How's the morale at MCSD?

How's the morale at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department? Are most of the employees happy?

How does a sheriff's department determine whether morale is high (or low)? How would deputies feel about participating in an in-house survey? Willing? Confident that opinions will be considered? Certain there would be no retaliation or retributions, if problems are raised?

Don't you just love it when a business (or government) says, "We don't have any problems. We have issues (or concerns)." They've got their heads in the sand. They have problems! And they won't get better by themselves.

One way to ascertain morale is to conduct 360° assessments. With these, everyone is evaluated. Subordinates are rated by bosses. And bosses are rated by subordinates. Imagine that!

The assessments must be conducted by outside consultants. And the teams, units or divisions must be large enough that the responses will be anonymous. When you have only two or three people reporting to a supervisor, the supervisor will know who submitted honest, but negative, information. In this case, a subordinate will most likely decide not to response, or he'll falsify his answers. And that will make the instrument (the 360° assessment) worthless.


What is needed at the top of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department? Honesty, Integrity and Transparency. These are leadership qualities. For the MCSD to regain the trust of the public and its employees, these qualities must return.