Resilient leadership

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges faced in leading a UK police force through a period of complex and competing political, financial, cultural, structural and operational constraints. It explores the personal skills, qualities and capabilities leaders need to respond to such challenges, both now and in the future and argues that the greatest test for police leaders in the next decade will be personal and organisational resilience.

It is a personal account of the resilience required in a challenging and senior police leadership role and is underpinned with relevant literature in the field of resilient leadership.

It identifies that whilst resources are diminishing, demand is increasing, public expectation continues to grow and police leaders are now openly criticised in a way that they would never have encountered in the past, understanding this in itself is not enough. What is needed is a tailored plan for both individual police leaders and organisations if they are going to survive. It argues that failure to do so will result in increasingly diminishing health and well-being and a drain of talent at all levels of the police service.

The paper provides a unique insight into leadership in a complex period in Policing in the UK.