Petition to remove Charles Ryan as director of Arizona Corrections.

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/immediate-resignation?source=c.em.mt&r_by=6827831

Hi,

I created a petition to The Arizona State House, The Arizona State Senate, and Governor Jan Brewer which says:

"Calling for the Immediate resignation of the Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan.

Last July of 2013 Arizona House Minority Leader COURAGEOUSLY stepped forward asking for immediate resignation with very little support from fellow Arizona legislators, following a series of COMPELLING investigative reports from KPNX 12 News, Phoenix Arizona,
seasoned investigative reporter Ms. Wendy Halloran: "Watching Tony Die"

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/20130222tony-lester-doc-video.html

http://www.azcentral.com/video/2183395260001

http://www.azcentral.com/video/#/News/Rep.+Chad+Campbell+calls+for+resignation+of+Arizona+Department+of+Corrections+Director+Charles+Ryan/40280768001/35150280001/2562549084001"

Will you sign this petition? Click here:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/immediate-resignation?source=c.em.mt&r_by=6827831

Thanks!

So you made Sergeant – Now what

 Congratulations, you just received your first big promotion. Chances are you worked hard for such an achievement and ready to get to work doing what sergeants do. But wait, before you go to work as a new sergeant let’s take a look at your skill set and readiness level to be a new supervisor.

First you have to refrain yourself from criticizing the agency you work for as you inherited a responsibility that puts you out there as an agent for the organization and all your subordinates. What you say on your own time is your private moment but in uniform or on while on duty you will be held accountable for what you say and do all of the time.

Talking badly about the officers that have left or quit can get you into hot water with others. Remember there are friendships still intact and those that work for you expect you to be fair and talking bad about others only makes them think what you might say about them one day. Being gracious and polite to those that have departed will get you a long way in the field of respect.

Favoritism would be shown if you begin to replace the old team with a “new” team made up of friends and others that favor you as a person or friend. Eliminating others from the team will create a division and poor morale and can emerge into feelings of discomfort or unwanted creating friction and conflict on the shift or workplace.

Promotions mean more responsibilities not less. Ignoring the needs of the officers around you and the inmate population can create messy and unorganized things that will come back and haunt you.  Ignoring what you did so well before should be eliminated and avoided at all costs.

Making solo decisions and failure to consult with the “team” may result in sub optimal performance and communication breakdowns. This does not apply to all cases but in those where it is wiser to gather feedback, it is essential you do it. Although strategies are good to have, it is important that you remain open and available to you team so you can get their buy in for your plans or tactics. Being someone that decrees a not so well strategy can be detrimental to your effectiveness as a team leader and your reputation.

Then there is your demeanor and what you say. You must realize now a sergeant your words carry more weight now than they used to. This means that your mood, tone, body language and words are now subject to interpretation as a boss and saying the wrong things can cause conflict or anxiety and stress. It is better to think twice before you say it or make a joke as it will be perceived to come from a command position that is much more authoritative than before.

Realize you are not “bulletproof” and don’t act like you are invulnerable. There are times where you may be dead certain what to do or what action to take but take into consideration you recognizing the uncertainties in any situation and don’t take an attitude that may in fact be dead wrong. While you are in this position never forget where you came from and don’t compete with the previous sergeant assigned to the team. There is no need for competition.

The most common mistakes is talking too much and not enough listening. Getting too big for your own britches can and does create attitudes and changes the behaviors around you. Don’t use a tone that is offensive when a normal tone will do the job. Be considerate of others and don’t give out orders while you sit behind the desk acting all mighty and powerful. Know when it’s time to talk and time to listen and you will be a successful communicator.

Paying attention to these rookie mistakes will help you avoid some difficult times ahead. Don’t pretend you know it all and don’t forget to ask for input from others. Make it clear how you perceive your role to be within the workplace, the shift or among your team members. Following these rules will allow you not to be seen as a rookie sergeant being a jerk and making rookie mistakes.

 

Correctional Officers – Leaving the high performers alone

 

Are you one of those correctional officers that are being directed or guided by someone who spends very little time on the floor with you or comes to your control center and tells you how to do your job better based on proficiency tips and hand me down suggestions?  The truth is most supervisors spent 20 per cent of their time with those that work for them while the officer spends 80 per cent of the time doing what they are supposed to do according to post orders and other directions. Surprisingly they do their jobs with a minimal amount of complications and report only those problems that require a supervisor’s knowledge.

Thus it might be accurate to say that some supervisors spent most of their time dealing or managing or documenting their time with underachievers or underperformers, employee evaluations, babysitting those that need help all the time and investigating those incidents that occur under their watch. Needless to say, they are appreciative of those A team players on their team and the ones they can count on to do their job and often go above and beyond the line of duty to accomplish what needs to be done and do it well. In the course of reducing staff and multitasking these individuals are easy and low maintenance to take care of as they don’t require any babysitting or micro managing that is very time consuming thus allowing the supervisor to “leave them alone”

Logical thinking would drive you to think that these high performers are the ones rewarded and looked at as assets to the team and organization giving them praise and rewards. Wrong, these are the same persons that work longer and harder than the low performers and are tasked at a rate of twice what the lazy ones do without any incentives or praise. It is no wonder that these type of behaviors by supervisors and managers drives the good ones away and create low morale situations in the workplace.

Unfortunately managers and supervisors in the corrections field feel that when they leave those that perform well alone they are doing them a favor and reward them by neglect. There are no compliments coming their way and it’s often too late to reverse this lack of appreciation as they walk out the door looking for another place to work. Thereby in an unintentional manner, they drive the high performing officers away.

The second thing bosses do is give these high performers the toughest job assignments there are on shift as they feel confident these individuals can handle the most challenging situations there is. Sadly, these competent and energized persons will also be asked to clean up after others that have failed to do the job adequately and often a main source for a supervisor to get them to catch up or complete tasks that were assigned to others on the shift but who failed to pull their own weight.

The next realization is that high performers are treated different that low performers when it comes to disciplinary or evaluation sessions. Supervisors often place unrealistic expectations on these high output workers and put a tremendous amount of pressure on them to not have a bad day, make a mistake or miss a deadline. This in turn makes them abused to the sense they are charged to work long hours, and fundamentally driven to achieve more to meet high expectations that can often lead to burnout or high stress situations.

Last but most importantly, high performers left alone suffer from the opportunities to be identified for special assignments and rarely chosen for higher challenging duties as they are the core of the team’s success. Although it is natural for these type of workers to excel and improve, they are often overlooked to learn new things and chosen as mentors or training officers that could lead to better career opportunities for them along the way. The eventual result of such neglect is a high use of sick leave, splitting their vacation time and eventually excessive absences from the workplace in order use a mental health break to recuperate from their abuse.