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Home » About Norwich » SGS Today »
Superintendent Paul Annetts [photo courtesy of Paul Annetts].
MJA program teaches a top dog new tricks
by Daphne Larkin, staff
© Aug. 29, 2008 Norwich University Office of Communications
In the final years of his career, one man found that education can change everything.
At 60, Paul Annetts wanted to pursue a career in forensic psychology, but after 30 years in corrections and as a prison superintendent, he was directed by a professor instead to Norwich University's Master of Justice Administration (MJA) program. There, Annetts found the tools to shift his leadership style from giving orders to working with the unions that organize the staff people he managed.
"I really wasn't happy with some of the comments I had heard [about myself]," Annetts said. "As a colonel it's your word. Coming from a military background, I'd come in and say 'these are the things you're going to do this way.' It's not the right way to manage; those years were very difficult for me. After going to Norwich I started to see a whole different picture."
Annetts (MJA'06), of Fishkill, N.Y., is a former Marine and Vietnam veteran who retired from corrections in July.
As a student in MJA, Annetts applied his learning directly to his career duties and achieved his goal of cutting overtime costs by unprecedented numbers and improving efficiency in other major areas of Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, N.Y.
Annetts said he quickly learned the value of listening to people, establishing values, understanding the culture and pursuing a mission through coalitions.
Annetts was appointed superintendent at Downstate in 2004. With an annual budget of $60 million, and the job of overseeing more than 1,200 inmates and a staff of 800, Annetts was "given marching orders" to cut overtime costs, uses of force and unusual incidents and to prepare the facility for an accreditation inspection.
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“Effective education can make a huge difference in managing.” |
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Overtime is a cherished commodity in law enforcement and corrections, and cooperation from the unions was vital to Annetts' success.
"The unions are very vocal and very powerful. They control the line staff to a great degree and a lot of the functions of the facility."
Annetts learned the culture of the corrections officers and the unions that represent them - a combination of entrenched, old-school officers and new officers coming in - and he approached them in a new way, asking for their input of ideas about the facility.
Pleased with Annetts' approach, union leaders communicated their desire for a memorial at the facility to honor the numerous veterans who worked there.
"Basically I got them to work together with the administration, as well as with each other's unions, and they were very happy with that start," Annetts said. "They built a [veterans'] monument that is bar none; each year they increase the size of it. This is a fine example of what teamwork can accomplish."
The experience also formed a bond between union leaders and Annetts, enabling them to collaborate on accomplishing other goals.
"One of the biggest things which I learned [in MJA] and really helped me was teamwork, socialization of the organizational culture groups, accomplishing missions/goals through the use of coalitions, and the use of statistics to manage effectively and efficiently."
Annetts formed coalitions, assigning a deputy to oversee activities but empowering the unions to work on problems together.
In his final year at Downstate, Annetts cut the overtime budget in security by $1 million.
Annetts also learned in MJA how to use statistics to identify areas of inefficiency and to explain to others how to improve functions at the prison.
Through statistical analysis, Annetts and his team were able to cut energy costs and reduce drug smuggling into the facility. The information was also useful for the accreditation inspection, earning the facility the highest score ever, he said.
Annetts also drastically reduced the number of inmate and staff grievances.
At his retirement, Annetts was celebrated by the very unions that historically regard people in his position as a barrier to their constituents' needs.
The union facilitated a legislative resolution adopted by the state of New York in which the state honored Annetts for his public service, saying he "commands the respect and admiration of the community."
The union presented the resolution to Annetts on a plaque.
"I was stunned," Annetts said. "I had never seen one of those; unions don't usually give those out. Effective education can make a huge difference in managing."
For Annetts, the learning never ends.
Annetts has returned the past two years to the School of Graduate Studies' (SGS) Residency Week at the Northfield, Vt., campus where he addresses MJA students. He relates his success story to illustrate the importance of numerous values he learned in MJA. He also tells MJA students this: "I couldn't have gotten where I got without Norwich University."
In December, Annetts will enter into SGS's Teaching and Learning Certificate program to hone his teaching skills, with an eye toward teaching criminal justice courses and a career of consulting in corrections.
For now, he is learning to enjoy retirement.
"I just bought a boat, and I'm going to do some fishing."
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