Making a Life by What We Give
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The prompt for this round of the FEDforum is team morale. This week, hear from the Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.). Sara Slone, C.O.P.S. Communication Director, authored this article.
Team morale can be hard to accomplish as a company or organization grows. At the National Office of Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.), the staff has more than doubled in the past decade. That fact is bittersweet, as the growth of the staff is a direct impact of the increase in line-of-duty deaths across the country each year. In 2012, eight employees served just over 30,000 survivors. In 2022, 27 employees now serve over 60,000 survivors and have added multiple new programs, trainings, conferences, and fundraisers to the schedule of events they plan and host each year.
In addition to the full calendar of events, each staff member at the C.O.P.S. National Office keeps one priority top-of-mind each day; the surviving law enforcement families and co-workers affected by the line-of-duty death of a loved one. Rebuilding their shattered lives is the mission behind C.O.P.S. and the reason every task, no matter the job role, is carried out by the staff.
Heavy conversations can happen. C.O.P.S. connects with survivors sometimes immediately after a line-of-duty death occurs. From working with the agency to help plan the funeral arrangements, to helping the family apply for death benefits. Sometimes we meet them a few months later when the staff is hosting National Police Week in Washington, D.C. Even years later, we often take calls from survivors who just need someone to talk to. When those moments hit where we have to be strong for those who are grieving, its each other who we lean on.
We often say we wish C.O.P.S. didn’t have to exist, because every day is surrounded by the topic of death and tragedy. The morale of the office has to be in a good place in order to effectively serve those who have suffered these tragedies. They need us to be in a good place. And I can assure you we are in a good place. Because we have an incredible team and hands-on leaders who ask each other four simple words: “How are you doing?”
We pride ourselves in being a support system for law enforcement survivors and the agencies who need us. We make sure our events and programs are planned in a way that survivors literally just have to show up and let us guide them through it. We have licensed mental health professionals who provide support services to everyone who attends our events, but they make it known they are available to us, too. The leaders of our organization remind us to take care of our own mental health and frequently take steps to do a “temperature check”, which is a funny reference to us checking on each other’s stress level.
Each year, when we get back from National Police Week after 8-10 days away from our homes, we have mandatory debriefings. Support services personnel are invited to meet with staff as a group, as well as schedule individual meetings with everyone to check on everyone. At National Police Week, sometimes we can be doing a task such as working in the merchandise shop or placing signs around the hotels when a grieving survivor approaches us. They may be in tears or they may be angry with another family member. Whatever the emotion is, it can directly impact the emotions of the staff member. After 8-10 days of those experiences, it takes a toll on people. These debriefings help us get our “temperature” back to a healthy level.
We make it a point through out the year to always do staff gatherings. Whether it’s dinner after work to celebrate a birthday, or an all-day staff team building event; team morale has been made a priority at the C.O.P.S. National Office and the happiness of the staff shows through the work we do.
If your employees consider coming to work as just a job, then they will do what is simply required to fulfill that job. But if you remind your employees of the bigger purpose of the difference their tasks are making, they will do whatever it takes to fulfill that purpose.
If you are reading this and gathering ideas to implement in your department or organization, I want you to consider a popular Winston Churchill quote that sums it up in regards to our office. He said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
This column from Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) is part of the FEDforum, an initiative to unite voices across the federal community. The FEDforum is a space for federal employee groups to share their organizations’ initiatives and activities with the FEDagent audience.
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