What a year 2022 has been! I hope you’ve enjoyed the free, open-access police promotion blogs I’ve published for you; there’s been over 30 to choose from! Whether it’s about doing PDRs well or building strong promotion evidence, all this content is there to support your CPD, whatever your rank.
Topics are of course mainly focused on a range of police promotion and police leadership matters, complementing the intensive, structured content in my bespoke downloadable eGuides and Promotion Masterclass (described by successful officers who used them as part of effective preparation as ‘worth their weight in gold’). But I also share views and insights on a range of topical policing issues because you never know what might crop up in your promotion board interviews or presentation scenarios!
For example, I published a balanced assessment of the police degree zeitgeist, before the College then removed the need for cops to get degree qualifications. I also analysed the Sergeant’s 2022 legal exam results and diversity for you. Not to mention a summary of an important and fascinating report, The Strategic Review of Policing (commended by the Police Foundation). This more strategic information is ideal learning if you’re at or aspiring to the Inspector / Chief Inspector ranks.
In this article, I pick out my top five free blogs published during 2022, to help set you on course for UK police promotion success in 2023. You may have noticed that I’ve been spending much of 2022 creating completely free, no-strings, no-signups content to support your aspiration. I aim to do similar for you over the coming year, over and above my premium digital toolkits for the Sergeant rank and Inspector / Chief Inspector ranks.
“The more that you read, the more that you’ll know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr Seuss
Consider each blog part of your leadership CPD, peppered with information, guidance and links to help you achieve success, whatever your UK police force promotion process. There are of course a range of structured, tried and tested materials if you want to go further, including upcoming masterclasses in 2023. If you appreciate the free content and would like to contribute to my work to help keep it flowing (I’m fuelled by caffeine!), you can buy me a coffee here; any contributions are gratefully received.
Now let’s get to the executive summary of my top 5 blogs…
CVF: We Are Emotionally Aware (Part 1 & 2)
One of the common problems facing aspiring cops is understanding the CVF, the assessment framework used in promotion processes. That’s why I dedicated much of 2022 to explaining the CVF for you.
In this two-part blog, I dive deep into the CVF competency, ‘We Are Emotionally Aware’. I introduce and explain what the learnable skill ‘Emotional Intelligence’ means. I summarise Daniel Goleman’s helpful breakdown in the infographic above and explain how you can grow. I provide example promotion interview questions on emotional awareness, and even an example of what good evidence looks like to aid your preparation.
If you would like to see dozens more detailed, structured examples of ‘what works’ with promotion evidence, you can download my premium rank-specific resources right away. See the link below to start with part one of my blog, CVF: We Are Emotionally Aware…
“If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand… then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.” – Daniel Goleman
Show Me the Money! Police Officer Salaries & Progression
Police officer salaries continue to be a hot potato, following the 2022 pay award and in the context of widespread public sector strikes this winter. For example, see this recent tweet by the South Wales Fed Chair laying out how the starting salary of officers has remained stagnant since 2010, despite inflation:
In this interest-piece, I outline the salary scales of officers across the UK in each nation, how the 2022 pay award changed things, what progression through the Federated ranks looks like, how it changes over your career, and even share interesting data from the Met Police on working overtime.
Read the full blog on police officer salaries at the link below. You can also visit my website for the latest picture on officer salaries in the Fed ranks, spanning England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Nowhere else provides all this information spanning the UK – all in one place for you!
“The best investment you can make is in yourself.”
What Are the 9 Peelian Principles?
In this blog, I outline the ‘9 Peelian Principles’ of UK policing and the relevance of force PEEL inspections for aspiring Sergeants, Inspectors, and Chief Inspectors.
The origins of the Peel Principles date back 200 years and are the foundation of UK policing’s style and values. I detail each one and show how they still relate now to matters such as legitimacy, the Code of Ethics, performance, and professional standards. These are all potential topics of course in any promotion briefing exercise or presentation scenario, so why not familiarise yourself now?
Read more on the 9 Peelian Principles in the link below. You may also like the follow-up blog, ‘Peelian Inspections’, in which I expanded on the PEEL inspections, which these principles inspire. That included a PEEL report summary video for the Met Police, one of the many I’ve now published on my free Rank Success YouTube channel.
“The time is come, when… we may fairly pronounce that the country has outgrown her police institutions.” – Robert Peel in Parliament 1828, arguing for a new model of policing
Women in Police Leadership Part 4: Enablers and Solutions
This four-part series of essays aims to provide support for women police leaders, who are aspiring to promotion in police forces around the UK and beyond. Ultimately, it’s to help increase female representation among the ranks of Sergeant, Inspector and Chief Inspector. But the lessons are relevant to everyone. The series culminated with Enablers and Solutions, but here’s a reminder of the full set:
– In Part 1, I covered common barriers, challenges, and concerns facing female officers, including a deep dive on ‘The Authority Gap’, and provided key stats on female officer representation.
– In Part 2, I offered an in-depth look at building confidence, alluded to the mysterious subject of ‘Imposter Syndrome’, limiting beliefs and developing your growth mindset.
– Part 3 explored evidence-based strengths that women bring to police leadership, discussed the importance of finding inspiration, and highlighted Sharon’s inspirational case study.
– Part 4 concludes the series, by looking diving into some enablers, good practice, solutions, successful case studies, and options to support career progression. As usual, I provide supportive signposting and wider research throughout.
Read the part four supporting women in police leadership in the link below.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
Personal Statements: Written Applications
Last but not least of my top 5 blogs in 2022, I published articles on how you can utilise personal statements as an ace up your sleeve, whether in interviews or your written applications.
This blog focussed on the written application side of things. I share example questions and prompts that a personal statement style response suits, why personal statements are important, and even a detailed example from my premium SGT to INS / C.INS toolkits of what good looks like.
Read my full blog on personal statements for written applications in the link below:
“Putting pen to paper lights more fire than matches ever will.” – Malcom. S. Forbes
I hope you have enjoyed this look back at the top free police promotion content over the last year. For my full blogroll of over 100 meaningful articles, check out my WordPress blog for additional in-depth leadership CPD. I look forward to providing much more great content for you in 2023! Until then, I wish you every success for the new year and feel free to get in touch for targeted support along the way.
Kind Regards, Steve
Want to go further right now? Hit the ground running with your promotion preparation. Get your personal digital promotion toolkit, and/or my Police Promotion Masterclass. You can also contact me to arrange personal coaching support. If you first want to explore completely free content, I have a collection of videos, eGuides, and podcast.
