Every year the Springfield Police Department hosts a three-week-long Leadership in Police Organizations (LPO) Training. LPO is the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s (IACP) leadership development training program. LPO is modeled after the training concept of dispersed leadership (“every officer a leader”) and delivers modern behavioral science concepts and theories uniquely tailored to the law enforcement environment. Although primarily police-focused, we have found that the leadership concepts taught in this course apply to other public safety disciplines and have expanded the offering to include supervisors within the Springfield Fire Department and Cox EMS.
The three-week LPO course explores leadership at different levels in the organization: leading individuals, leading groups, and leading organizations. The course teaches students about these levels of leadership using the following methods:
- Applied learning: The course is highly interactive, using small group case studies, videos, role-playing, and class exercises to reinforce learning.
- Translation of theory to practice: Participants learn behavioral science theories with real-world application to better understand how to lead change in individuals, groups, and organizations.
- Practical leadership strategies: Participants learn strategies for influencing human behavior to increase motivation, satisfaction, and performance throughout an organization.
At the end of the course, students are able to:
- Understand and apply modern behavioral science and leadership theories that affect human motivation, satisfaction, and performance in the achievement of organizational goals
- Learn frameworks to translate knowledge and experience into effective leader actions
- Integrate course content into daily leadership practices
- Inspire a lifelong commitment to the study and practice of effective leadership