STEP

WELCOME TO STEP!

As a Chief of Police, I know first line supervisors have a difficult but impactful position within law enforcement agencies.  As you know, this is due to the difficult path they must navigate between line personnel and senior leaders within organizations.  The Supervisors Training and Education Program (STEP) was designed to provide first line supervisors the leadership capacity to successfully complete this important work.

Ultimately, well-trained and highly developed leaders are more successful and have greater impacts on organizations.  STEP enhances this by immersing supervisors into nineteen (19) highly focused training modules designed to develop first line leaders.  These topics are taught by subject matter experts that facilitate in-depth discussions, focused classroom work, and projects designed to challenge 21^st century leaders.

In order to ensure the STEP curriculum remains relevant, it is continuously being reviewed and revised by the STEP committee.  In addition, to ensure we understand the perspective of first line leaders, a member from each class joins the committee to share feedback and provide guidance from the graduating class.

In short, STEP provides supervisors with practical and relevant leadership training that can be easily applied, while aligning new leaders with a professional development pathway that ensures future success.

Chief Sean T. Asbury, CLEE

The Supervisor Training and Education (STEP) program was implemented in 2004 to assist recently promoted officers in making the transition to first line supervisor. This transition is generally recognized to be among the most difficult challenges in a law enforcement professional’s career. As officers enter the position of supervisor, they must change and adapt to meet the new position and organizational requirements.  Through 2024, 978 first line supervisors have completed STEP.

Many chiefs of police in Ohio had expressed the concern that newly promoted officers have trouble changing their mindset from being an “”officer” to being a “supervisor of officers.” This transition requires the new supervisor to recognize that they must now get the work completed though other people. There may be a tendency to want to be liked by their new direct reports and to avoid accountability for responsibilities. These types of behaviors may place the department and community at risk if they go unchecked.

The STEP planning committee identified three rationales for a first line supervisor training and education program in Ohio. The rationales may be viewed as a response to reduce risk to the agency and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of service to the community.

A program is needed to accelerate the development of the new supervisor in the critical first few months on the job. Important here is providing the participant, up front, with those survival skills necessary in the six months as a new supervisor. Also important is hastening an understanding of the expectations and role of the supervisor in the overall department.

A supervisor development program is needed to first assess and then narrow the performance gap between “where the individual is” and “where the individual ought to be.”

A first line supervisor development program is needed in Ohio to complement the continuum of professional development management and leadership programs now offered by the Law Enforcement Foundation via PELC and CLEE. STEP is the first step toward developing future upper command staff and chiefs of police in Ohio.

Training Modules:

Mallory Murphy, Program Director
614-761-4618
mallory.murphy@oacp.org

Renea Collins, Program Coordinator
614-761-9479
renea.collins@oacp.org