Aspects of Communication and Subordinates Essay

For a first-line supervisor to encourage and facilitate communication with subordinates, it is critical to focus on supervisory skill areas. These include human, tactical affective, conceptual, and knowledge competencies (Miller et al., 2020). Communication is improved by coaching and counseling officers as well as giving praise when relevant (Miller et al., 2020). The key problems and issues faced by subordinates need to be listened to and discussed, and officers require motivation from the supervisor. For effective skills, a supervisor needs to establish operational priorities and systems of control, which will direct the communication toward relevant and appropriate subjects. In addition, a first-line supervisor must have the ability to properly interpret departmental policy and determine every officer’s workload to avoid conflicts and distress. Communication is greatly enhanced if the officers’ reports are reviewed for quality, thoroughness, and accuracy (Miller et al., 2020). Any identification of weakness, incompetency, and insufficiency requires officer development and training. A first-line supervisor needs to be a role model for his or her officers.

For the management, a first-line supervisor needs to adhere to management expectations. He or she can greatly facilitate communication through a positive attitude, loyalty, integrity, and responsiveness to management (Miller et al., 2020). The latter is especially critical since it directly affects the communication processes and delivery of information between a first-line supervisor with subordinates and management. A supervisor needs to communicate key subordinate suggestions, desires, and concerns. All policies and procedures need to be complied with, and employee evaluations need to be properly conducted. In addition, a first-line supervisor needs to be highly proactive in ensuring that he or she is contributing to the improvement of the organization.

Reference

Miller, L. S., More, H. W., & Braswell, M. C. (2020). Effective police supervision (9^th ed.). Taylor & Francis.