Stripes and Bars AMAURY MURGADO
ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES When you're faced with multiple must-do tasks, ask yourself what's important now. IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS, setting priorities can mean the dif- International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers ference between life and death. In a survival situation, you Association, at the Southeast Warrior Symposium back in are responsible for four things: shelter, water, fire, and food. 2012. He spoke about a decision-making model that I have This is very important because in extreme situations, con- come to realize is perfect for establishing priorities. He exventional wisdom suggests you can live without shelter for plained that WIN is a simple but powerful acronym that three hours, without water for three days, and without food comes from famous Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz. for three weeks. So, what's the rule of thumb in a survival It stands for "What's Important Now?" It helps you focus on situation? Start working on what might kill you first. In other what is important at a given place in time. WIN doesn't look back nor does it look forward. It lives in the present moment words, there can only be one number one priority at a time. If we don't set priorities, we tend to follow the path of least where most decisions must be made. Supervisors tend to get overwhelmed if they don't slow resistance, avoiding the big and difficult jobs and thereby leading to delay or failure. As a supervisor, in order to pre- things down. They are often given stacks of work to do with vent this disastrous result you can ask yourself two funda- unrealistic expectations or a lack of respect for time frames. Because of poor planning on somemental questions: What's required in one else's part, supervisors can end my supervisory role? What's the best SUPERVISORS CAN END way to get it done? UP BEING GIVEN MULTIPLE up being given multiple number one What's required in my superNUMBER ONE PRIORITIES priorities in a single day. These tasks are often handed down in the form visory role? This question revolves IN A SINGLE DAY. of, I needed this yesterday, I need this around the essential tasks and objecright now, or I need this sometime tives that are required for your positoday. Though delegation can take tion. The easy part is finding information from your policy and procedure manual, any memo some of the burden off of you, you still must prioritize your that gives guidance, or other correspondence that instructs delegation to get it done right. This is where WIN shines. For example, say you have three tasks that were just filyou to do something in a particular way. The hard part is trying to interpret your command staff's intent with what they tered down to you: one by phone, one by email, and one don't put in writing. Sometimes that requires additional hand carried to your office. Everybody wants it done yesterclarification through a face-to-face meeting so you can ask day. It's at this point you use WIN and ask yourself what's questions. If the head of your agency's intent is to increase important now. You look over all three requirements and officers' contact with the community, what exactly does put them in order. One is from the agency head and he needs that mean for you in road patrol as opposed to someone in it by the close of business. One you can't accomplish today because of a scheduling error. The other can be handled by charge of a specialty unit? What is the best way to get it done? I like to work smarter sending a fax. You start work on the agency head's request and not harder so I am always looking for the most efficient first, leave the second for tomorrow, and delegate the third. way to do something. To do this, you must take a good long It may be an overly simplistic example but it gives you an look at your work methods and what you delegate. When you idea of how WIN works. I have used WIN in planning meetings. I have used WIN examine what, how, and why you do it, you start looking for efficiency versus convenience. Are you doing too much in in budget meetings. I have used WIN in policy reviews. I one area or are you doing too little? Are you doing things that have also used WIN at home making decisions about home may look good but have no real impact on your outcome? improvements or in making long term financial decisions. I Are you delegating tasks that will move your project forward find that using WIN helps simplify my decision-making and or are you just assigning busy work? Sometimes these are helps me establish priorities very quickly. hard questions to answer because there are so many stakeholders involved. Enter Brian Willis and WIN. Amaury Murgado retired a senior lieutenant from the Osceola I first met Brian Willis, Deputy Executive Director of the County (FL) Sheriff's Office with over 29 years of experience.
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POLICE MAY 2017