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The second Leadership Tactics "Flame" is Accountability ... from trust building to addressing failures to perform. You watched as your male counterparts seemingly made the transition from "probie" to team member quickly. Perhaps it took a little longer, but eventually you proved you could not only do the job, but do it well. You work hard, you make good decisions, you know the job, and perform it well. Now, several years down the road, you have an opportunity to compete for a formal "leadership" position. Do you go for it or do you hesitate? As a female considering a formal leadership role in a male dominated feld, you have several options. You can try to be "one of the guys" but try as you might, you are just not. You can go to the other extreme, but do you really want to be "That Girl"? Didn't think so. So you keep your head down, and you train and work hard in effort to earn the trust and respect of your colleagues. Yet frequently when leadership opportunities knock, you hesitate to step up. This begs the question, "Why?" According to Bureau of Labor statistics, women now represent over 50 percent of the general workforce, and earn almost 60 percent of baccalaureate and graduate-level college degrees. However, in the law enforcement community, we represent far less at between 15 and 17 percent. Figures in the fre service and emergency management are far more dismal. In public safety felds such as corrections, probation and parole, EMS, and communications, we fare only slightly better. Not surprisingly then, women represent very few of the formal leadership positions in public safety-related felds. These statistics clearly indicate a gap. Enter Building Warrior Women: Leader- The third Leadership Tactics "Flame" is Nurturing ... empowering, delegating and coaching. ship Tactics. The Building Warrior Women (BWW) mission is to educate, motivate, and empower women in public safety felds. LouKa Tactical, in partnership with Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, has developed a unique, innovative approach to leadership for women in public safety and frst responder felds. This creative approach is built on a foundation of "Authentic Leadership" (being yourself) drawn from corporate America, the armed services, and academia. It focuses on four areas of leadership tactics derived from characteristics of transformational leadership, blended with a splash of In Extremis, to keep it real. As a gender, women tend to demonstrate great strength in many of the behaviors associated with transformational leadership. BWW Leadership Tactics emphasize identifying and exploiting strengths, and leveraging those strengths to develop areas where performance can be improved. There is suffcient research to conclude that transformational leadership is very effective in public safety organizations. The essence of transformational leadership is the ability to inspire followers to strive toward something bigger than self. It is characterized by such traits as vision, motivation, empathy, trust, and optimism. On standardized test instruments (MLQ5x), women test high in many of the behaviors associated with transformational leadership. Women can, and do, make very effective transformational leaders in public safety organizations. BWW Leadership Tactics is an approach designed to bridge this gap by highlighting the Four Flames of the BWW Leadership Torch. This approach capitalizes on personal and professional development in the areas of Confdence, Accountability, Nurturing and Ethics. The journey begins with the development of self, as only then can one hope to positively infuence colleagues, institutions, policies and culture. Each of the four fames is presented with research-based academic content and practical tools, combined with highly interactive instructional methods, and personal refection. This synergistic combination results in signifcant positive aptitude and attitude changes for participants. During the two and a half day event, LouKa facilitators and FIU faculty begin a conversation about leadership. Dialogue includes presentations and guided discussions into each of the Four Flames. Symposium participants frst explore the role Confdence plays in their personal and professional lives. Through the use of a wide variety of interactive instructional methods, participants identify self-limiting behaviors and experiment with practical tools to aid in goal setting, individual professional development, and developing power bases. Guided discussions focus on a variety of traditional and trending leadership styles, and how to identify and take advantage of developmental opportunities that align with established goals. Education, preparation, determination and trust are the cornerstones of confdence. Participants refect on their individual strengths in these areas, identify areas in need of improvement, and develop www.lawandordermag.com 63