School for Police Leadership: vitamins for managers

The School for Police Leadership (SPL) is a network for leadership development. ‘We produce curricula and development programmes for police managers, such as Deputy Team Heads, Team Leaders, Division Heads, and Unit Command, right up to Force Command. Sandra Kompier, SPL Director, explains: ‘I look at our work as periodically required vitamins for police managers.’ SPL is part of the Netherlands Police Academy’s Knowledge and Research Sector.

In recent years, we’ve modernized various existing SPL programmes. And we’ve developed new programmes. ‘You come to us because you want to achieve something. From a refresher course to personal development, because it’s important for your job. To learn and develop in the police context is our starting point.’

Long and short programmes

Examples of programmes offered by SPL include ‘Leadership for an inclusive future’ and ‘Digital transformation for strategic leadership’. But also ‘Leadership: Investing in integrity’. ‘The latter, for example, examines how managers can increase their awareness of their team’s culture. You will learn how you can make unacceptable behaviour a subject of discussion. And what you can do as a manager if you detect inappropriate behaviour in that area.’

'Many team leaders struggle with this.’ On average, one hundred to one hundred and fifty colleagues at a time follow programmes at SPL. ‘The duration of these programmes varies, with MD programmes for Division Heads, which last a whole school year from September till June, being one of the longer ones. The Columbus programme takes five months. This is an international programme linking global and local safety and security issues. We also have short programmes. Learning how to deliver a speech, or media training are one-day programmes.’

Current developments

SPL tries to fit its programmes to current developments as much as possible. Trend reports enable SPL to monitor what goes on in the world, and how these developments may affect police leadership. Input for these reports comes from police colleagues, but external experts from organizations such as the Clingendael Institute of International Relations or The Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) contribute as well.

Sandra: ‘That’s the basis for new programmes. We also connect with the force’s strategic course: ‘Standing Strong in Today’s Time (Stevig Staan in deze tijd). The programme ‘Standing Strong as a Team Head’ is an example. In courses like these, we include the context and emphases/focus points of force command. This distinguishes our programmes from leadership courses you can take externally.’

Moral dilemmas

Managers sometimes struggle with moral dilemmas. SPL frequently helps to make such dilemmas open for discussion. A good example of this is the topic of fireworks. ‘We talked to a Chief Constable who felt friction between his responsibility as a manager and his responsibility for the performance of police duty. He has to keep the peace on the street. At the same time, he has to send officers out on the street during New Year’s Eve, where he knows they run a major risk of being injured. For him, that’s a moral dilemma.’

'We like organizing discussions about such topics and the friction they cause, also because all managers will recognize this. Interesting research reports produced by our Knowledge and Research department can also be an occasion to convene a meeting.’

Bringing stories

The ‘Leadership for an inclusive future’ programme enhances your knowledge and skills relating to inclusive thinking and acting as a manager. How do you deal with multiple cultures and perspectives in your team? This programme, too, works with current examples drawn from actual practice.

‘One of the participants has to deal with unrest near an asylum seekers’ centre. As part of the programme we visit the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) with the participants. Present are an Operational Expert (OE), Team Leaders, Division Heads and a Chief Constable. This offers a glimpse into this organization’s ‘back office’, where normally the police only come to the scene when people are at each other’s throats.’

'You then see entirely different dynamics develop. In their conversations with residents of the asylum seekers’ centre, the participants realize that they have a lot in common, which provides an understanding of and a different view on the situation. Part of what we do, is bringing stories to the people.’

Meetings and networking

SPL also organizes a yearly day for the division heads, this year on 22 May. ‘We do that in collaboration with the force command team and members of the strategic network. There is also a preparatory group from the division management itself. We invite various speakers who nourish us with knowledge and insights relating to the day’s central theme. This year it’s about security.'

'It’s about security within the organization, but also about security in relation to current threats from stately actors to our national security. The Commissioner opens the day and there will be a number of important speakers. In addition to acquiring knowledge, this day provides a good opportunity to meet colleagues and, of course, to do some networking.’

‘Recently someone put it nicely: ‘creating webbing in the organization’. This is also an important function of SPL: to meet new people, pause for a moment and get inspired. As a manager, you may sometimes be lonely, and you are always ‘switched on’ for your team. SPL’s programmes take you out of this situation for a while. And they enable you to work towards your own development and well-being.’