Other Training

Education and Training

The CORE PRINCIPLES of our Education and Training programs:

  • Get "Every Brain in the Game"
  • Becoming a good leader at any level is complex and requires customized preparation
  • Learning takes place from the inside-out.

Our current roster of leadership education courses:

  • The Sergeants' Leadership Program
  • The Lieutenants' Leadership Workshop
  • Strategy Matters Grants Intensive: Build Your Skills to Help Your Cause


The Sargeants' Leadership Program

TSLP works.

Here, sergeants improve their leadership skills and competencies.

How does TSLP get rated?

Those who have completed TSLP have rated it very highly:
  • 93% saying that they would recommend it to a colleague
  • 99% rating the instructors excellent (78%) or satisfactory (21%)
  • 82% report that they will be better supervisors as a result of TSLP.

We have trained over 350 sergeants from six states since launching TSLP in March, 2009.

Download and read this summary of evaluations from TSLP participants.

See the list of Departments whose personnel have completed TSLP.

Most classes are made up of a mix of new and veteran sergeants. With each class we've run we have found confirmation that this approach works very well for everyone. The new sergeant gets the benefit of the lessons learned by his or her more experienced peers and the veteran refreshes and renews his energy and learns new skills.

TSLP works because the work requires participants to reflect, share questions and uncertainties with their peers, and ultimately, to grow into better leaders through the experience. They take ownership and accountability for their own development.

The Course proceeds from a general discussion of leadership theory to each sergeant creating a "dashboard" to make and measure specific improvements in his or her practice.

Day One: The TSLP Theory

Sergeants are the largest cohort of leadership in policing. The National Institute of Justice found in a 2-year study of sergeants that "The most important finding was that style or quality of supervision can significantly influence patrol officer behavior, quite apart from the quantity of supervision."

Sergeants need and deserve the opportunity to reflect on and learn about the idea of leadership and who they are as leaders. We adapt our theory from the "Adaptive Leadership" method of Harvard's Ron Heifetz. In our framework, the function of leadership is to mobilize people; to create higher performing teams and inspire better individual performance from others.

Effective leadership addresses problems that require people to move, from a familiar but inadequate pattern of behavior to a new pattern of behavior.

"It's a good, relaxed, open environment to express opinion." - From TSLP Evaluation

Day Two: Practical Tools

We offer sergeants the practical tools they need to exercise effective leadership. These include:
  • Facilitative Leadership
  • Managing Teams
  • Dynamic Followership
  • Teaching Adults
  • Active Listening
  • Coaching Adults
  • Decision-making


"...I ran the meeting using the facilitation method as taught by Jim Jordan and Liz O'Connor during the Sergeants' Leadership course I took with them. I only note this because during the end-of-course critique one of the questions was, 'which topic from the course did you find least useful to your job?' The meeting facilitation method was the one I chose. Ironically, this method of running a meeting met with resounding success when I employed it."
- Sgt. John Bonney, Stoughton (MA) Police Department, TSLP Class 08, from a memo to his Executive Officer



Day Three: Self-Awareness and Self-Assessment

We use the Myers Briggs Type Inventory along with lecture and exercises, which help participants to understand the diversity of personality preferences, and their implications for teams working together. Participants learn how to leverage their own strengths to create stronger teams and to be better leaders.

We use a book, Emotional Survival, and tele-class by Dr. Kevin Gilmartin, to help participants to consider the emotional, psychological and physical toll of police work, and to build strategies to manage stress and protect their emotional health — and that of their subordinates.

Some Sample Comments from Students

"The class made me a better supervisor by making me reflect on me; giving me insight via MBTI, and how to make improvements; educating me about myself, what makes me tick in my role; making me more aware of my role as a supervisor/leader and how to do better."


"Your training at the Boston Police Academy was interesting. One of my favorite sayings is , "You don't know what you don't know." You guys pointed out a lot of things that we do on a daily basis but have no idea why, or if there's a better way to do them."


"Three things I learned: Control the things I can control, Being a cop is a job not who I am, Work better to ground, educate, guide and influence those I make contact with-be a better husband, father and friend."



"Made me a better listener, learned to take better care of myself so I can take better care of my troops."


"Okay to have input from subordinates at times/Allow others to help contribute to problem solving/ Get officer participation/ownership in decisions / use others as resources."


Download and read this summary of evaluations from TSLP participants.

The Lieutenants' Leadership Workshop

Framework: The Practice of Active, Adaptive Leadership

Using the Adaptive Leadership framework developed by Ron Heifetz, MD, a leadership thinker at Harvard's Kennedy School, participants will come to better understand the process of leadership, with leadership defined as getting people to move from a familiar but inadequate pattern of behavior to a new, desired behavior (e.g. complying with a new policy, addressing a new crime problem, or managing difficult teams).

Participants will be introduced to additional theories of leadership from both policing-specific theorists and business leaders. Participants will examine their own role within the police department and consider their position and responsibilities. In many departments lieutenants are senior leadership and in others they are middle managers. You will have the opportunity to tailor an individual leadership plan designed to your situation, to build ownership and accountability at your own and subordinate levels, with an emphasis on paying attention to both the details and the big picture implications of effective leadership. You will address both the philosophy and the practical details of what you own and are accountable for.

Strategy Matters Grants Intensive: Build Your Skills to Help Your Cause

Workshop overview

In this full-day workshop, Liz O'Connor of Strategic Resources and Strategy Matters Inc. and Jenny Freeman of Freeman Consulting will help participants build their grant development skills in order to further their program or organization's mission.

Liz and Jenny will lead participants through interactive exercises in the following areas:

  • Clarifying Your Ask and Explaining Your Project Basics
  • Finding Your Funder and Making Your First Contact
  • Drafting Your Proposal Narrative
  • Creating Your Budget and Attachments
  • Finalizing and Submitting Your Proposal
  • Managing Your Relationship with Your Funders


Get more info on the Grants Intensive