FACE TO FACE
The Ingredients of a "Leaderful" Organization: An Interview with Mac Tristan
by Kali Saposnick

Mac Tristan is the assistant chief of police for the Carrollton, Texas, Police Department. Using the tools of problem-oriented policing and servant-leadership, he has created an interdependent team of line-level patrol officers within his bureau. In a short period, this group has boosted police morale, reduced crime, and improved communication with citizens. Mac will be speaking with Ann McGee-Cooper, cofounder of Ann McGee-Cooper and Associates, a creative problem-solving consulting team, at the 2005 Pegasus Conference, "Embracing Interdependence: Effective and Responsible Action in Our Organizations and the World" (learn more). The tools he will share can apply to and help any organization become more effective, efficient, and interdependent. In the following interview, he gives some insights into creating a "leaderful" organization.

Imagine police officers who confidently deviate from official procedure without clearing their actions with their supervisor first. Not only do they successfully employ a new method for catching car thieves and burglars, but they convince their peers in the department to do so, too. While this situation may not sound radical to people in the private sector, for most traditional police departments, it is. Yet, today, this is how things often get done at the Carrollton, Texas, Police Department.

The seed for this transformation was planted more than a decade ago, when Carrollton's assistant police chief, Mac Tristan, was introduced to problem-oriented policing (POP) and servant-leadership. POP is a method for proactively solving problems in a law enforcement environment; it shares many characteristics with servant-leadership, a model for engaging the knowledge and wisdom of employees from throughout an organization.

In traditional command-and-control police departments, officers typically react to what their supervisors tell them to do, for example, write tickets and take reports. According to Mac, "This style doesn't work anymore, particularly when our department requires an associates' degree to even walk through the door, 85 percent of our employees have bachelor's degrees, and some have master's degrees. We hire the best and brightest and then treat them like robots. I wanted to create a different kind of environment, one that encourages the creative input from every member of the team."

Breaking Down Silos
Part of Mac's challenge has been addressing the traditional silo mentality of police work. Each of the three bureaus in his agency—Operations (patrol), Management Services (internal affairs and administration), and Investigative Services (detectives)—is headed by an assistant chief; in the past, they rarely collaborated. Instead, to address problems, officers had to escalate them up the chain of command within their own bureau and wait for a response, sometimes months, before they could take action. What Mac did was to empower his officers to creatively solve problems, especially stubborn cases that none of the bureaus could close—and to do so in tandem with their peers from other bureaus and city departments, rather than waiting for input from their superiors.

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PEGASUS CONFERENCE CORNER
15th Annual Pegasus Conference
Embracing Interdependence: Effective and Responsible Action in Our Organizations and the World
San Francisco, California, November 14–16, 2005

Announcing Keynote Speakers
Pegasus is pleased to announce this year's keynote speakers. Take this fabulous opportunity to learn from these innovative thinkers and experience their expertise first-hand!

Marv Adams
As senior vice president, Ford Motor Company, and chief information officer, Marv is leading Ford's effort to develop the capability to rapidly sense and respond to marketplace changes.

Mary Catherine Bateson
A writer, educator, and cultural anthropologist, Mary Catherine is engaged in exploring changing patterns of communication among the generations and the implications for how we build the future together.

Daniel H. Kim
A renowned thinker, author, and speaker in the fields of systems thinking and organizational learning, Daniel is committed to helping problem-solving (reactive) organizations transform into problem-dissolving (generative) organizations.

Peter Senge
The author of the widely acclaimed book, The Fifth Discipline, and founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning, Peter has played a pivotal role in shaping the organizational learning field.

Also Announcing Forum Speakers:

Juanita Brown
A co-creator of the World Café, a process for creating living networks of conversation around questions that matter, Juanita seeks ways to transcend "us vs. them" thinking.

Jeff Clanon
As director of partnership development for the Society for Organizational Learning, Jeff has practical knowledge of how organizations can weave learning into their strategy and day-to-day work.

Ann McGee-Cooper
Ann, the founding partner of Ann McGee-Cooper & Associates, has partnered with clients such as Southwest Airlines and TDIndustries to research and apply servant leadership in the workplace.

Mac Tristan
As the assistant chief of police for the Carrollton, Texas, Police Department, Mac has been instrumental in revitalizing a troubled organization while building leadership capability from within the ranks.

Jon Vogen
Formerly with Intel, Jon is a consultant in the areas of organization development, communication, and learning, with a special emphasis on applied learning.

Other presenters to be announced. Learn more about the conference.

Hot off the Press! Brochure for the 2005 Pegasus Conference
Download a copy of the brochure for the 2005 Pegasus Conference. Find out about the exciting sessions and dynamic presenters, along with the many learning opportunities designed to build your skills and give you the inspiration to face the challenges that lie ahead.

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LEARNING LINKS
Knowledge and Self-Organization
by Verna Allee

Why do we think we can "manage" anything as poorly understood as knowledge? Knowledge is constantly changing around products, services, processes, technology, roles, and relationships. No sooner do we think we have identified a pattern of knowledge than a new one appears. How, then, do we organize to support knowledge? Systems thinking can provide a useful lens. Through systems thinking, we better understand the qualities of knowledge, such as:

• Knowledge is messy. It cannot be isolated. Every aspect of it is connected to everything else.
• Knowledge is self-organizing. It is created, sustained, killed, and renewed daily as purposes and values change.
• Knowledge seeks community. People share knowledge all over the globe through powerful communities such as the Internet.
• Knowledge is slippery. Trying to codify knowledge in documents, patents, intellectual property, libraries, and databases usually stifles creativity and new knowledge.
• Knowledge experiments. There is no final solution in knowledge management because patterns of knowledge are always changing. The best answer moves things along while keeping options open and trying different approaches.
• Knowledge does not grow forever. Like nature, something eventually dies or is lost. Relinquishing old ways of thinking contributes to knowledge's vitality and evolution.
• Knowledge is a social phenomenon. People together make knowledge happen. Managers cannot manage knowledge itself, but they can create processes for acquiring, creating, sharing, and applying it.

The most successful strategy to advance knowledge is first to trust and respect its natural qualities. In this way we can develop less manipulative, more organic ways to work with it.

Read the complete article on which this summary is based, or see LEVERAGE, No. 7 (April 13, 1998)

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