Leading in the defence and public safety sectors is a hard job – one that often has the lives of your team at stake. It’s a high-pressure job that requires creativity, vision, and stamina.
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For Public Safety
and Defence Leaders
Leading well is leading with families in mind.
Thank You for Leading
Supporting Leaders Who Safeguard Lives
The wellbeing of your people, including their families, can be directly impacted by the policies and programs that are in place. Do these sound familiar?
- Recruitment and retention are persistent problems, with family needs often cited as an issue.
- Family is seen as an impediment to the job rather than a support structure.
- You want to do more than keep the challenges at bay. You want to create change that supports your whole crew.
As a leader in military, veteran, or public safety communities, you feel responsibility for the families of those whom you lead. That weight can feel heavy but you don’t have to go it alone.
Who is a Leader?
There are as many kinds of leaders as there are public safety and defence sectors, with just as many titles. Here at Garnet Families, a public safety or defence leader is anyone who has the ability to impact families and move change forward, whether that’s your formal role or you just want to have an informal conversation. If you feel the burden of care to protect your team and their people, you are a leader.
Build Your Team
The work you do is critical to the safety of all our communities, so you are working hard to build a
sustainable and healthy organization that retains and attracts top talent.
Imagine This
As a great leader, you have already been imagining and working towards those possibilities. Now you have a team on your side: Garnet Families Network.
Best Practices
Policies and practices that benefit your whole organization
Talent
Creative solutions that mean your top people stay, and new recruits are excited to join
Solutions
Realistic and timely considerations that address root issues, not just the symptoms
Garnet Families: Here for Families, Here for Leaders
Yes, we are all about families. But we know that families do better when the leaders of the organizations consider the family’s experiences and create policies and practices that are mindful of the impacts on the family’s wellbeing.
Because we research and serve defence and public safety families, Garnet Families can advise on system-wide changes. We guide leadership on fostering social change and educate leaders about policies that tangibly support families. Many of you are ready to act but need help finding where to start and connecting with others. Garnet Families is here to make that hope a reality.
“I believe in a safe country, so I don’t want to put the families of my team at risk. I’m looking to lead an organization that is safe for the people it employs, their families, and the communities they serve.”
– Team lead, paramedics squad
The Impact of
Supporting Families
Until recently, we separated the support available to serving members from what was offered to their families, reinforcing the idea that work and family are distinct. We now know that what happens in one sphere impacts the other, and vice versa. Families are systems, woven together, and the serving member is part of that system. It’s time to reintegrate serving personnel into their family systems and treat the family as the unit it is.
For leaders, that means creating spaces for connection between people and education that supports everyone’s mental wellbeing. It’s time to consider how you might build bridges with families. You may find you can retain your people—and they can stay well—when they don’t have to sacrifice the wellbeing of their families for the job.
Tools for Leaders
Whether you are a chief, union representative, or ranking officer, we are here with tangible leadership resources and events to support your efforts to shift towards more family-forward organizational policies and practices.
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