We’ve all seen them, and they are possibly still up at your office. I’m talking about the glossy and professionally framed leadership posters having a majestic shot of wildlife or a mountain peak accompanied with words like ‘excellence, achievement, or integrity.’ I have a question for those organizations that have hung these posters: how many of your people live those values inside the organization? Are they just background noise or something to compare the current situation to, or are they an operational truth? Today’s leadership challenges are far from printing words on paper and expecting others to live by them, whether discussing a poster on the breakroom wall or a policy manual handed to employees. The real question is the gap between policy and practice, something we will call the ‘P2P Gap’, and how we operate within the organization daily. If we don’t consider the P2P Gap, the posters and the words inside a policy guide are just decorations for dysfunction.
‘Readiness for change’ is a primary coaching tool to gauge personal development. However, it has a much more significant implication and opportunity beyond the standard vantage point of confidential conversations. Readiness for change is a strategic driver, not a sidebar in performance reviews or a motivational poster in the hallway. Leadership must define whether an agency can thrive in complexity or decay in complacency; hence, the question has a larger context worth pursuing.
The Strategic Power of Readiness
Readiness for change is not a passive question asking, ‘Are we ready?’—it’s a primer for cultivating a culture of preparedness, adaptability, and strategic foresight. Kotter (1996) warned us decades ago that the most common reason transformation efforts fail is not a lack of strategy but a lack of readiness—an unprepared mindset embedded in organizational DNA. The stakes are even higher in public safety and fast-paced operational landscapes. Readiness is the difference between an agency that learns and evolves and one that reacts and fractures.
From a Coaching Question to Command Philosophy
Coaching conversations often begin with ‘How ready are you for change?’ It’s a powerful starting point for the individual and the coach, both learning about the level of commitment one has towards the conversation at hand. But what about the organizational level? Have we done enough leg work to understand readiness within our command? My assumption is no. I don’t say that lightly. Most police organizations I’ve spoken to in the US have not done a strategic plan in quite some time or never at all (for various reasons, but primarily due to the challenge of staying on top of daily organizational demands). While strategy is essential for the direction of the department, so is understanding theculture that strategy will depend on and the readiness of the organization to do something different.
Leaders must ask:
· Is our culture psychologically safe enough for change?
· Are our systems agile enough to adapt?
· Are our people mentally and emotionally equipped to grow through change rather than resist it?
When readiness for change becomes a part of strategic thought—it aligns leadership behaviors with adaptive capacity (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2015).
Psychological Readiness and Cultural Resistance
Research in organizational psychology emphasizes change readiness, which is driven by beliefs about capability, perceived value, and trust in leadership (Armenakis, Harris, & Mossholder, 1993). In public safety environments, where traditions and hierarchy run deep, these variables are hidden under the surface and must be understood, measured, and shaped.
Our plans will ultimately be challenged when we assume readiness. Readiness mustbebuilt deliberately, much like tactical readiness, including:
• Open communication about purpose
• Intentional development of adaptive skills
• Training on emotional agility and decision-making under uncertainty (Bradberry & Greaves, 2009)
Strategic Implications: From Readiness to Resilience
Change readiness is not a value add—it’s astrategic capability. A readiness-oriented organization is inherently more resilient, more innovative, and more capable of mission success in volatile environments. Agencies integrating change readiness into their strategic frameworks are better at rolling out initiatives and surviving leadership transitions, societal pressures, and operational crises (Drucker, 2006).
Must Do’s for Strategic Leaders
1. Embed readiness in your leadership language. Make it part of your briefings, evaluations, and after-action reviews.
2. Assess and build adaptive capacity. Just like you assess tactical fitness, assess change agility across all ranks.
3. Move from compliance to commitment. Readiness is discretionary effort—creating buy-in, not just issuing orders.
4. Invest in emotional and cognitive flexibility training. Modern leadership muscles focus on regulating our emotions and building flexible problem-solving frameworks.
Readiness is the New Command Presence
I can’t see a more significant strategic urgency than readiness for change in public safety. In a profession where VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) is around every corner, agility is not optional but existential. The real test of leadership isn’t how well we manage the present—but how we prepare our people for what’s next. Change isn’t coming—it’s already here.
References
Armenakis, A. A., Harris, S. G., & Mossholder, K. W. (1993). Creating readiness for organizational change. Human Relations, 46(6), 681–703. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872679304600601
Bradberry, T., & Greaves, J. (2009). Emotional intelligence 2.0. TalentSmart.
Drucker, P. F. (2006). The effective executive: The definitive guide to getting things done. HarperBusiness.
Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading change. Harvard Business Review Press.
Weick, K. E., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2015). Managing the unexpected: Sustained performance in a complex world (3rd ed.). Wiley.