Excessive Niceness Impacts Among First Responders

Amanda Neuts & Michael Giroux

Department of Leadership & Organizational Studies

LOS 770 – The Learning Organization

Joe Lasley, Ph.D.

May 4, 2024

Traumatic situations require the ability to exhibit empathy, care, and compassion. However, when these traits and skills are combined in such a way that the behavior could be considered ‘excessively nice,’ they could lead to unwanted impacts for situational effectiveness and first responders’ health. Excessive niceness for the purpose of this essay will be defined as the overwhelming desire to be liked displayed by overemphasis on being agreeable, accommodating, and overly considerate to the point where it becomes counterproductive or hinders effective decision-making and leadership. Often when one exhibits behavior that is unbalanced, they are suppressing other emotions and feelings that can lead to increased anxiety and chronic illness (Murphy, 2023).

“Being nice and pleasing others — while socially applauded and generally acknowledged as positive traits — actually can harm our health. Decades of research point to the same conclusion: Pushing down our anger, prioritizing duty and the needs of others before our own, and trying not to disappoint others are leading causes of chronic illness. Ignoring or suppressing how we feel and what we need — whether done consciously or unconsciously — revs up our stress response, pushing our body toward inflammation, at the cost of our immune system.” — Gabor Maté

A capacity for decision making may be compromised for first responders if they are prone to excessively nice behavior when responding to work calls. In highly stressful situations, such as medical emergencies, soundness of judgment is always compromised (Vaught, n.d.). It has also been found that excessively nice behavior can hinder difficult decision making (Fertik, 2014). Compounding a high-stress environment with actions that are exceedingly nice will most likely make it more challenging to make sound and timely arduous decisions.  High-stress environments are pervasive in public safety professions including police departments, and emergency medical services.

Emergency Medical Services

            With significant job-related stressors, emergency medical providers may be at elevated risk for both suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Stanley et al., 2015). Further, emergency medical professionals have been found to be 1.39 times more likely to succumb to suicide than the general public (Tiesman et al., 2021). An affinity toward overly nice behavior creates additional negative impacts such as burnout, self-criticism, and life regrets (Talbbl, 2018).

Emergency medical services can often have complex organizational infrastructures that include both paid staff and volunteer components. This matrix of both paid and unpaid contributors introduces unique challenges, such as undesirably low volunteer responders and response rates to emergency calls (Rheaume, 2020). Even in uncomplicated structures, excessively nice behavior from leaders and managers can have negative implications such as an avoidance of giving critical feedback and giving in too easily (Gallo, 2014). Layering an unbalanced approach, such as being too nice, onto an already dynamic and complicated system will likely compound these unwanted effects and create both organizational structure and effectiveness challenges.

Law Enforcement

            By the very nature of their job, law enforcement officers experience an inordinate amount of stress. Occupational stressors are external events consistent with the general body of law enforcement, such as long periods of inactivity interrupted by sudden emergency responses to traumatic calls, scenes of death, and the fear of being assaulted. Organizational stressors, on the other hand, are internal and vary from organization to organization, but generally include unclear orders, lack of support from administrators, and low morale. Both occupational and organizational stressors have been found to increase police stress (Chae & Boyle, 2013) and depressive symptoms (Allison et al., 2019). Excessive niceness can further exacerbate these stressors by hindering difficult decision making (Fertik, 2014).

As this cycle continues, officers experience burnout which is characterized by exhaustion and increasing cynicism (Violanti et al., 2018). Burnout can also lead to emotional detachment and a distrust of administrators (Gau et al., 2013). An affinity toward overly nice behavior by leaders further generates burnout, self-criticism, and life regrets (Talbbl, 2018).

Research indicates that the majority of law enforcement officers who experienced a life-threatening situation (occupational stress) felt abandoned by their department administrators during their recovery (Plaxton-Hennings, 2004). These feelings of administrators being unsupportive and unresponsive only served to exacerbate the officers’ pre-existing organizational stress and synergize their occupational stress. In extreme life-threatening situations that resulted in an officer being hospitalized, these feelings were so significant that the officers frequently experienced depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal ideation (Carlier et al., 1997). Ultimately, law enforcement officers are generally 54% more likely to die by suicide than the general population (Violanti & Steege, 2021).

There is also significant thought around a never-ending and increasingly voluminous work-load leading to organizational stress in law enforcement. Police officers, probably more so than the general population, “juggle work, family, and community in a never-ending blur of activity” because of their intimate involvement in so many other people’s lives (Senge, 2006, p. 146). While the necessary solution is to proactively manage the workload, many people often turn to unhealthy means to cope with organizational stress.

Public Safety, Generally

To address a potential scenario where excessively nice behavior is present among first responders, a process of listening must be activated in order to understand and explore root causes and impacts of this behavior. Scharmer (2018) offers four types of listening that would be meaningful and impactful for first responders in this situation: 1) downloading: reconfirming what we already know, 2) factual listening: focusing on data to notice disconfirming information, 3) empathetic listening: using our feelings and heart to see the situation through another’s perspective, and 4) generative listening: holding space for the highest future possibility and something new to be born (p. 27). The combination of highly traumatic events and a nuanced behavior that tends to be people pleasing, makes “the ability of the leader to observe his or her quality of listening and to adjust the quality of listening to what is needed in each situation” (Scharmer, 2018, p. 28) especially critical to achieve success in finding a more balanced approach.

