Accipio + College of Policing: Leadership Learning

The Challenge

When they initially approached ourselves at Accipio, the CoP had no centralised learning initiative. They provided ad-ho courses, but had not yet embedded these into a wider scheme, and forces still provided individual and asynchronous development programmes. The College were, therefore, seeking a partner to build a leadership and management eco-system for everyone working in policing. This included providing unrestricted access to leadership and management qualifications (at Levels 6, 7 & 8), toolkits and workshops to officers and staff across the UK who wish to develop their leadership and management skills.

The eco-system needed to be underpinned by a bespoke virtual learning environment that would act as the “backbone” when delivering across police forces, and also provide a blended approach for scalable, self-directed learning that is accessible at all times. It needed to provide a consistent approach to leadership and management development across forces.

What we did

Phase 1 (2017-18)

We worked with the College to build a leadership programme and eco-system which gives 200,000 officers and staff working across the police service access to:

• Tailored CMI qualifications at levels 5-8;
• Bespoke policing toolkits focusing on leadership and management development (over 150 Police-specific interactive eModules), with different pathways for different users and roles (e.g. first-line leaders);
• A sold-out leadership workshop series with over 2,000 places across 30 workshops, spread around numerous forces' venues, featuring world-class trainers and best-selling authors;
• Branded learning platform which changes for the Force that logs in;
• An App for offline viewing, which is being pushed out by Forces onto all organisation devices;
• Custom diagnostic tools, based on the College's own Competencies and Values Framework, that generate custom reports and recommend content and pathways;
• Community forums for peer-to-peer learning; and
  Recognition (CPD certificates and badges).

The platform has since been developed substantially, to account for growing demand. Updates have included:

Phase 2 (2018-19)

• Expansion of the Leadership Learning platform;
• Development of a number of toolkits targeted at leaders across a number of levels (e.g., coaches, study skills (for individuals in learning); and
• Superintendents' toolkit, developed in coalition with a subject-matter expert (SME) – a former chief superintendent.

Phase 3 (2019-20)

• Introduction of whole-day workshops. The topics were agreed upon in partnership with the College of Policing and based on a number of key learning needs; and
• Sourcing a number of high-profile and experienced speakers/facilitators. Workshops were scheduled at force venues across England and Wales, from Somerset to North Yorkshire. These were delivered in person and recorded so that they could later be uploaded to the Leadership Learning platform.

Phase 4 (2020-21)

• Scheduling webinars as a contingency for the Covid pandemic halting workshops. These were shortened and delivered via Microsoft Teams. This allowed for an expansion of topics, speakers and attendances spots;
• Expansion of the existing toolkits and addition of more;
• Development of the Accipio Diagnose plugin allowed us to develop new 360-degree diagnostics in alignment with the COP Competencies and Values Framework (CVF) and monitor results/impact;
• Introduction of a TAQA programme for in-force coaches/tutors. Delivered along with whole new toolkits and webinars via a former police officer and coach; and
• Additional webinar series (on top of the existing Leadership Learning series). These included Aspire (to underrepresented groups) and PSA (Police Superintendents Association).

Phase 5 (2021-ongoing)

• Continued development of the toolkits and honing of content;
• Realignment with new CoP curriculum;
• Continued expansion of the webinars and topics;
• Second TAQA cohort, with strong success rates; and
• New diagnostics.

The results

The project was selected as the winning entry of the CMI's 2021 Outstanding Innovation of the Year Award, which represents 'excellent student employability, an enriched student experience and professional recognition by a provider which has made the best of a CMI partnership.'

Over 130 participants have now achieved CMI completions at Levels 6 and 7, across a number of forces.

More than 2,000 workshop places have been sold via a purpose-built, end-to-end booking system. Feedback from the workshops has been incredible, with some saying they are some of the “best workshops they have attended”.

Over 95% of people who attended a workshop would recommend them to their colleagues. Furthermore, they are enabling the targeted under-represented groups—women booked over 60% of workshop places.

The platform has received over 137,000 page views and has nearly 10,000 users. Furthermore, the App has been downloaded over 1,000 times and access and positive feedback continues to grow at an exponential rate.

Webinars now regularly receive 300+ participants, a huge success relative to the initial series.