MSA Contact: Chris Gannon
- 651-204-2218
- cgannon@mnsheriffs.org
MSA Contact: Chris Gannon
Welcome to the ICLD Learning Pathway. This Pathway is comprised of four (4) phases.
Select the desired phase below in order to see each of the required courses for that section. We have also included links on where to purchase each of the required textbooks.
This module discusses leadership, what it means, what is expected of a leader, types of leaders and how a leader influences other. It includes segments from leaders discussing their approaches to leadership. The module also provides definitions for reactive, proactive, and coactive policing.
This module is a comprehensive summary of the book “Lincoln on Leadership, Executive Strategies for Tough Times”, by Donald T. Phillips. The book gives a leadership perspective from President Abraham Lincoln, who arguably led the United States through one of the most trying times in American history.
This module looks at the transitional challenges often faced by First-Line & Mid-Level Supervisors as they take on their new roles and responsibilities. It focuses on the development of new skill sets and interaction with those that they supervise.
This module addresses one of the most essential characteristics of a leader, Ethics. A leader who is not ethical, particularly in the law enforcement profession cannot effectively lead other ethical law enforcement professionals. In this module, Dr. Trautman will identify the main causes of unethical behavior in law enforcement organizations and how it can be effectively combated.
This module provides students with an in-depth look at why change can be so difficult, particularly in law enforcement organizations. It gives perspective on how change can benefit organizations and cautions against making changes just for the sake of change. The module also gives strategies to utilize when implementing necessary changes.
This module looks at personal leadership and what makes some leaders great and others not so great. It gives students a perspective of what kind of leader they should strive to be and provides examples of strong leadership traits.
This module is a comprehensive summary of the bestselling book “It’s Your Ship, Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy”, by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff. The book describes how Captain Abrashoff turned a ship with very low morale and performance into the best performing ship in the fleet.
The purpose of this module is to discuss the relationship between leadership and power. It is important to understand that authority gives leaders power to supervise and change behavior; however, it is extremely important that abuse of this authority or power will surely result in fear, disrespect, and low morale. This module will provide strategies for the proper use of power in a leadership role.
This module introduces students to the many leadership theories studied over many years in order to give a better understanding of the evolutionary process of leadership theories and a deeper understanding of concepts and practices. This module also gives a clear distinction between leading and managing, as well as introducing students to the DiSC Profile Behavior Pattern Assessment.
This module is a comprehensive summary of the book “Moral Compass for Law Enforcement Professionals”, a book designed to serve as a moral compass for law enforcement professionals as they navigate the challenges and demands that face them every day. It also provides a review of the values that every law enforcement should hold true to in the performance of their duties.
As professionals, particularly in the law enforcement profession, we use communication as a primary tool to perform our duties. One of the most important aspects of communication is listening to what is being communicated, but we don’t receive a great deal of training regarding effectively receiving the message. This module is designed to provide law enforcement professionals with training regarding the importance of actively listening and receiving the message that is being communicated to them. This skill is so critical that without it law enforcement professionals and their agencies are exposed to potential misunderstandings that can be disastrous and very difficult to recover from.
The process of effective communication is so important to a leader that it must be a primary function in the development of leadership skills. You see, if a leader cannot effectively communicate his/her message or vision to those who will be responsible for carrying it out, they cannot possibly be effective as a leader. This module is designed to explain the importance of competent communication and stress the fact that effective leaders must be effective communicators who understand that communication is a process whereby an individual influences other through successfully communicating their message to achieve a shared goal.
The US Military begins leadership training when a soldier is in basic training and the leadership training is continued throughout a soldier’s military career. You see, the military clearly understands the connection between leadership training and performance. With this in mind, this module provides valuable insight from command level military personnel on their successful approaches to leadership.
Please be advised that you are required to have complete all the courses in Phase 1 before proceeding with the verification, otherwise your completion will be considered VOID.
You may print a certificate for this phase from this site.
This module focuses on Generations and the variety of them we now have in the workplace, as well as, within the communities that we serve. It is imperative for true leadership success that we are familiar with the different generations and understand how they think, their motivations and their work habits. You may be surprised by the diverse thought processes that each generation possesses.
This module is a summary of Captain D. Michael Abrashoff’s second book, “It’s Our Ship, The No-Nonsense Guide to Leadership”. You see, after Abrashoff’s successful naval career he realized that although he had successfully created an environment of collaboration and organizational growth on his ship, the Benfold, he had failed to share all of his techniques, initiatives, and processes with his fellow captains who were able to achieve success at his level. Therefore, in hindsight, he had failed them. This book discusses how successful leaders share information within their organizations to create great synergy.
This module addresses the importance of having a strong sense of emotional intelligence and its relationship to strong leadership. Emotional intelligence is critical in law enforcement both internally and with public interactions. The instructor defines emotional intelligence and its practical uses in law enforcement.
This module is a summary of the Jim Collins’ book Good to Great and provides an overview of the concepts and principles of the book. It focuses on how some organizations and individuals manage to transform themselves from and operate at an extremely high level based on a provided performance matrix. This module addresses the fact that the principles identified in Good to Great transcend the corporate world and can apply to the public safety arena as well.
This module addresses one of the most challenging aspects of law enforcement and public safety – the ability to proactively communicate with our employees, peers and the citizens that we serve. The instructor provides valuable insight into concepts, techniques, and exercises that stress communicating proactively and in a manner that ensures true understanding.
If you think about it, most of what we deal with in law enforcement revolve around some type of conflict. Therefore, conflict management becomes a key component of accomplishing the law enforcement mission, whether there are external conflicts (outside the organization), or internal conflicts (within the organization). This module addresses conflict management and introduces students to techniques, processes and other solutions to address conflict.
This module focuses on cultural sensitivity and its importance to leadership, particularly in the law enforcement community. As law enforcement professionals we are obligated to provide responsive, effective, and equal services to all of the diverse cultural groups that we serve. This module provides insight into the barriers that often hinder us as individuals and organizations in providing these services in the manner intended. It stresses the need to understand the viewpoints of the cultures we serve and to take a journey of self-discovery regarding our bias, prejudice, and perception of these cultures.
This module focuses on Action-Centered Leadership concepts that were developed by Dr. John Adair. Action-Centered Leadership was developed for the military, so it is easily adapted by law enforcement since most law enforcement agencies are based on a para-military structure. This module addresses the concept that leadership is a trainable skill and that there is a distinct difference in leadership and management.
In this module, students are introduced to the concept of Reflective Leadership. Reflective leaders develop a very broad view of their organizations, circumstances, and decisions. They understand that people may not see things the way that they do. They understand the need to develop other reflective leaders within the organization. This module provides students with the skills, techniques, and concepts of a reflective leader with the hope that they will utilize them for self-growth and the development of others.
This module is a summary of the book, Start with Why, How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, by Simon Sinek. The module is designed to utilize insights provided within the book to give students information that will assist them in effectively leading their employees and agencies. Although the book may come across as a book for those in sales and marketing, the reality is that law enforcement is like running a business where we serve and protect. Understanding the ‘why’, will enable us as leaders to create an atmosphere of being proactive in everything we do.
This module discusses Legacy Leadership, the concepts behind it, why it’s important, and the things we must do to make sure we have a strong legacy mindset. Doing this promotes our organization and protects our future. Students will be reminded of the fact that all leaders leave a legacy. What do we want our legacy to be? In law enforcement, we must remember to always pursue excellence and inspire others to do so as well.
This module is designed to offer insight on how to adapt and overcome one of the greatest challenges facing many law enforcement agencies in the twenty-first century. That challenge is Succession Planning. Succession planning is a powerful concept in which organizations ensure continuity and long-term organizational health by identifying and developing employees to take responsibility by filling critical roles that will become available in the future. This allows them to prepare for attrition and fill important gaps as they appear in the agency.
This module focuses on Human Capital Management (HCM). It is an approach to employee staffing that perceives people as assets or human capital, whose current value can be measured and whose future value can be enhanced through investment. This is of particular importance in law enforcement agencies where budgets and resources can be challenging.
Please be advised that you are required to have complete all the courses in Phase 2 before proceeding with the verification, otherwise your completion will be considered VOID.
You may print a certificate for this phase from this site.
This module addresses the human factors involved in policing and how they play a pivotal role in supervisors increasing safety margins internally and educating officers, as well as, the community on how human factors effect policing practices. The module also stresses the importance of exercise, a personal life outside of the job and other outside interest.
In an attempt to extend students concepts, principles and tools in this comprehensive summary of the book Founding Fathers on Leadership, Classic Teamwork in Changing Times, by Donald T. Phillips, the instructor takes a look at the challenges that the American founding fathers faced as they began the process of establishing a new government and the teamwork, they displayed in order to accomplish their goals in very trying times.
This module gives students a comprehensive look at Adaptive Leadership and why it is so important to law enforcement leaders. In today’s fluid, ever-changing environment leaders must be ready to adapt to situations as they arise. Adaptive leadership is the key to making key decisions based on the best information available, particularly in emergent situations. This module provides students with concepts and practices for utilizing adaptive leadership techniques in their professional lives.
This module introduces the concept of the Authentic Leadership, which is leading in accordance with one’s values, preferences and needs as opposed to simply leading to please others. Why is this so important to law enforcement leaders at all levels? Simply put, law enforcement professionals are approached from all directions from individuals and groups that will challenge their authenticity, particularly when it comes to performing their duties. This module stresses the need for Authentic Leadership and cites some of society’s ethical and organizational failures, as well as security breaches as just some of the reasons that Authentic Leadership is a must to instill community and public trust.
This module concerns itself with one of the truly challenging concepts of leadership in the law enforcement arena, Servant Leadership. You see, while law enforcement professionals, by virtue of the profession, are public servants, they often fail to embrace this role or they don’t truly understand what this means. The Servant Leadership module is designed to introduce students to the concept of being a servant leader. It will share examples of Servant Leadership from leaders in industry, the military and law enforcement.
This module discusses the importance of Credible Leadership and what that means. It lists positive outcomes that Credible Leadership can influence. The module also reviews the Managerial Leadership Diagram depicting how Credible Leadership positively affects an entire workgroup and why. It also illustrates what a low and highly credible leader looks like.
This module discusses effective leadership and describes what an effective leader does. It identifies several past and present effective leaders and shares their thoughts and insights regarding their leadership styles. While these leaders came from a variety of disciplines, there styles work in many different environments.
This module addresses the major obstacles that Toxic Leadership creates for law enforcement organizations in achieving their objectives at many levels. Toxic leadership cripples law enforcement agencies by allowing leaders to selfishly obtain goals that may not be in the best interest of the organization. In this module, the instructor takes a comprehensive look at toxic leadership and the negative effects it has on individuals, organizations, and the citizens we serve.
As law enforcement professionals, we often give our all to our profession and neglect ourselves on a personal level and our personal community involvement. Our exposure to the negative aspects of mankind often leaves us jaded and affects our personal and professional balance. This can have an adverse effect on our personal life and leave us vulnerable to a number of emotional syndromes that set us up for eventual disappointment in both our professional and personal lives. This module discusses these potential concerns and provides guidance on how to avoid them and create a professional/personal balance in your lives.
This module introduces the concept of leadership as it relates to customer service both internally and externally. The instructor discusses the importance of developing leadership skills and providing exemplary customer service traits in all that you do. This is so significant to law enforcement because our customers are the citizens that we are sworn to serve and unlike customers in the commercial world they have to rely on law enforcement to provide excellent services regardless of the circumstances. Leadership sets the tone for how these services will be performed.
This module summarizes the book Xenophon’s Cyrus the Great: The Art of Leadership and War, by Larry Hedrick. The instructor identifies 5 Leadership principles followed by Cyrus the Great as he led his armies, ruled his empire and built his legendary kingdom. These 5 principles are discussed in the context of leading in today’s public safety arena.
This module discusses the need for law enforcement leaders to have the ability to make sound ethical decisions even when faced with potentially volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous situations (VUCA). Making the wrong decisions under these circumstances can often spell disaster for a law enforcement agency and the community. This module introduces students to counter VUCA decision making tactics and techniques.
As law enforcement professionals we hope that we will never find ourselves in a situation where we and our team are under fire, but we also know that this is a true reality and we must be prepared to properly lead and react under these circumstances. The Tactical Leadership Module introduces students to the mindset that must prevail during such situations.
In this module we take a deeper look into Emotional Intelligence with explanations on why practicing Emotional Intelligence is critical as a public safety and leadership skill. To compliment this course, you may wish to order and read the book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Dr. Daniel Goleman.
This module addresses the fact that change is one thing that an organization and leader can count on. Leaders who wish to initiate change or respond to a need for change may have to go through a transformation themselves. This transformation will allow them to become a true change agent by increasing their level of Emotional Intelligence and their Positive Intelligence Quotient (PQ).
Please be advised that you are required to have complete all the courses in Phase 3 before proceeding with the verification, otherwise your completion will be considered VOID.
You may print a certificate for this phase from this site.
The skills in this module are a cluster of 12 skills are the skills of living and working effectively, the skills of living with purpose – instead of by accident. The daily psychological stresses that law enforcement professionals experience in their work puts them at a significantly greater risk than the general population for developing a host of long-term physical and mental health issues. This module is designed to introduce students to skills that allow them to build a personal foundation to cope with the negative effects of the job on a personal level.
As a result of the changing culture of law enforcement the first line and middle manager roles have a greater responsibility for coaching, leading and communicating. Even front-line officers are expected to be more of a leader and facilitator. This module is designed to introduce you to the understanding of your natural style of communicating with others and to help you understand and apply the four Facilitative Conditions: Genuineness, Empathy, Respect, and Specificity.
The cluster of skills taught in this module are designed to help you become more effective problem managers. It is also intended to aid your understanding of the difference between Coaching, Counseling, and Mentoring. You will learn the importance of properly assessing the development and functioning levels of others and gain an understanding of the 5-step Problem and Opportunity Coaching Model.
The purpose of this module is to provide the law enforcement professional with skills that will allow them to become more capable of creating high performance, high morale teams within the organization so that personnel will actively participate in the planning and implementation of the organizations mission, vision, goals and initiatives.
Effective leaders are extremely versatile and receptive to the dynamics of changing environments, events and organizational needs. This module is designed to help students understand the importance of versatility and how this skill will help them to develop their own style and become more responsive to the unique and ever changing characteristics of individuals, teams and organizations. Students will gain an understanding of how role, style and skill shifting can improve their overall leadership performance.
Please be advised that you are required to have complete all the courses in Phase 4 before proceeding with the verification, otherwise your completion will be considered VOID.
You may print a certificate for this phase from this site.
After completion of all ICLD courses, you may request a specialized certificate and challenge coin.
Please be advised that you are required to have complete all the courses in the ICLD series before proceeding, otherwise your completion will be considered VOID.
