MPS response to the Talent Management and Succession Planning Scrutiny 2007

Report: 6
Date: 24 April 2008
By: Director of Human Resources on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report sets out our response to the recent MPA Talent Management and Succession Planning Scrutiny Report. The report details actions that the MPS propose to take against each recommendation and, where appropriate, draws links to current activity being undertaken in respect of talent management, positive action and promotion processes.

A. Recommendation

That Members note the progress highlighted within the report.

B. Supporting information

1. The MPS have welcomed the report of the Scrutiny. Much of the work to which the Scrutiny relates is under review and we have been able to incorporate the views of the Scrutiny into new and developing products. This report now seeks to spell out our overall reaction to each individual recommendation.

2. This section of the report takes each of the Scrutiny recommendations in turn and documents the MPS response:

Recommendation 1: That talent management and succession planning is expressly identified as an additional enabler – there are currently five - to the MPA’s and MPS’s seven strategic priorities, i.e. together with ‘a modern and diverse workforce’, ‘enabled staff’, ‘better use of resources’, cohesive partnership working’, and ‘clear communication’.

3. This is agreed and is being factored into our current business plans.

Recommendation 2: That a succession planning and talent management strategy is developed by the MPS, with oversight by the MPA, explicitly incorporating positive action initiatives for under represented groups.

4. A talent management framework for the MPS, with associated business case has been developed, with the aim of ensuring that we develop and progress our ‘brightest and best’ at all levels to deliver a more representative and assured pipeline of talent across the organisation (see Appendix 1, Talent Management Framework). Once approved by Management Board, this framework will be underpinned by an appropriate strategy to enable effective implementation of the talent processes.

5. The talent framework incorporates specific initiatives and programmes to provide support and development opportunities to under-represented groups to improve representation and build a more balanced workforce at all ranks. Positive action will be delivered in two ways:

Promoting difference programme

6. The Promoting Difference Programme is open without restriction to all police officers from an under-represented group up to and including superintending ranks. Priority will be given to those seeking promotion or selection to a specialist role. Non-managerial ranks will also be targeted as the greatest change in proportionality occurs from constable to sergeant rank.

7. The programme provides a matrix of development options, designed to remove career barriers traditionally faced by those from under-represented groups. Individuals will be encouraged to work with their line manager to select and enrol on those options, which are most relevant to their individual needs.

8. Programme delivery commenced in January 2008:

• To date, three Positive Action Leadership Programmes have been held to encourage those from under-represented groups to apply for promotion. One course per month will be held throughout 2008 (144 places available)
• Springboard development programme for non-managerial women has been re-launched with 35 women taking part
• An external mentoring scheme has been launched in partnership with the Safer London Foundation to provide mentors from under-represented groups within the business community for 20 police officers at sergeant / inspector rank
• An in-house and non-residential NPIA Leadership Development Programme for senior women was commissioned and took place in March 2008 so those with family or other commitments could attend (16 places)
• Discussions have been held with the Learning Skills Council and an external training provider to commission an accredited development programme to support the progression of BME officers and secure Train to Gain money to fund this

9. Further projects are planned in collaboration with the Staff Associations, including a workshop with the Disabled Staff Association on 29 April 2008 to examine barriers to progression; development of a mentoring scheme with the Gay Police Association and workshops with the Association of Muslim Police to provide coaching on application form and interview techniques

Equip to Achieve Programme

10. The Equip to Achieve programme will be launched in May 2008. The aim is to identify talented under-represented police officers with the potential to progress quickly into senior leadership roles. The programme will be open initially to BME constables, sergeants, inspectors and chief inspectors, who have been assessed as having the potential, desire and commitment to successfully join the High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS) and/or the MPS talent pool.

11. The programme will be run over one year, offering intensive two-day development sessions, 1-2-1 coaching, mentoring, feedback and learning events (see Appendix 2, Equip to Achieve Programme). A member of the HPDS or Talent Cascade will mentor each Equip to Achieve participant to enable them to develop more understanding of what it takes to be successful as a high potential officer. The programme will also be accredited, with each participant expected to complete a Certificate in Leadership Development.

12. Once Equip to Achieve participants (circa 12 on the initial intake) are accepted onto the HPDS or talent pool, they will access the work-based assessment promotion pathway to Superintendent, which will allow them to achieve rapid promotion, but demonstrate through rigorous on-the-job scrutiny that they have the right skills to support the future leadership needs of the organisation.

