it appears as though Mr. Sims is having some technical difficulty. As a result, we're going ahead, go ahead and start with the first question being asked by Ms Ward.
Good morning, Jody. I'm on now. Thank
you, Mr. Sims, if you could introduce yourself, please, and then ask a question.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Edward Sims. I'm one of the recipient rights officers here at the win. Can you still hear me? Yes, we
can hear you. Thank you. But before we go any further, I did want to take the opportunity to introduce our first candidate, and his name is Mr. James White, welcome. Mr. White. Good
morning, Mr. White,
Mr. Simms, the floor is yours, okay?
And my question for Mr. White, you
are you still there? Sir, I
Mr. Simms, you
Why don't you? Why don't you go ahead and start Miss ward.
Okay, good morning, when major decisions are at stake. How do you handle disagreements or conflicts within your team?
Good morning again. Well, I think the first thing you have to look at is the the totality of the the issue. I mean, there are a variety of different ways that you I go about doing that if we're looking at something that is detrimental to the operation of the organization, it's a good idea to have a conversation and to talk through precisely why you have a differing opinion. I like to inform my decisions with information and data, but certainly absent specifically what that disagreement could be about. I say it's a variety of different courses, so I'll give you a few examples. If we were having a disagreement about the direction of the organization, and a member brought some good ideas forward, and I think I owe it to that member to listen, and if we have a differing of opinion, to explain to them why, but if it's something that's detrimental to the operation of the organization, or the integrity of the the organization, or the services to our consumers, and we have a different opinion, I think I would carry out that opinion, but have the or carry out that decision that I've made, but but inform the person who has a disagreement as to why that occurred. I have to stop there, because I don't have any more information. Thank you.
I believe Mr. Sims is back online. Now, if you are sir, please ask your question.
Okay, good morning. My question to Mr. White is, what methods have you used to motivate your staff in the past, and how would you foster teamwork within the entire organization?
I've used a variety of different methods. I believe I'm a servant leader. Everyone is valuable in an organization regardless of titles and positions, and position doesn't make you smarter. So you have to be an all inclusive leader. You have to talk to folks and let them know that they are an asset. And I mean, we use the term human resources, but they truly are the best and the most important resource to the effective operation of an organization. Coming from, where I come from, at DPD, having 28 plus years there, I've had to use a variety of different tactics, you know, certainly training, giving people an opportunity to succeed, allowing people to be part of the solution to the problems in the organization, collaboration, having team meetings and listening to everyone from the team, one of the things that I implemented at Detroit Police Department is what I Call a diagonal slice meeting, and oftentimes managers and CEOs and chiefs, they typically talk only to their senior manager, and that doesn't always get you all the information that you need to effectively run an organization by implementing a diagonal slice. Everyone in the organization in that diagonal slice is present at a table every quarter that's everyone from the cadet to the first line police officer to the civilian professionals, our analysts, our data miners, both sworn in civilian our stakeholders and we talk about, how can we best run the operation? What needs do they have, and are we meeting those needs? How do we best recruit? We make sure that each and every one of their responsibilities are brought to the table. And we're talking we're talking about them. It's not just crime, because there's a lot of things that that that makes an organization that size go and it's, you know, to sworn civilian, there's lawyers, there's a medical team that gets the officers back to work when they're injured. There's a mental health co response unit for the officers who are going through trauma with some of the things that they've seen. And in order to effectively run that operation and motivate people, they have to have a voice at that table. They have to have access to the managers, and they certainly have to to fill that their work is valued, okay, thank you. Ms McGee,
you're ready. You
Good morning. Can you guys hear me? Yes, yes.
Okay. My question is, what
is something that you hope to see change within the organization, and why?
Well, you know, I've done some research on the organization. I've had some exposure with D when in my current role. And so to say, What would I like to see change at this point, I want to add and not necessarily change, because I really don't know enough about change. I look at the fact that the employee base is strong. You the fact that from 22 to 24 was deemed, I think a 22 one of the most diverse places, or an award was received for that, and 23 was best place to work, 24 Best Place to Work by cranes, so to come in and disrupt that would be counterintuitive. You've got a good employee group here. I certainly like the fact that there's been some expansion and resources for our community. I know that the Seven Mile facility is 18 months away from from opening, tremendous investment in that. You know, the 707, facility is up and running. So change, not necessarily change, but to continue to to advocate and work towards providing more resources for the for the community. So if that's a change, I guess that would be one, but you know, d1 is already headed in that direction. So I think through advocacy and and working with our legislators and letting them know the importance of this work, collaboration with what with law enforcement around the county, not just Detroit, I mean Wayne County, 612 I believe, square miles and 34th largest county. So collaboration, work exposure for d1 in terms of letting people know the opportunity to access some of the amazing opportunities here and the work that's here, and really just promoting the organization, not promoting me, but promoting the organization and the work that they do, I think a lot of that has already started. But if I have to pick a change, I guess that's the one I would most associate with.
Thank you. What do you believe should be the main goals of D win over the next year?
I think continued advocacy, continue to work with the legislators in Lansing for exposure to the crisis that is mental illness and mental health, and not just mental health, but but other conditions, autism. Well, we are seeing a lot of young people on the autism spectrum. There's not a lot of training for that, at least the DPD. We're starting to get more exposed than that. So that's what I would like to see.
I If you were selected as CEO, how would you advocate now for D win in order to ensure that it is well funded over the next three years and 10 years?
Well, the first thing I would do is look at the strategic plan that it's already been published, and I know that there's six pillars in that strategic plan, and look at how d1 has performed as it relates to that strategic plan. And those six pillars continue to work with Lansing, continue to work with Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and make sure that Ms hotel knows who I am, and spend time there working with some of the lawmakers that I've already worked with in my current position. I would continue to do that. I've advocated for mental health already for the department, and I would use those relationships and continue to use those relationships. But looking at the budget in this organization, significant budget, looking at the budget performance, I know that it's a significant budget. I thought I had a big budget at a half billion dollars, and this is a billion dollar budget. So what I know that that budget is is based on a lot of different levels and a lot of different aspects, from billing and and Healthy Michigan and all those different things that drives that budget, Medicaid or medic Medicaid, and some other things. So again, I don't, I'm not trying to be vague, but I guess I would need to understand how the budget is performing, looking at the data, you know, having a an understanding of the strategic plan, the performance of the strategic plan, looking at the budget, which seems to be very strong right now, and making sure that those those components that fuel the budget are solid, that those resources are still coming in, advocating in Lansing again, looking at the fact that I believe that if we could drive down the mental health crisis in This country, let alone this county, that it would have a rippling impact in a positive way in every area, from employment to education to crime. That's what I would do. I would just continue to advocate, meet with the lawmakers, work with our stakeholders, even really working with the service providers and making sure that we're meeting our mark on that, but also that they have a they have a relationship with me, and that that they're advocating for this work.
Very good. Thank you.
That concludes the questions we have from our staff panelists. Did the panelists have any further questions they wanted to ask? Jim, think you wanted to add Mr. White?
No. Thank you very much.
That will conclude this section of the interview for Mr. White, we'll take a short break. I
thank you.
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