The NJ Police Chief Magazine Volume 25, Number 2 | Page 23

The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | February 2019
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We are exceptionally fortunate to have developed a working partnership with colleagues at the Scottish Police College, the
London Metropolitan Police, the City of London Police, and the Greater Manchester Police (among others) - all internationally
recognized leaders in the development of police executives from around the world. Through our partnerships with such centers
of excellence, the NJSACOP is able to provide the very best and most contemporary professional development opportunities to
current and future leaders of those charged with the safety and security of our communities right here at home. And make no
mistake, all of our communities, and the people, places, and institutions that comprise those communities, deserve the very
best law enforcement services and policing professionals.
Part 3: Learning From Experience– The NJSACOP Staff Rides for Law Enforcement Leaders & Experiential Learning
Leadership Courses
There are two truisms that cannot be disputed or avoided: life is short, and the best learning is by experience. The
combination of these two truisms leads to one conclusion – to maximize individual potential one must study the experiences of
others. 8 Of course, direct personal experience is the best guide, but knowledge is usually limited in scope and is often in short
supply. Theory is one substitute for experience but alone is far from satisfactory. Not nearly so neat and clear-cut as theory,
but far more illustrative of the complexity of human factors is history, which is nothing more than the experience of others.
Changes in technology render some lessons obsolete, but lessons draw from history and biography are timeless because they
spring either from universal principles or from universal human characteristics. 9
It is with this in mind that the NJSACOP has expanded our highly regarded portfolio of high quality, innovative leadership
development experiences. All the way back in 2004 the NJSACOP inaugurated our NJSACOP Staff Rides for Law
Enforcement Leaders, 10 adapting the military staff ride concept for the needs of police professionals. Based upon feedback
from our attendees and input from our members, we added our one-day, locally and regionally based Staff Rides. 11 Building on
the success, utility, and popularity of these courses, and using our other international professional development programming
as a model, we have added Leadership Experience courses conducted on-site exploring the D-Day / Normandy and Battle of
the Bulge campaigns.
The Staff Ride has a long, distinguished history as an important component in well-rounded continuing professional leadership
development programs. Originally developed by the Army for commissioned officers, the staff ride concept has been adopted
by both the private and public sector – particularly in occupations where employees confront dynamic and unpredictable
situations at work that may result in serious injury or death.
In-depth study of leadership lessons from history – in the authentic landscape and context - provides a dynamic platform from
which to explore, discuss and highlight contemporary leadership topics and issues. We follow the well-established pedagogic
principle that effectively learning for the future is best accomplished via important case studies focused on real people and
events which have left a lasting imprint in a shared cultural memory which transcends time and national identity or origin.
The Staff Ride model has been used for over a century by, among others, the United States Military Academy at West Point,
the Army War College, the Marine Corps University, and the U.S. Naval War College. A staff ride is a case study, typically of a
military battle or campaign, conducted on the ground where the event happened. It is considered an essential instructional
technique in advanced military schools and in field units. Experiential learning is not new, and in fact it has been
enthusiastically accepted and adopted by the private sector. The NJSACOP has pioneered the adoption of this concept for
contemporary law enforcement management and leadership development programs. Police Executives who participate in Law
Enforcement Staff Rides visit and study a select battlefield for the purpose of drawing parallels between that military campaign
and their own issues/challenges, including leader training, supply chain management, timely decision-making, effective
communications, and resource deployment.
Premier academic institutions have also taken note of the utility of the staff ride in other contexts as well. “The staff ride is no
longer for military personnel alone. Over the past decade, the Wharton School and a number of other universities and
commercial organizations have adapted the practice for executive management and leadership development training. Aimed
primarily at business students and other professionals, the corporate staff ride draws on the popularity of experiential learning
while exploiting the intensity of combat to dramatize decision-making under the most extreme circumstances…. Studying the
life and death decisions of military leaders on the very ground where the consequences of those decisions played out is a
powerful experience. When it comes to executive training, corporate staff rides offer an unforgettable set of lessons.” 12
Still, the question remains: why study the lives and careers of great leaders of the past? For the answer, we need look no
further than to, well, one of the great leaders of the past. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was asked his opinion as to the essence
of leadership. His response: “Making decisions.” 13 When asked how one develops as a decision maker, Ike’s response was
equally direct: “Be around people making decisions.” 14 In other words, the best way to develop as a leader is to “be around”
those who lead. That being the case, what could be better than to “be around” history’s greatest leaders? That is the premise
behind our staff rides, as well as our presentations on other great leaders that are included in sessions of other NJSACOP
Executive Development courses.
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