Scrutiny into Talent management and succession planning scrutiny report

Report: 9
Date: 07 February 2008
By:the Chief Executive

Summary

The reasons for this scrutiny were outlined in a report to the Metropolitan Police Authority’s (MPA’s) Coordinating and Policing Committee (CoP) on 7 June 2007, in particular the lack of strategic perspective, resource or financial management awareness amongst the candidates for the most senior positions in the Service, whom the MPA is responsible for appointing. There is a real concern about the issue in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), other forces and police authorities, including more broadly how talent and leadership skills are identified, developed and managed. The scrutiny panel expect to see an explicit or implicit ‘read across’ to police staff in the recommendations wherever possible, e.g. in the proposed succession planning and talent management strategy. The issue of police staff would be reviewed once the strategy was in place.

A. Recommendations

That the MPA endorses the approach adopted by the scrutiny and the recommendations that have been made.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. The MPA has for some time expressed concern about the lack of strategic perspective, resource or financial management awareness amongst the candidates for the most senior positions in the Service, whom the Authority is responsible for appointing. The CoP meeting on 7 June 2007 gave approval to a member-led scrutiny into succession planning and talent management for police officers in the MPS. The scrutiny panel had intended to look at police staff separately but felt that there should be an explicit or implicit ‘read across’ to police staff in the recommendations wherever possible, e.g. in the proposed succession planning and talent management strategy. The issue of police staff would be reviewed once the strategy was in place. Rachel Whittaker chaired the review. The other panel members from the MPA were Reshard Auladin, Karim Murji, John Roberts, Aneeta Prem and Kirsten Hearn. In addition, Bill Taylor (former Commissioner of the City of London Police and Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland) provided observations on a number of the issues raised.

2. The aim of the scrutiny was to make recommendations that would identify and address gaps that may currently exist and support an accessible and transparent process, which would then provide police officers with the skills they require to be effective leaders and the MPS with the right calibre of leaders at every rank. The MPA acknowledges that all police officers and police staff are talented and important to the success of the police service, but it is a question of providing the opportunities and development for people as far and as fast as they are able to go in order to deliver the greatest benefit to the service and – in the MPS – to the people of London. The MPA also wants to see positive action initiatives with measurable outcomes to address the under representation of groups at middle and senior management ranks across the Service.

3. The scrutiny commenced in July 2007 and sought comments through a number of articles, e.g. in The Job, sent out a large number of questionnaires, carried out a great deal of background research and conducted a number of one-to-one interviews. There were also five themed scrutiny panel meetings with witnesses appearing to give evidence.

4. The report, a copy of which is attached at Appendix 1, is not intended to provide a highly detailed account of all of the evidence given orally, in writing or obtained through research. It is intended to describe the key points and provide some comments to be illustrative of the evidence the panel received. It would have been very easy to simply state the MPS needs to develop a strategy for succession planning and talent management, but the scrutiny panel have gone beyond that, being more prescriptive in terms of what they expect to see as part of such a strategy.

Timescales

5. The scrutiny panel were particularly struck by the comment made by the Martin Tiplady (Director of Human Resources, MPS) in giving evidence at the first meeting of the scrutiny panel in September that: “The MPS have many of the right elements for talent management and promotion in place, but they are not joined up.” The importance of the strategy will be in providing a structure within which the recommendations – and any other proposals – can be ‘joined up’ and carried through. The MPS has carried out an extraordinary amount of work in this area since last summer, including a review of its promotion processes and developing some good ideas around identifying and managing talent. Its proposals go some way towards the emerging thinking of the scrutiny panel, but there remains a concern about scale, particularly in relation to under represented groups.

6. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Rose Fitzpatrick (Territorial Policing) who was one of those who gave evidence was very clear that she “didn’t want to be having this conversation (about the lack of women and black and minority ethnic [BME] candidates at senior levels) ten years from now.” This view was shared by the scrutiny panel who would hope to see a more representative organisation at middle and senior ranks by the time London hosts the Olympics in 2012. This may require a higher level of commitment, including financial commitment, in the next four years than is currently envisaged by the MPS.

Corporate recommendations (recommendations 1-3, 5, 6, 14-17 and 23)

7. The main thrust of these recommendations is to recognise the importance of succession planning and talent management. This will enable the MPS to meet the seven strategic priorities by having the right people in the right place at the right time. While tasks and responsibilities around talent management and succession planning may be allocated to Management Board or ACPO rank officers, the scrutiny panel saw the role of a ‘champion’ as an individual to whom staff could readily identify and turn to for support and advice. This individual would be proactive in ensuring that talent management and succession planning is cascaded throughout the organisation. This means identifying a designated ‘champion’ as a vocal and high profile advocate as part of a developed, co-ordinated strategy by the MPS for succession planning and talent management. The scrutiny panel recognised that this is not just an MPS issue and wished to see a similar approach adopted at a national level.

8. Amongst the other recommendations there are some priorities. For example, the proposal that Management Board formalise a ‘top down’ scanning process will send a clear message that the MPS is serious about tackling the issue of succession planning and talent management.

9. During their deliberations, the scrutiny panel was also cognisant of an increasing number of posts, many of which are not at senior levels, where the nature of the role makes it hard to fill and even harder to replace. This leaves the MPS facing a hidden challenge, and highly vulnerable if key roles are not filled or key individuals retained. What will be the cost both in terms of service delivery and in trying to find or replace these individuals? The scrutiny panel felt there was an urgent need for some work around identifying these posts and developing a career pathway to fill them.

