The Leadership Intervention Gap: What Sheriffs Across the Country Are Struggling With Right Now
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Law enforcement leadershiP; leadership intervention; police leadership culture; organizational culture in policing; leadership accountability; proactive leadership; command staff leadership development; law enforcement supervision; culture change in policing; servant leadership in law enforcement
Why Leadership Intervention Matters
In many law enforcement agencies, leaders can see problems developing long before they become serious incidents.
The deputy who pushes the edge while driving.
The employee whose comments cross the line.
The pattern of behavior that everyone notices—but no one addresses.
The warning signs are often visible to the people closest to the situation. Yet leaders frequently hesitate to intervene until the issue escalates into a complaint, disciplinary action, or organizational crisis. The Leadership Intervention GaP.
In this episode of the Elevate Your Call to Service Podcast, retired sheriff Mike McIntosh and branding strategist Cathy McIntosh explore what they call The Leadership Intervention Gap—the space between recognizing a leadership problem and taking action to address it.
Drawing from nearly four decades of law enforcement leadership experience and insights from the Western States Sheriffs’ Conference, Mike shares why intervention is one of the most important—and most difficult—responsibilities of leadership.
If you are a law enforcement supervisor, command staff leader, or aspiring leader, this conversation will help you recognize when intervention is needed and give you practical ways to step forward with courage, clarity, and integrity.
Episode Chapters
00:00 — The Leadership Intervention Gap
Why leaders often see trouble coming but delay intervention.
04:00 — Seeing Trouble Before It Happens
How deputies and supervisors often recognize patterns of risky behavior before problems escalate.
06:00 — Why Leaders Hesitate to Intervene
The cultural and psychological barriers that prevent leaders from stepping forward.
08:00 — A First Leadership Test
Mike shares a formative story from his first sergeant assignment confronting inappropriate workplace behavior.
12:00 — Balancing Accountability and Trust
How leaders can hold people accountable while maintaining respect and credibility.
14:00 — Changing Organizational Culture
Why culture change requires risk, courage, and commitment from leaders.
17:00 — The Role of Clear Communication
How direct and respectful communication strengthens leadership intervention.
19:00 — The Long-Term Consequences of Silence
What happens when leaders ignore harmful patterns of behavior.
23:00 — Culture, Morale, and Organizational Reputation
Why strong leadership cultures attract and retain great officers.
26:00 — Practical Leadership Actions
How supervisors can start intervening earlier and more effectively.
29:00 — Taking the First Step
Why the first leadership intervention is often the hardest—but the most important.
31:00 — Leadership as Service
How stepping in early protects people, culture, and organizational integrity.
Don’t-Miss Highlights of Episode 54
Leaders Often See Problems Before They Escalate
Many leadership failures are not caused by ignorance but by hesitation. Leaders frequently recognize patterns of problematic behavior long before formal complaints or incidents occur. In law enforcement organizations, the warning signs are often visible to the people closest to the situation. A deputy who drives on the edge. An employee whose comments cross the line. A pattern of behavior that slowly becomes normalized.
When leaders intervene early, they have the opportunity to guide someone before the situation escalates into a disciplinary issue, a complaint, or a larger organizational problem. Early intervention allows leaders to address behavior while protecting both the individual and the organization.
Culture Can Inhibit Leadership Courage
One of the most powerful barriers to leadership intervention is organizational culture. When problematic behavior has been tolerated for years, leaders may assume that addressing it will disrupt relationships or violate unwritten rules within the organization.
Phrases like “this is the way we’ve always done it” become powerful inhibitors to leadership action. Over time, those patterns shape how new leaders respond to challenges. If previous supervisors ignored the behavior, future leaders may feel pressure to do the same.
Changing culture requires leaders who are willing to take the first step and set a new standard.
Early Intervention Protects Everyone
Leadership intervention is not simply about risk management or discipline. It protects everyone involved in the organization.
When leaders step in early, they protect the employee who may be headed toward a career-damaging mistake. They protect the people who might otherwise be harmed by inappropriate behavior. They protect the organization from legal risk, cultural breakdown, and reputational damage.
Most importantly, they protect the integrity of the team.
