So if you want to improve your working environment here is the checklist on how the leaders turned New York around.

Shattering complacency: The leaders reminded people that it was not OK for New York to be as bad as it was.

Fixing broken windows: Broken windows were identified as the first sign a neighbourhood was going to fall to crime. Broken windows were fixed immediately to keep a positive environment.

Charging the community: There was lots of media and communications ensuring everyone knew they were fighting back. It was a reminder that everyone is on the same side.
Identifying struggle points and hot spots and deploying resources: There were heaps of problems with job descriptions and demarcation lines. These had to be straightened out across all departments.

Hitting the King Pins: get these king pins on your side and half the battle is won: If you do not have the support at the top do not bother starting.

Framing the challenge: You have got to correctly label the exact challenge. This is vital and if you get it wrong everyone will be working on different directions.

Walking the talk: Many people slip up here. It is a bit like “we are going to have an open transparent workplace and do not tell the accounts people”. Your people will not get behind you and you are doomed if you do not walk the talk.

Getting beyond “This is the way we always do it”: Really successful leaders anticipate pushback and the saboteurs never get a chance to railroad your plans.

Building an environment of continuous improvement: There is a Chinese saying that states a truly great leader will never be content. Everything can be improved. An Australian organisation recently announced that they had no room to grow as they had expanded every possible area for customers. Their share price is still sliding and thankfully there is a new leader taking the reins.

Niall Kennedy works for http://www.lionglobalhr.co.uk/ who run leadership development programmes . You can find products from Lion HR on our website (bullying), as well as further leadership resources.

For more about the Mayor of NY - the leader who is acknowledged as a major contributor to these amazing changes - you may wish to read more on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani