Q: How can an agency change the culture of the agency?
A: It is my belief that an agency can change the culture of the agency by focusing on the physical and mental wellness of the employees. Employees assigned to this field of work carry the heavy responsibility of investigating incidents that would be considered the worst days for many citizens. With respect to Internal Affairs investigators, they are tasked with investigating complaints against supervisors, peers and subordinates within their departments in cases that have the potential to result in the termination of said individuals. Many times, due to nationally recognized staffing shortages, employees carry a heavy workload while still being held to specific timelines and policies. This may often lead to burnout for employees. It may also have a negative effect on the professional effectiveness of the employee.
In the Harvard Business Review (HBR) podcast Why Burnout Happens – and How Bosses Can Help, Dr. Christina Maslach is interviewed and asked to define the term “burnout.” She explains that burnout includes three components: chronic exhaustion, cynicism and alienation from the job, and a sense of professional ineffectiveness. These conditions are influenced by six areas related to how an individual fits within their workplace.
The first cause is workload—whether a person has a healthy balance between demands and available resources such as time, tools, or personnel. The second area is control, or the degree of autonomy a person has when completing tasks, as opposed to being micromanaged. The third factor relates to reward: whether the individual receives praise, recognition, or acknowledgment for their work. The fourth cause is community, which concerns the work environment and whether it consists of positive, hardworking colleagues or negative, disengaged ones. The fifth cause involves fairness—specifically, whether workplace policies are impartial, just, and consistently enforced. Lastly, values play a role; employees need to feel that their work is meaningful and done for the right reasons.
Most often, these factors do not occur independently but overlap to create burnout. A comment in the podcast that strongly resonated with me was that burnout is often blamed on the individual rather than on workload or organizational issues. This struck a chord because, throughout my career in this organization, the individual is frequently viewed as the cause of their own burnout. Rarely is it examined from the perspective of how the organization may have contributed. As the podcast notes, the typical solution offered to the burnt-out employee is to “take a vacation,” “take a few days off,” or “retire.” Instead, organizations need to evaluate what support or tools they can provide, such as additional staffing, redistribution of tasks, or even offering a transfer.
In the article Creating a Culture of Wellness (Rubim et al., 2020), the authors state, “when an entire profession is standing at the precipice of change, aware that it must happen and amiable to making positive improvement, culture change is not only possible, it is essential” (p. 171). This is a powerful and motivational message for those who already support change. However, significant barriers exist—especially in law enforcement, where many individuals possess strong alpha-type personalities and may resist change. One such barrier is employee engagement. Officers may hesitate to embrace wellness initiatives out of fear that their peers or leadership will view them as weak. To overcome this challenge, wellness must be normalized. Leaders must actively engage in wellness programs themselves and incorporate wellness practices into daily routines. When I first joined this organization, wellness was rarely discussed. Now, after challenging incidents, wellness services are routinely offered, and representatives often respond to the scene. If wellness becomes routine and normalized, greater acceptance will follow.
In Conceptual Frameworks and Research Models on Resilience in Leadership, Ledesma (2014) defines resilience as “the ability to bounce back from adversity, frustration, and misfortune” (p. 1). One concept highlighted in the reading is “thriving,” which refers to an individual’s ability to surpass their previous level of functioning even after repeated exposure to stress (O’Leary, 1998). This concept helps explain why some individuals remain calm under pressure—they may have experienced similar situations and learned how to respond effectively.
These readings collectively emphasize that both physical and mental wellness must be prioritized. By doing so, employees can lead by example and better support the wellness of their peers within the agency.
References:
Ledesma, J. (2014). Conceptual frameworks and research models on resilience in leadership. Sage open, 4(3), 2158244014545464.
Alison Beard & Christina Maslach (2020) Why Burnout Happens — and How Bosses Can Help. HBR IdeaCast / Episode 771.
Rubim, F., Rubim, L., & Thornton, A. R. (2020). Creating a culture of wellness. In POWER (pp. 171-187). Academic Press.
