NCJ Number
183511
Date Published
1999
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This booklet outlines a structured process that defender leaders can use to think about and learn from their experiences, so as to strengthen relationships with the public and with other members of the criminal justice system, prevent misunderstandings, and help defenders anticipate and meet leadership challenges.
Abstract
The booklet advises that by developing a reflective practice that critiques defender operations and styles, a defender office can build a broader repertoire of responses that counters the temptation to repeat familiar but ineffective patterns. The booklet offers guidance on how to make reflective thinking a regular part of a defender's work as well as what should be the focus of reflective thinking. The key components of a defender's leadership style are presented as diagnosis, prevention, invention, and reflection. Under each of these components, the booklet presents questions to guide the defender in thinking about past, present, or future leadership issues. Questions pertinent to diagnosis focus on the dynamics and factors in the situation being targeted. Inventing a response addresses what a defender's office wishes to achieve in the situation, and producing the response consists of the development of steps most likely to produce the desired response. Reflection then consists of determining whether the diagnosis seems correct, whether the strategy is working, whether plans should be adjusted, and what lessons and generalizations can be drawn from the experience of addressing the situation. For other booklets in this series on defender leadership, see NCJ-183510 and 183512.