13. It is anticipated that by 2012, the Equip to Achieve Programme will have effectively doubled the number of BME Superintendents within the MPS; projections based on natural growth without the Achieve programme indicate that there will be approximately ten BME Superintendents in the MPS by 2012, however if the Achieve programme is taken into consideration, the number of BME Superintendents is likely to increase to approximately 21 (see Appendix 3 for detailed projections).

Recommendation 3: That Management Board formalises a ‘top down’ scanning process to inform decisions about talent management and succession planning, career development and skills needs / gaps. This should include a review across Superintending ranks and equivalent police staff about an individual’s performance and potential in comparison with their peers. This should be replicated at Business Group level for middle ranking managers (Inspecting ranks and equivalent police staff) and at OCU and BOCU level for other staff. Each scanning process should cascade upwards.

14. An informal process involving Management Board members, Workforce Planning and the Senior Careers Advisor already takes place. Within this process, Superintending ranks and equivalent police staff are reviewed on a twice-yearly basis. Developmental issues identified for those at Superintending rank are taken forward by the Senior Careers Advisor.

15. A business case has been submitted for an equivalent role to the Senior Careers Advisor to head up a dedicated talent management function and directly support talent management and succession planning for senior police staff (at band B and A level). Once in place, the review process across senior police officers and staff will be formalised and regularly report to Management Board, building on current workforce planning data.

Recommendation 4: That any externally provided training should be clearly linked to the needs of the organisation and the development of the individual. The Career Management Unit should maintain a central record of these courses, including electronic copies of any research or written dissertation.

16. Externally provided training is already assessed on the basis of the benefit to the organisation and the individual, for example any applications to the MPS bursary scheme are assessed against the relevance to the individual’s current role, their future career development and to delivery of the MPS Strategic Priorities. Any training undertaken by an individual will be recorded on MetHR as a matter of process and we will ensure such records are enhanced so that details of courses undertaken are retained.

Recommendation 5: That for senior leadership, hard to fill and specialist roles, career pathways and succession plans are developed.

17. Discussions with Business Groups are currently taking place to develop a formal succession planning process (see Items 12 and 13).

Recommendation 6: There should be a designated ACPO ‘champion’ for succession planning and talent management within the MPS as a vocal, high profile advocate of the approach set out in this report, including ‘driving through’ the recommendations and acting as a focus for advice and support. In addition, each Business Group should have a succession planning and talent management ‘lead’. (This proposal should also be replicated at a national level).

18. DAC Roberts, Deputy Director of Human Resources, and future director of the Strategic Centre (as part of THR), is the designated champion for talent management and succession planning. He is the current MPS ACPO lead for the High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS), Intensive Development Programme (IDP), positive action programmes and National Senior Careers Advisory Service (NSCAS). In addition to these MPS posts, the DAC also acts as the Chief Moderator for national police examinations, is an assessor for SPNAC and the national HPDS and represents the MPS on the NPIA Leadership Development Board. Under the THR model, a dedicated talent management unit, reporting to DAC Roberts, is to be established and located in the Strategic Centre within the HR directorate, underscoring its function in setting the organisational strategy and framework for this area for the MPS. Reporting this team into the Deputy Director of Human Resources underlines its strategic importance and ensures a lead of sufficient stature to drive the work forward and maintain momentum.

19. The Strategic Advisors under THR will be designated leads for succession planning and talent management within their Business Groups to enable implementation of the talent management framework.

Recommendation 7: The MPS should encourage all ACPO and Superintending ranks to provide internal coaching and mentoring or work shadowing opportunities as part of the talent management and succession planning strategy. This should be in addition to the external coaching and mentoring opportunities for senior police officers and senior police staff with London First. In the absence of personal coaching, mentoring or work shadowing opportunities, coaching and mentoring opportunities should be provided with or by external organisations.

20. Work is already in progress to encourage ACPO and superintending ranks to provide coaching, mentoring and career development support as part of a Talent Cascade. This Talent Cascade uses the skills and experiences of more senior staff and officers, who show a clear focus on their own development, to coach more junior staff and officers. Not only is this a cost effective way for the organisation to support learning and development, it also creates a talent network and provides further opportunities for our staff to coach and mentor and evidence how they are maximising potential in others (see Appendix 4, Talent Cascade).

21. Our partnership with London First continues with the Leadership Exchange programme having been re-launched in January 2008 to increase the number of partnerships across Superintending ranks.

22. For members of the talent programmes, access to external mentoring and/or coaching is facilitated based on identified development needs within personal development plans. Due to the expense associated with external coaching, this cannot be offered more widely.

