Courageous Leadership is transforming the Met

In a speech given yesterday (24 February 2005) during The Work Foundationís Annual Leadership Week, Martin Tiplady, Director of HR for the Metropolitan Police Service and Will Hutton from The Work Foundation credited courageous past and current leaders for the revolutionary changes in the organisation.

Martin Tiplady, who was named last year as one of the most influential professionals in HR, addressed 60 of his peers together with delegates from other UK police forces and other public and private sector organisations at a breakfast debate on Effective Leadership ñ ëThe Key to Keeping Staff Feeling Valuedí. Tiplady said, despite the fact that leadership of the force was ìunder minute scrutiny all the timeî it was a world away from the organisation that had been branded institutionally incompetent and institutionally racist five years ago.

ìThat position is now transformed ñ not to an ideal state but on a journey that is never ending.î

The Met, Londonís largest employer with 47,000 staff at 1300 locations considers that leadership development is one of the most important priorities of the service. It is this commitment that Tiplady feels has contributed to the remarkable turnaround The Met has seen in the last five years. Post - McPherson, the organisation has put effective leadership firmly at the top of its reform agenda in a sustained development programme in partnership with The Work Foundation.

The commitment is paying dividends with achievements including, meeting all targets, growth at a rate more than any other organisation in the UK and a committed campaign to tackle diversity issues, against sustained scrutiny by the press and Government. These commitments were also upheld in the findings of the recent Morris Inquiry report into professional standards and discipline within the organisation.

Tiplady cautioned that whilst it is impossible in an organisation such as the Met to remove ñ completely - a blame culture, it was important to minimise its effects. As such leaders needed to be brave, to have faith in their decisions and not fear reprisal. He also commented that in an increasingly litigious and regulatory world, we needed to be careful not to stifle initiative, or to restrain the courage of managers to do the right thing.

In the debate session Will Hutton was asked how to tackle the multiple demands of the Metís stakeholders. He responded that public sector organisations needed to learn to manage their authorising environment and this could involve opening up the conversation with policy makers and discussing the value in working to government targets.

Hutton said ìItís time to stop micromanaging and look at the bigger objective, that of delivering genuine public valueî.

Finally in commenting on the success of the leadership development programme over the last five years, Ian Lawson, Chief Executive of The Campaign for Leadership and organiser of Leadership Week said:

ìMartin Tiplady is right to praise the everyday leaders in the Met who through their influence have effected the major improvements he describes in his speech. The Met have taken up the challenge of offering backing to their leaders in their task of providing a more secure environment for us all to enjoy. He is also right to ask the question in a world that is increasingly litigious and regulated whether we are in danger of stifling that initiative and courage.î