 In order to create an environment that is conducive to these listening techniques, a container should be created that serves as a holding space that allows for the facilitation of “intention, attention, and the subtle qualities of deep listening” (Scharmer, 2018, p. 13). Exploring Scharmer’s (2018) Theory U framework, which is built upon deep listening and empathetic understanding, would help first responders to become aware that any imbalance in niceness can lead them to a cycle of absencing, where they are acting out of fear of further upsetting those around them. Implementing the techniques and strategies of Theory U would aid in striking more of a balance and evolving to a more healthy cycle of presencing, giving first responders the tools to leverage their innate courage and approach intense and often traumatic situations with compassionate directness.

First responders should also be conscious that the coping mechanism may be more detrimental than the initial condition (Senge, 2006). In other words, “the cure can be worse than the disease” (Senge, 2006, p. 88). As one example, police officers often deal with stress and fatigue with alcohol. The literature estimates that police alcohol use may be as high as twice the level of the general population, with some studies even suggesting that policing is simply a drinking culture. Given this higher rate of consumption, previous studies have attempted to identify causal factors including the belief that police officers drink because of the occupational stress induced by long shifts, lack of supervisory support, and organizational changes, in addition to homicides, suicides, and other violent crimes. Senge (2006) affirms this idea by noting that social drinking is often “a solution to the problem of low self-esteem or work-related stress” (Senge, 2006, p. 88). In their 2009 research, Lindsay & Shelley discovered that stress, being social, and fitting in were the most significant factors in determining alcohol consumption. As a central nervous system depressant, alcohol impairs decision making, increases impulsivity, and exacerbates depressive symptoms. Many of the police suicides in these studies note the presence of alcohol as a contributing factor.

            Alcohol can also shift the burden (Senge, 2006), particularly with stress and alcohol. “Stress builds, which leads to more alcohol, which relieves stress, which leads to less perceived need to adjust workload, which leads to more workload, which leads to more stress” in a self-sustaining pattern of behavior. Over time, while the symptoms are temporarily relieved, the first responder’s general health begins to deteriorate. Generally, the longer the cycle continues, the more difficult it is to correct (Senge, 2006).

A desire to exhibit empathy and care in traumatic situations can lead first responders and emergency medical professionals to unbalanced behaviors, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and excessive niceness, which can have unintended consequences. Negative impacts of excessively nice behavior can include burnout, self-harming behaviors, and impaired decision making. Applying concepts from Theory U and The Fifth Discipline can aid an exploration of these behaviors and offer insights into impacts and negative outcomes beyond the self, to the broader interconnected system. The structure provided in these frameworks can not only facilitate deeper understanding of behavior and impacts, but also foster improvement through ownership and intentional change.

To address excessive niceness among first responders it is critical to create a culture of awareness, openness, and continuous learning. A supportive and caring environment that allows and encourages honest feedback is essential in shifting to more balanced and healthy behaviors. Removing the stigma around mental health issues and providing resources and support are foundational to improved well-being, which in turn supports improved performance. Creating a culture of continuous learning is imperative, especially when dealing with critical situations, to empower the ability to effectively balance compassion and decision-making, enabling first responders and emergency medical professionals to serve their communities to the best of their ability.

References

Allison, P., Mnatsakanova, A., McCanlies, E., Fekedulegn, D., Hartley, T. A., Andrew, M. E., & Violanti, J. M. (2019). Police stress and depressive symptoms: role of coping and hardiness. Policing (Bradford, England), 43(2), 247–261. https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm-04-2019-0055

Carlier, I., Lamberts, R. and Gersons, B. (1997), “Risk factors for posttraumatic stress symptomology in police officers: a prospective analysis”, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 185, 498-506.

Chae, M. H., & Boyle, D. J. (2013). Police suicide: Prevalence, risk, and protective factors. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 36(1), 91-118.

Fertik, M. (2014). The problem with being too nice. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2014/04/the-problem-with-being-too-nice.

Gallo, A. (2014). When your boss is too nice. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2014/03/when-your-boss-is-too-nice.

Gau, J. M., Terrill, W., & Paoline III, E. A. (2013). Looking up: Explaining police promotional aspirations. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 40(3), 247-269.

Murphy, A. (2023). The danger of being nice: science-backed research that reveals a hidden truth. Medium. https://medium.com/illumination/the-danger-of-being-nice-science-backed-research-that-Reveals-a-hidden-truth-719124ff5468.

Plaxton-Hennings, C. (2004), “Law enforcement organizational behavior and the occurrence of posttraumatic stress symptomology in law enforcement personnel following a critical incident”, Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 19, 53-63.

Rheaume, J. M. (2020). Volunteer Shortage. Firefighter Nation. https://www.firefighternation.com/firerescue/volunteer-shortage/#gref.

Scharmer, O. (2018). The essentials of Theory U: Core principles and applications. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Senge, P. M. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Broadway Business.

Stanley, I. H., Hom, M. A., & Joiner, T. E. (2015). A systematic review of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics. Elsevier. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272735815300684.

Talbbl, R. (2018). The dangers of being nice. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fixing-families/201807/the-dangers-being-nice .

Tiesman, H. M., Elkins, K. L., Brown, M., Marsh, S., & Carson, L. M. (2021). Suicides among first responders: a call to action. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2021/04/06/suicides-first-responders/.

Vaught, C. (n.d.). Judgment and decision-making under stress: an overview for emergency managers. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Pittsburgh Research Laboratory. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/UserFiles/works/pdfs/jadmus.pdf.

Violanti, J. M., Mnatsakanova, A., Andrew, M. E., Allison, P., Gu, J. K., & Fekedulegn, D. (2018). Effort-Reward Imbalance and Overcommitment at Work: Associations With Police Burnout. Police quarterly, 21(4), 440–460. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611118774764

Violanti, J. M., & Steege, A. (2021). Law enforcement worker suicide: an updated national assessment. Policing: An International Journal, 44(1), 18-31. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM0920190157