Recommendation 8: The opportunity to expand existing senior secondment initiatives with organisations such as London First should be explored, together with secondment opportunities to and from other parts of government, local government and the criminal justice sector for lower and middle ranking officers.

23. The value of secondments is recognised. There are, however, significant operational difficulties in securing the release of appropriate personnel for secondments. There are also significant challenges in respect of security clearance for secondments into the MPS.

24. An evaluation of existing arrangements with London First is currently taking place, with a view to expanding the business partnerships currently available and offering secondments. These secondments would be sourced for individuals within the talent groups and would be based on identified development needs (see Appendix 5 for detail on how the partnership with London First will be taken forward).

Recommendation 9: The opportunity to incorporate existing police development programmes into the talent management and succession planning strategy should be explored as part of a “development centre” programme, e.g. using programmes run by the NPIA.

25. This is the approach taken within the talent management framework, which builds on existing national programmes, such as the HPDS and NSCAS.

26. Looking internally within the MPS, the Senior Careers Advisor is developing an integrated approach to development activity across leadership, talent management and diversity areas in collaboration with the Director of the Leadership Academy, the Deputy Director of Human Resources and the DAC for Diversity and Citizen Focus.

Recommendation 10: That MPS ACPO rank officers should be involved in every promotion interview for Superintendent and Chief Superintendent rank and as assessors for the SPNAC.

27. The MPS will endeavour to involve ACPO officers in all selection processes at Superintending rank, although it may not be possible to include ACPO in every Superintendent interview given the number that need to take place. The importance of ACPO involvement in Chief Superintendent and SPNAC assessing is recognised. Indeed, Recommendation 27 of the MPS Strategic Review of Police Promotion Processes makes provision for ACPO to act as assessors for the selection of Chief Superintendents. For every other selection process, it is recommended that a police officer assessor of at least the target rank should be one of the assessors. The Strategic Review of Police Promotion Processes has been circulated for consultation and a final report is now being prepared for approval by Management Board. Subject to this approval, a dedicated assessor training course will be provided this year for prospective ACPO assessors. Once they have completed this training, ACPO rank officers will be involved in subsequent assessment processes.

28. With respect to SPNAC, work has been progressed in this area with the result that there were significantly more MPS ACPO assessors at SPNAC in 2007 as compared with 2006.

Recommendation 11: That the MPS and MPA jointly develop a process for filling Senior Management Team vacancies on Boroughs that includes the meaningful involvement of local partners.

29. The MPS is keen to develop succession planning at both a strategic and local delivery level. It is recognised that SMTs at a local level will be more effective if they possess mutually complementary skill sets. The MPS is already engaged with the MPA in relation to the suitability assessment of BCU Commanders and we are keen to develop this work in progress further. Proposals will be brought forward on how this might occur.

Recommendation 12: That Business Groups should be responsible for quality assurance testing of promotion and selection processes. This should include an element of independent scrutiny.

30. As a result of the police promotion review, the importance of quality assurance throughout the different stages of MPS promotion processes has been recognised. The new model for promotion processes has recently been rolled out, beginning with the Sergeant to Inspector 2008 process, where quality assurance has an increased profile.

Recommendation 13: That consideration is given to introducing independent scrutiny into selecting candidates for SPNAC and in other central promotion processes.

31. This forms another recommendation within the MPS Strategic Review of Police Promotion Processes (Recommendation 32), which advocates that in order to increase and retain the confidence of all staff in future MPS promotional processes the organisation should consider the introduction of a diverse specialist advisory group, whose members should be briefed to provide independent scrutiny of processes from initial exercise design through to the publication of results.

32. A Project Manager within the Career Management Unit is currently scoping how such an Independent Scrutiny Group (ISG) could be introduced, what the terms of reference for the group should be, who should comprise its membership, etc. with a view to having this up and running by Summer 2008.

Recommendation 14: That data available to support earlier recommendations is made more reliable.

33. The MPS recognise that more should and can be done in respect of the capture of biographical data relating to the promotional journey of under-represented groups within the MPS. A business case for the addition of an analytical arm within the Career Management Unit has been put forward. If supported, it is anticipated that biographical data can be captured which will track individuals from under-represented groups throughout their MPS career, leading to analysis and evidence-based inferences to allow the organisation to intervene where appropriate.

Recommendation 15: That as part of the approach to a revised HPDS, the MPS supports the MPS proposals around:

• graduate recruitment linked to a work based assessment promotion route to Superintending rank; and
• for existing police officers a work based assessment route to Superintending rank, linked to NSCAS.