Accountability Builds Trust
Many leaders worry that accountability will damage relationships. In reality, the opposite is often true.
When leaders address problems early and clearly communicate expectations, teams begin to trust that their leader is fair and consistent. Accountability demonstrates that standards matter and that everyone is expected to uphold them.
Over time, this creates stronger teams where people know that their leaders are committed to professionalism, integrity, and mutual respect.
About the Hosts
Michael McIntosh is a retired sheriff and current law enforcement division chief with nearly four decades of leadership experience in policing. Throughout his career, he has held a wide range of leadership roles and trained law enforcement professionals across the country. Mike now focuses on developing proactive leaders who can build healthy organizational cultures and guide their teams through the complex demands of modern policing.
Cathy McIntosh is a business and branding strategist who focuses on the human side of leadership, including communication, identity, and organizational trust. As a longtime law enforcement spouse, she brings a unique perspective on the internal dynamics that influence performance, morale, and culture within public safety organizations.
If you’re ready to build stronger teams, improve trust, and develop service-driven leaders in a reactive profession, schedule a discovery call to learn more about our coaching programs, workshops, and keynote experiences.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the leadership intervention gap?
The leadership intervention gap is the space between when a leader recognizes a problem and when they actually address it. In many organizations, warning signs are visible long before an incident occurs, but leaders hesitate to intervene until the issue escalates.
Why do leaders hesitate to intervene?
Leaders may hesitate because of cultural pressure, fear of damaging relationships, uncertainty about how to approach the conversation, or the belief that someone else will handle the situation. Organizational norms can reinforce silence and make intervention feel risky.
Why is early intervention important in law enforcement leadership?
Early intervention allows leaders to prevent harm, protect careers, strengthen team culture, and reduce organizational risk. Addressing issues early often makes problems easier to resolve and helps leaders guide employees toward better outcomes.
How can supervisors intervene effectively?
Effective intervention requires clear communication, respect, and courage. Leaders should address behavior directly, explain expectations clearly, and focus on helping the employee improve while protecting the culture of the organization.
Leadership Challenge
As you reflect on this episode, consider where you might be seeing warning signs in your organization but hesitating to step in.
Is there a pattern of behavior that needs attention? A cultural issue that has been tolerated for too long? A team member who needs guidance before a mistake becomes something larger?
Leadership often requires stepping into uncomfortable conversations. But those conversations are often the very ones that strengthen culture, protect people, and elevate the standard of leadership within an organization.
Full Transcript
This transcript has been edited for readability while preserving the meaning and intent of the original conversation.
Episode 54: The Leadership Intervention Gap: What Sheriffs Across the Country Are Struggling With Right Now
Cathy: Most people know, and it's certainly the fleet crew knows which deputy or officer is going to end up in an accident.
Mike: There are things that are inherent with our role as a leader and so many times we just don't take that step and intervene when we should.
Cathy: Sometimes leadership is finding the courage, mustering the courage to do the hard things and to step in early and have a conversation that helps somebody.
Mike: One of the largest inhibitors in a law enforcement organization, especially from a leadership perspective, is this is the way we've always done it. And culture is not easy to change.
Cathy: You are listening to the Elevate Your Call to Service podcast. Here law enforcement leaders gain practical tools to lead proactively in a reactive profession so they can communicate clearly, strengthen internal trust, and stay grounded in their call to serve.
Mike: I'm Mike McIntosh, a retired sheriff and current division chief with nearly four decades in law enforcement leadership.
Cathy: And I am Cathy McIntosh, a business and branding strategist and longtime law enforcement wife. I focus on the human side of leadership, communication, identity, and the internal dynamics that impact performance and trust across an organization.
Mike: Together we combine real world command experience with clear actionable leadership conversations.
Cathy: So you can lead with intention, build stronger teams, and elevate your call to service.
Cathy: Welcome back to the Elevate Your Call to Service podcast. We've had a really fun couple of weeks. We were able to go to Disney World with part of our family.
Cathy: That always makes us really sad that our whole family couldn't be there. But we did enjoy some great grandkid time and just a lot of belly laughs and fun.
Cathy: From there you flew directly from Orlando to Reno to attend a Western States Sheriffs conference.
