To serve and protect: servant leadership takes on a whole new meaning for a law enforcement leader. Society’s expectations for policing have changed radically – for example, up to 80% of what officers do overlaps with what social workers do! Add calls for reduced funding, labor shortages, brutality…gone are the days of simple “cops and robbers” policing.
But the leadership and hierarchy of policing has changed very little. Yet can law enforcement truly rise to the challenges of both reform and crime without new styles of leadership?
Guests Rob Elkington and Les Sylven have some very surprising solutions that go far beyond the stereotypes of the hardboiled police commissioner – solutions that any leader of a high-stress workforce will find extremely useful!
Rob Elkington, Ph.D., currently resides in Canada, where he serves as Assistant Professor at Trent University Faculty of Business & Master of Management Program. Rob is the co-founder and CEO of Global Leadership Initiatives, Inc., which exists to "develop excellence in leadership globally," www.globalleader.ca
Rob also serves on the faculty of various universities such as: Associate Professor, Stellenbosch University School of Public Leadership, Adjunct Professor at the Ontario Tech University in the Faculty of Social Science and the Faculty of Education, Supervising faculty with the Ed..D program for Education, and Graduate teaching faculty for the GDIPL for Social Sciences and Humanities. Rob is a member of the International Leadership Association, an ICF Certified FLOW Business Coach and an MBTI practitioner. He has published a range of books, book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles and has facilitated numerous peer-reviewed presentations.
Les Sylven is a Leadership Studies PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria. His doctoral research project explores police leadership with senior Canadian police officers who regularly practice meditation and mindfulness. Les was a police officer in Canada for over 30 years, serving communities as a member of the RCMP, Victoria Police Department and the Central Saanich Police Service on Vancouver Island. In 2020, Les was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of Merit (O.O.M) of the Police Forces by the Governor General of Canada. Later that year, he retired from policing as the Chief Constable of the Central Saanich Police Service in order to concentrate full time on his studies at UVic.