Recommendation 16: In the absence of NPIA support for the proposals at Recommendation 15, the MPS develops its own programmes along similar lines.

34. The MPS welcome the MPA support for these proposals. The newly revised HPDS will be open to constables and sergeants who are not members of the current scheme. It is aimed at a smaller number of officers who have the potential to progress to ACPO level, whereas the former scheme selected officers evidencing the potential, desire and commitment to reach Superintendent. Accordingly, the places available each year will be very limited. The NPIA anticipate that Forces will implement their own internal talent programmes to supplement the national HPDS.

35. Accordingly, as part of the talent framework, the MPS are trialling work-based assessment for HPDS Inspectors to Chief Inspectors, with a full review planned for Summer 2008. The trial of work-based assessment for HPDS Chief Inspectors to Superintendents will begin in Summer 2008. Detailed guidance is currently being drawn up to ensure rigour when assessing HPDS Chief Inspectors’ suitability to commence work-based assessment and their performance during the 6-month assessment period. Further updates will be available in Summer 2008.

Recommendation 17: That in terms of under-represented groups, tailored training and development programmes are produced as part of a work-based assessment route to Superintending ranks.

36. This work is currently in progress (please see Items 10 and 11 for further detail).

Recommendation 18: That the MPS, in consultation with HMIC and the appropriate ACPO leads, produces tailored positive action programmes for ‘pulling through‘ under-represented groups into specialist roles, particularly more senior roles, as part of a development programme.

37. Once the Promoting Difference Programme has been embedded and evaluated, its value and impact to the Service generally will be assessed, with a view to tailoring and expanding aspects as required.

Recommendation 19: That the MPS, in consultation with HMIC and the ACPO lead on Workforce Modernisation, carries out further work on making specialist roles and specialist career pathways more attractive to those seeking development and / or promotion opportunities.

38. This is agreed and will be taken forward by the Deputy Director of Human Resources through the appropriate Workforce Modernisation mechanisms.

Recommendation 20: For specialist officers seeking promotion or lateral development, consideration should be given to providing advice and support for programmes run by business schools or the Leadership Academy in order to broaden their awareness and enhance their promotability / suitability.

39. Current Leadership Academy courses are designed to equip officers and staff from across the organisation with generic leadership and management development training, irrespective of their particular area of work. Officers transferring from a specialism or seeking promotion should, therefore, have no requirement for further training over and above that offered by the Leadership Academy.

Recommendation 21: For specialist officers who notify their intention to seek lateral development, consideration should be given to internal coaching and mentoring or work shadowing opportunities in the period leading up to their transfer to another area of work.

40. Under THR, identifying development needs and finding appropriate mechanisms to meet them will be a line management responsibility. The Expert Centre will be able to provide appropriate advice and support to line managers, as required.

Recommendation 22: That the national Workforce Modernisation programme be asked to look at practical and innovative ways of encouraging officers to seek lateral development opportunities to broaden their careers, i.e. into and out of specialist or non-specialist roles.

41. The views of the MPS have been passed onto the Workforce Modernisation Programme for review.

Recommendation 23: That this report is submitted to the National Policing Board to consider how appropriate recommendations can be implemented at a national level.

42. This report has been circulated widely within the MPS. The Deputy Director of Human Resources has a link with the National Policing Board and will forward the report to members of the National Policing Board and ACPO Workforce Development for their attention.

C. Race and equality impact

The proposed talent management framework will help the MPS manage all staff, not just an elite few. It includes specific initiatives, namely the Promoting Difference and Equip to Achieve Programmes, which will aim to improve representation across all ranks and bands. Each of these programmes will be subject to full monitoring and evaluation.

D. Financial implications

1. The implementation of the talent management framework and positive action initiatives has some resourcing implications. A detailed business case has been drawn up for approval by the Director of Human Resources to secure an appropriate level of HR resources from within its current resources under THR to allow talent management to be delivered effectively.

2. Once the principles of the talent management framework and associated business case are agreed as a way forward, detailed costs will be calculated for specific programmes and initiatives. Some of the systems are already in place to support the new talent framework, others would need to be developed from scratch. There will be costs associated with the extension of the internal MPS talent pool, from ‘gateway’ assessment events and the new development events. However, most of the cost will comprise the opportunity costs of managers’ involvement and individuals’ commitment to developing themselves.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Tamsyn Heritage, Career Management Unit, MPS

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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