10. In addition to the MPS, the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) has also been busy looking at all of their leadership ‘products’, including the High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS) for fast tracked promotion. The MPS has made a number of proposals around how the future scheme might operate, which the scrutiny panel endorses. However, if progress on the national scheme is not made in a timely fashion or does not address the issues of under representation, the MPS should develop its own programmes.

Development recommendations (recommendations 4, 7, 8, 9 and 22)

11. There are a number of recommendations around development opportunities for police officers including coaching, mentoring, work shadowing, external secondment and business school opportunities. A more formal, structured approach is preferred by the scrutiny panel, ideally as part of a development centre programme (e.g. i.e. tailored, modular training, self-assessment and 360 degree feedback aligned to competences for the next rank or role) both in terms of managing progression and encouraging lateral development, i.e. into and out of specialist or non-specialist roles.

12. The provision of coaching, mentoring and work shadowing opportunities has, for the most part, appeared reliant upon the enthusiasm and support of individual senior managers in the police service, whereas in other public and private sector organisations it was seen as an intrinsic part of a senior manager’s role or responsibility or remuneration.

13. Similarly, training and development have traditionally been provided ‘in house,’ even where the expertise in a particular area may lie elsewhere. Where external training or development has been provided there was little evidence of a formal Business Group or corporate approach, or any opportunity for organisational learning. The evidence to the scrutiny panel was that business schools could provide a genuinely challenging environment, different and broader perspectives on strategic management / development, and tailored programmes supported with work based projects, personal learning and development plans etc, including external assessment. Tim Godwin (Assistant Commissioner, Territorial Policing) felt from his experience that external development opportunities, in addition to the intellectual challenge that was provided, also gave police officers the opportunity to hear different views / opinions, debate ideas / problems and develop a greater understanding of different fields of work, e.g. other parts of the criminal justice system.

14. In terms of secondments, the experience with the London First Leadership Exchange programme for senior police officers and police staff has proved very successful, but needs to be expanded to involve other partners and other sectors for middle and junior ranking officers.

Selection recommendations (recommendations 10, 11, 12, 13)

15. A number of those who gave evidence believed there was a need for ‘quick wins’ on this issue - particularly for under represented groups. This applied equally to existing police officers and those who were considering the police service as a career. There was also a real need for trust and confidence in the selection processes in order to ensure the best candidates were appointed on merit. The MPS has carried out a considerable amount of work in this area, but the MPA wished to ensure there was some element of independent scrutiny in central promotion processes and, on boroughs, partner involvement in Senior Management Team appointments.

16.In addition, the scrutiny panel felt it was important for ACPO rank police officers to be involved in promotions to Superintending ranks and as assessors at the Senior Police National Assessment Centre (SPNAC), which is a pre-requisite for attendance at the Strategic Command Course (SCC) and eligibility for ACPO rank. While acknowledging the many other demands upon the time of ACPO officers, there are some very clear organisational messages that need to be made in terms of the importance that is attributed to these processes. In other forces the involvement of ACPO rank officers in these promotion processes is mandatory.

Specialist posts recommendations (recommendations 18, 19, 20 and 21)

17.In terms of specialist roles, there was broad agreement from those giving evidence of what was required: complex thinking, pattern recognition, inherent drive, emotional intelligence, a willingness to take and manage risks, and to bring people with them. There was, however, no agreement about how career pathways could be developed and made attractive to officers who are also looking for promotion or lateral development at different stages of their career.

18.This is a national problem and particularly acute at ACPO level and for under represented groups. For example, in the MPS the Specialist Crime Directorate (SCD) will have lost one Assistant Commissioner and two Commanders in four months and one of the two remaining substantive Commanders has completed 30 years service. The scrutiny panel felt that, within the MPS, one option would be to give priority to providing tailored career support and advice, coaching, mentoring, work shadowing opportunities and access to development programmes run by business schools or the Leadership Academy for officers in - or aspiring to - specialist posts.

C. Race and equality impact

A number of those giving evidence identified areas where the existing arrangements or culture had an impact upon under-represented groups aspiring for promotion or selection for specialist and non-specialist roles. This included the feeling that getting a good Performance Development Review (PDR) was dependent upon ‘fitting in,’ ‘informal’ sifting processes in selection exercises whereby applicants are discouraged from applying on the basis they will not be supported and a lack of influential, informal networks to provide nurturing and encouragement. In this regard, it is particularly disappointing to note that the draft proposals for the national HPD scheme does not mention under represented groups or make any proposals in respect of positive action, despite having identified this as an issue earlier in the year. The scrutiny panel consider there is a real credibility issue for the diverse communities of London in seeing a police service that is visibly more representative of the people it serves. There is undoubtedly a great deal of untapped potential within the Service that is not being utilised. However, in order to turn potential into performance, some additional help will be needed to build upon the individual’s strengths – particularly in respect of police officers from under represented groups - for the wider benefit of the organisation.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications arising from the recommendations in the report at this stage. There will be additional cost implications arising from developing an action plan and implementing the recommendations from 2008-09 onwards and these will be the subject of further reports to the Authority.

E. Background papers

• Proposed scrutiny into succession planning and talent management for police officers in the Metropolitan Police Service (CoP – 7 June 2007)

F. Contact details

Report author: Alan Johnson, Policy Officer, Human Resources, Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA

For more information contact:

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

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