Ward Clapham
Former RCMP Chief & Leadership Expert
Challenging the way work is traditionally done, Ward Clapham inspires leaders to rethink the way they manage people and unleash hidden talent. For 30 years, Clapham worked and served in one of the most stressful and demanding public arenas—law enforcement. When he took command of the third largest Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment in Canada, located in Richmond, B.C., the organization ran like most bureaucracies. Though difficult at times, Clapham’s unshakable vision created new paradigms of leadership within the traditional environment of policing. Clapham has spoken to thousands of people on his unique experiences and how issues of leadership that affect the RCMP are very similar to those that challenge leaders in the ‘real world’. His non-traditional way of thinking and problem solving has made him a sought-after speaker and consultant.
Challenging the way work is traditionally done, Ward Clapham inspires leaders to rethink the way they manage people and unleash hidden talent.
For 30 years, Clapham worked and served in one of the most stressful and demanding public arenas—law enforcement. When he took command of the third largest Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment in Canada, located in Richmond, B.C., the organization ran like most bureaucracies—heavy command-and-control management and strict adherence to the status quo. As with previous leadership assignments, Clapham didn't believe in staying in the box. He and his teams took calculated chances, made mistakes, and forged new paths where others feared to tread. Though difficult at times, Clapham's unshakable vision created new paradigms of leadership within the traditional environment of policing, not to mention that crime and community problems were significantly decreased.
Public and private organizations face similar challenges: how to successfully break with ineffective paradigms, practices and principles that tether people and organizations to the status quo. Clapham's inspiring stories define and describe the paradigm shift needed to move away from the command-and-control style of managing people toward a more proactive, unleashing of talent. He challenges leaders to think again about the effectiveness of their current methods and established rules of engagement.
Clapham is currently pursuing his consulting practice to bring his methodology and processes to a wider audience. His leadership approach has been featured in D. Michael Abrashoff's book Get Your Ship Together—How Great Leaders Inspire Ownership from the Keel Up. FranklinCovey Co. (founded by Dr. Stephen R. Covey) completed a documentary film on the success of Richmond B.C.'s proactive policing. He is currently featured in Dr. Stephen R. Covey's newest book, The 3rd Alternative: Solving Life's Most Difficult Problems.
Clapham has recently written and published two books in his Breaking With series: Breaking With the Law: The Story of Positive Tickets (www.positive tickets.com). The second book in this series is Lead Big: Discovering the Upside of Unconventional Leadership (www.LeadBig.net).
Clapham has spoken to thousands of people on his unique experiences and how issues of leadership that affect the RCMP are very similar to those that challenge leaders in the "real world." His non-traditional way of thinking and problem solving has made him a sought-after speaker and consultant.
Clapham has received a wide variety of honours including being a recipient of the Head of Public Service of Canada Award for Valuing and Supporting People—Leadership; receiving the Canadian Order of Merit of the Police Forces for conspicuous merit and exceptional service; being awarded the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem for community service; being honoured with the Queens Golden Jubilee Award for community policing; and being bestowed with a Rotary International Centennial Service Award for professional excellence.
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4. Culture
It's that somewhat nebulous, always pressing presence in every organization's culture. You know it's important for morale, for the customer experience, and for driving profits. But how do you change something that often feels like a fog?
Author, speaker, and former Canadian Mountie and Chief of Police, Ward Clapham, shares powerful insights into the myths and realities of changing an organization's culture. Using gut-wrenching examples from the colorful world of policing, Ward outlines effective ways for focusing on cultural issues that hold many organizational back from reaching peak performance. You will be inspired to action as Ward shares the avant-garde methods he used to break his teams out of ineffective practices and forge into better territory.
After serving 30 years in a highly entrenched cultural law enforcement position, Ward's unbelievable results prove that any leader wields the power to transform culture for the better.
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3. Leading in the Knowledge Worker Age: Social Media - A Real Game Changer
During this keynote presentation and Q & A, the participant will learn about how social media is dramatically changing how we work, build relationships, interact with one another, and finally, exercise leadership.
They will discover how the ease, speed, depth and breadth of communications today is a real game changer for business leaders. The old command and control style is being seriously challenged by more collaborative servant leadership techniques and methods.
Participants will explore how this shift is fundamentally about culture change. And that type of transformational change - which may include updating business practices - must come from the top. But more than a top-down dictum, it's got to be part of the essence of a business leader today. -
2. The Positive Ticket Principle
It started with a policing experiment -- what would happen if cops tried to catch kids doing something good, instead of doing something bad? And what if kids were rewarded with a positive "ticket?" It turned into a viral phenomenon called the Positive Ticket Principle that has swept the policing world and now finds application in the business sector.
Speaker and author Ward Clapham, former Chief of Police and mastermind of the Positive Ticket experiment, shares how the Positive Ticket Principle is the key to accelerated business performance and inspiring results.
In his latest keynote address, Clapham explains how employees are not simply motivated by rewards or "carrots." While those things are important, the Positive Ticket Principle takes the "carrot" approach one step further.
It's not just rewarding people, it's rewarding them as they progress and achieve significant goals they find personally meaningful. That combination of "prize" plus unleashing "progress" becomes the catalyst for breakthrough performance and success.
Learn more about how you can ignite the power of your workforce using the Positive Ticket Principle. -
1. Breaking With the Law: Lead Big - Discovering the Upside of Unconventional Leadership
Businesses today are jumping on the bandwagon of employee motivation through reward and recognition. But the multi-year study has revealed that at the end of the day it’s not reward that powers the most positive emotions and the urge to succeed. It’s progress.