Mike: I've been a part of Western States for several years and it's always an opportunity to go and be with the sheriffs that make up sheriffs offices from the Mississippi and west and talk about the unique things that revolve around western states sheriffs.
Mike: This was an opportunity to stay in tune with some of the issues that are going on within sheriffs offices and it reaffirms a lot of leadership principles that we already know.
Mike: There are always keynote speakers that participate and as soon as I got back I jumped in the car when you picked me up at the airport and started talking about all the things from a leadership perspective that were discussed.
Cathy: One of the things we talked about right off the bat was the fact that in many organizations you can literally see the trouble brewing.
Cathy: It’s really up to the leaders to step into those kinds of situations and do something about it before a small problem becomes a big problem.
Cathy: You gave the example that most people know and it’s certainly the fleet crew that knows which deputy or officer is going to end up in an accident.
Cathy: A lot of people know well in advance which officer has the potential of getting a complaint against them for being too vocal or whatever.
Cathy: The people closest to one another can see that trouble brewing before it actually bubbles up to the surface.
Cathy: And so there’s this leadership intervention gap that we’re talking about today. Everybody knows it but nobody chooses to do anything about it most of the time.
Mike: Gordon Graham talked about this during the conference. It’s something that has been in the forefront of my mind as an ABLE instructor and as a HEROES instructor which is all about intervention.
Mike: There is leadership in intervention that we truly need.
Mike: There are things that are inherent with our role as a leader and for a variety of reasons we just don’t take that step when we should.
Cathy: Why is it so hard though? You would think when someone becomes a leader there’s some switch that flips and everything becomes easy and you know exactly what to do.
Cathy: But obviously that’s not how leadership works.
Cathy: Why is there hesitation when you can see trouble brewing before it happens?
Mike: There are a lot of pieces that become inhibitors. One of the largest inhibitors in law enforcement organizations is the phrase “this is the way we’ve always done it.”
Mike: If nobody else thinks what’s going on is wrong then maybe I would be wrong to address it.
Mike: Unfortunately that mindset builds a culture.
Mike: Leaders grow up in that culture and eventually become the next generation of leaders who model the same behavior.
Mike: I remember my first sergeant assignment in the courthouse division.
Mike: I started hearing a deputy make racial jokes and comments using slang terms for different nationalities.
Mike: It was clear the behavior had been tolerated for years.
Mike: I pulled him aside and said we can’t talk like that.
Mike: He pushed back and said nobody else had a problem with it.
Mike: But as the supervisor I knew I had to take a stand.
Mike: When you intervene early you prevent further harm.
Mike: The earlier you intervene the better the outcome.
Mike: Eventually I had to document the behavior because it continued.
Mike: He wasn’t happy with me at the time but it was the right leadership decision.
Cathy: There’s a risk though when you do that.
Cathy: There’s a risk of damaging the relationship.
Cathy: There’s a risk of being judged by the rest of the team.
Cathy: How do leaders balance accountability with trust?
Mike: When the team realized the standard had changed many of them actually supported it.
Mike: Clear expectations build trust.
Mike: People know what the standard is and they know leadership will enforce it.
Mike: Over time that consistency builds respect.
Mike: Culture is not easy to change.
Mike: It takes risk, courage, and commitment.
Mike: But when one leader takes the first step it gives others permission to do the same.
Mike: Eventually culture begins to shift.
Cathy: And that shift can impact morale, retention, and trust inside the organization.
Cathy: Leaders who intervene early prevent bigger problems later.
Mike: If behavior continues unchecked it can lead to lawsuits, hostile work environments, and damage to the organization’s reputation.
Mike: When you’re in leadership it starts and stops with you.
Mike: If something goes wrong the question will be asked: where was the supervisor?
Cathy: And that’s why closing the leadership intervention gap is so important.
Cathy: Leaders have the opportunity to step in early and help people succeed.
Mike: Leadership is not just about managing operations.
Mike: It’s about shaping the culture of the organization.
Cathy: If today’s conversation was helpful we hope you’ll share it with another leader in your organization.
Mike: And until next time, lead with clarity, lead with conviction, and elevate your call to service.
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