The Metropolitan Police Department for the City of St. Louis recognized a need for personal development among its most senior leadership. The Department realized its structure had allowed the environment to become stagnant and that it was lacking a necessary cohesiveness to maximize its leadership’s full potential.
Once selected, Trove’s first task was to create a baseline understanding of the Department’s current situation. By administering tools like the T-MAP Insight System and the Birkman Method, Trove quickly identified individual strengths and weaknesses of the Department’s key leadership.
I must say, I was skeptical of theses standardized tools. However, it was these tools, coupled with Dr. Ron Young’s keen interpretation and intuitiveness that led to customized development plans for members of the senior team. His foundation was right on target for personal and team development.
The plans Dr. Young created were multi-dimensional in approach. First, Trove met one-on-one in personal coaching sessions with senior team members. Those sessions were structured in ways that challenged individuals to do better, to break old habits (that were obstructions to the business) and to take responsibility for their actions.
Then, through facilitation of our Senior Team Meetings, Trove showed us how to become more productive as a group. It was in this safe environment, individuals were held accountable for their actions and their interactions, as well as the actions of their direct reports.
I am a firm believer in “Good to Great.” Organizations have to have the right people to succeed; Trove helped our people become the right people.
When the City of St. Louis needed to select a new Chief of Police, the Department called two people. Chuck Wexler, the Executive Director of the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington D.C. and Dr. Ron Young. Dr. Young’s contribution to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has rippled through the organization. Increasing awareness around key issues, from the very top of senior leadership, all the way to our first line supervisors, his insight has been invaluable.
Causing change in government is never easy. Our Department has over 200 years of history, tradition and culture. Trove understood that and worked with us to help accelerate change in a way that was significant, yet mindful of the human enterprise.
The bottom-line, because of Trove and Dr. Ron Young, the St. Louis Police Department is now more cohesive and able to achieve higher goals more easily.
