Walking the walk

In March 2000, the Campaign for Leadership (CFL) ran the first tailored leadership programme for newly-promoted chief inspectors, based upon the Runge Effective Leadership Programme. In conjunction with the Peel Centre (and latterly the Leadership and Command Development Unit), this model was chosen to support and complement other leadership development work supporting the Met’s Mission, Vision and Values programme.

So far, more than 300 officers from chief inspector to chief superintendent, senior civil staff, and representatives from partner organisations and key internal groups have attended these five-day events, known as Runge Peel programmes.

In September 2001 a more tailored event was run for the Met’s Borough Commanders – the first Commissioner’s Leadership Programme. This was followed in November 2002 with a programme for the top management team (ACPO and senior civil staff); subsequent MPS programmes have drawn heavily on the learning from these events.

In total, CFL have helped to develop more than 1,000 MPS leaders, on 14 in-house programmes, since March 2000, and former Commissioner Sir John Stevens was a keen advocated of the prgramme: “Developing leadership potential is vital to the successful implementation of our Mission, Vision and Values,” said Sir John. “The Runge Leadership event is an essential component in achieving this.”

All of the MPS leadership programmes have been evaluated, and participant feedback across the programmes has been impressive, ranging from an 82 per cent to 93 per cent ‘Excellent’ rating. That response comes as no surprise to Chf Supt Geoff Brydon, the Head of Leadership Strand in the force’s Development and Organisation Improvement Team.

“I lead on a number of leadership and staff development projects within the Met, and my team and I are in regular contact with Campaign staff,” says Chf Supt Brydon. “They will always look for new ways to present programmes – this adds, in my view,
a freshness to the product delivered to staff.”