Over his long tenure in policing, Clapham has broken with many leadership beliefs and behaviours that were ineffective and unproductive, hence the title of his book series Breaking With the Law. In the face of sometimes harsh criticism, Clapham has discovered the ultimate secret for quantum improvement: Every breakthrough first requires a break with the old paradigms, practices, and principles that tether people and organizations to the status quo.
Clapham’s presentation defines and describes the paradigm shift needed to move away from the command and control style of managing people toward a more proactive, unleashing of talent. Ward’s presentation will inspire you to think again about the effectiveness of your current methods and established rules of engagement.
As a master storyteller, Clapham will relate his experiences in grappling with out-dated traditions and ineffective behaviours. You’ll be laughing one moment and crying the next as he takes you on an inspirational journey of courage from this “cop out of the box.”
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Everybody loved your keynote presentation this year - can you be our opening keynote speaker again in 2011?
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We have had such a lot of positive feedback about your presentation...you are quite an inspiration. Canada is very lucky to have you and we feel very privileged that you came to our conference.
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Wow, bring him back; Excellent pertinent presentation; Excellent example of servant leadership and thinking out of the box; So awesome to hear your story/courage; Thank you for your inspiring voice; Excellent, Inspiring! Powerful; What an inspiring, encouraging and brave story; Well done! Keep inspiring others and demonstrating what is possible.
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We extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to you for the fine contribution to our conference. Over 900 youth and adults from 28 states and 11 countries participated. Unquestionably, our participants were happy and enthused.
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I had the privilege to be in attendance at the recent Police Foundation presentations you gave. They were both terrific. I want to say how inspiring and effective your messages were to those of us attending the conference.
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Thank you for presenting at our first Youth Justice Conference. I have had a bit of feedback about your presentation. One long time Probation Officer said that this was the first time in 5 years that she was personally moved after attending a workshop. She plans to tell the stories to others and practice some of the ideas.
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Thank you very much for the great job you did this morning. You really hit the key points that were of interest to our group and your message was right on track with what we're trying to accomplish here at UBC.
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On behalf of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, (FCM), I would like to thank you for your participation in the FCM's 68th Annual Conference and Municipal Expo in St. John's. Your participation in the Policy Forum of the Standing Committee on Community Safety and Crime Prevention, contributed to the overall success of this year's Annual conference. Your participation raised the awareness of an important municipal issue and helped further it within the municipal agenda.
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Conclusive results from the completed evaluation forms for this 2005 Conference reveal that, for a second year in a row the delegates' choice as "best speaker" was RCMP Superintendent Ward Clapham.
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Thanks for your presentation, it was awesome. I have received so much positive feedback. In fact, two people said to me - separately - that it made them feel like becoming a cop! You really inspired them. Thank you so much.
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Just a quick not to thank you for your inspiring presentation on leadership. I have been a municipal member for 24 years and I can honestly say that you held my attention for the entire presentation. Your presentation was "bang on" as it was apparent to me that you definitely "walk the talk".
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Thank you very much for attending. Your presentation was incredibly well received and very informative. I would like to see if perhaps we could actually do the 90 minute seminar on Comprehensive Policing. Your presentation was excellent. As a retired school principal, I have spent a great deal of time with "at risk kids". I appreciate the information you are sharing.
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Thank you on behalf of the UBCM Executive for participating in the conference on "Harnessing Youth Power & Perspectives in Your Local Government". We are grateful that you were able to take time to participate in the conference. Your presentation was very much appreciated by the local government representatives that attended and it was a notable factor in our having a successful event.
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Thank you for a great, humorous, inspiring and fascinating presentation. Let the CLA take note that speakers from outside of the library profession are gems. They can be relevant and perhaps even more interesting than someone from within this excellent field because they bring fresh new ideas. I liked the autobiographical approach Ward took, the hilarious commercials that showed how not to do wellness leadership, his honesty and superb presentation skills. If somebody can take an army type of organization like the RCMP and promote wellness by treating subordinates like equals, and create a place of respect, we should sit up and take notice. Sorry to those of you who missed this session!
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Ward, thank you for taking the time to share your journey and leadership philosophy with us. Everyone that I met in your office is further proof of your successes - there was a definite desire to help and a focus on people. I'm thinking of moving to Richmond!
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I would enjoy listening to you speak again, and hope that you return to Washington to do so. You are the most progressive police leader I've met in my thirty-five year law enforcement experience. I wish there were more of you. Further, you're one of the best public speakers I've ever had the privilege to hear.
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February 2011Lead Big: Discovering the Upside of Unconventional Leadership
Is your team achieving breakthrough performance? The solution is simple: every breakthrough first requires a break with the old paradigms, practices, and principles that tether the organization to the status quo and stunt growth. Lead BIG: Discovering the Upside of Unconventional Leadership, provides leaders with powerful break-with insights to help them propel their teams to new levels of achievement. His inspiring stories and results coupled with scientific research, anecdotes, quotes, and historical accounts make this book a must-read for leaders in all areas of the public and private sector.
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June 2010Breaking With the Law: The Story of Positive Tickets
In Breaking With the Law: The Story of Positive Tickets, Ward Clapham shares his journey in launching and establishing the Positive Tickets program in his community. Positive Tickets is a community program where you catch kids doing good things and reward them with a voucher or coupon to some fun, free activity. The principles of this innovative approach have been proven to significantly reduce juvenile problems in a community, boost self-esteem and morale, improve community relations with youth, and lower juvenile crime costs.
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