Make a Shift and Get a Different Outcome

Fresh starts and fresh views often come with a new year.  Here are some ideas for 2014:

• Exceed expectations.  All of us can exceed expectations for the better good; simply meeting expectations often gets us nowhere.  With teamwork and cooperation, there are unlimited possibilities.  Particularly in the criminal justice system.  The private commercial bail industry and taxpayer-funded pretrial services systems should work hand-in-hand to enhance public safety and offender accountability.
   
• Show your passion for what you do.  Without passion, a job is simply something to do.  Without passion, a job is just a job.   With passion, you know you are making a difference in the world.  The private commercial bail industry is passionate about the services it provides in the criminal justice system; we provide valuable guidance and assistance to clients and their family at a critical time and save taxpayers millions of dollars each year.
   
• Don’t operate in a silo.  Working in isolation vs. collaboratively stunts the achieved outcome.  The private commercial bail industry and taxpayer-funded pretrial services systems can achieve so much more through collaboration and partnerships, leading to increased effectiveness and successful outcomes. 
   
• Take personal accountability.  Make a choice to be personally accountable and to make a difference in all that you do.  The private commercial bail industry and taxpayer-funded pretrial services systems have a unique opportunity to help others take personal accountability for their actions at a critical moment in their life.  Bail agents can share their wisdom and experience in the criminal justice system by connecting with defendants and their families and perhaps help to stop or break the cycle of crime.  Employees of taxpayer-funded pretrial services systems can help defendants and their families secure the help and resources they need – perhaps for the first time – and get back on the right path.  Let your clients know you care and want to help them.
   
• Seek out opportunities to share what you do.  Don’t let an opportunity cease to be one.  Be proud of the services and work that you provide and let others know about it.  Both the private commercial bail industry and taxpayer-funded pretrial services systems offer valuable avenues to help people get released from jail pending disposition of their case.  Bail agents guarantee court appearance and save taxpayers millions of dollars in the process.  Taxpayer-funded pretrial services programs help defendants who are poor or indigent or who need additional services to be released from jail.  Take the opportunity to educate others about the significant role you play in the criminal justice system. 
   
• Think teamwork instead of me, me, me.  Build a rapport with your colleagues and partners to share your knowledge and experience to grow your profession instead of focusing on how to compete with others.  Competition can be good to a point – but working as a team often accomplishes so much more.  Teamwork is an opportunity to grow, discover areas of strength and areas of opportunity.
   
• Change the paradigm.  A paradigm is a theory or a group of ideas about how something should be done, made, or thought about.  A paradigm shift is taking place in the criminal justice system.  Both the private commercial bail industry and taxpayer-funded pretrial services systems need to proactively be involved in that paradigm shift and find ways of strengthening our roles while working together to enhance public safety.
   
• Think outside the box.  Thinking outside the box is a metaphor that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective.  In the criminal justice system, thinking outside the box means finding new ways to work with our partners, collaborating in ways we haven’t before, seeing things in a new light.  The end result will be safer communities and less crime.
   
• Re-motivate yourself.  Be an ambassador for the work that you do and the way that you do it.  Bail agents work 24/7 and sacrifice so much of their time with family and friends to help defendants and their families in a time of need.  It is a demanding and often dangerous profession.  Re-motivate yourself by embracing the important role you play in the criminal justice system and the guidance you provide to your clients and their families navigating a complicated system. 
   
• Accept change.  Change is inevitable.  Change can be positive.  Accepting new ideas, new ways of doing things and new challenges can reinvigorate us and the work that we do.  Charles Darwin, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory, said about change: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.  It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
   
• Lead by example.  Albert Einstein said, “Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means.”  If you want others to believe in you and the work that you do, show them by your actions and not just your words.  Be responsible.  Be professional.  Be understanding of others.  Be willing to compromise for the greater good.  Be passionate about your work.  Be an example of what others strive to be.
  
  "Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
                                                St. Francis of Assisi 
  
  Welcome to 2014!