Achieving police promotion as an officer in the UK (and beyond!) is hard enough. There’s unfamiliar ‘business speak’ and nebulous concepts in promotion frameworks like the CVF. I’ve often acted as an interpreter to make it meaningful for cops. But recently, I thought I’d go several steps further, to support diversity and do something pioneering in policing positive action, for those with English as a second language…
“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein
The Language of Promotion: Speaking in Tongues?
Whether you’re reading up on the various facets of the CVF, Code of Ethics, or even your own force strategy, considering and compiling your promotion evidence is tough. Not understanding what is required from promotion candidates is why most officers fail to achieve the step up to leadership (until they come to Rank Success!).
It’s hardly surprising. Most cops go into policing to make a difference and do some practical good in the world, not get bogged down by academia and theoretical concepts. What do the College of Policing mean when they talk about being competent in ‘We are emotionally aware’? What does Police Scotland mean, specifically, when it talks about the value of ‘Fairness’? How can I align my experience and leadership evidence to the notion of ‘Integrity’ in the Met Police?
Now consider that challenge of unfamiliar concepts and language when English isn’t your first language! Sure and of course police officers in the UK should be able to speak English as a prerequisite. But imagine trying to get to grips with not just speaking plain English like everyone else, but all this obscure, technical-sounding business jargon if you want to get on through the ranks!
I’ve often acted as a ‘translator’ for people, whether English is their primary or secondary language, being become and also being described by successful candidates as somewhat of an anorak on promotion preparation, frameworks, “and stuff”. It’s one of the most common issues I encounter when coaching people or answering questions and it’s why I’ve set out ‘what it all means in plain English’ in my bespoke premium, structured toolkits, with examples and guidance to help clarify and interpret.
I started Rank Success a decade ago to continue a personal contribution and legacy to policing beyond retirement, to help level the playing field when it comes to promotions and ensure great police leaders can excel in any process. My bespoke, holistic, and structured leadership support has been tried, tested and proven countless times, helping officers from all backgrounds to achieve promotion success, significant pay increases, and to progress repeatedly through multiple ranks.
I also aim to give the best FREE support to officers in a range of media, so anyone can take that first step to success. Despite being a very small business, I’m also committed to Rank Success being on the cutting edge of police issues and technology, while helping policing achieve greater diversity and inclusion among its leadership ranks with practical and helpful positive action, rather than the usual gesturing and tokenism.
To these ends, I’ve recently started exploring translation tools to assist cops from a range of diverse backgrounds, because it can be helpful considering information in your first language to better get to grips with the concepts conveyed. Indeed, FOI-based research by the Slavic Police Association has shown significant disadvantages in the promotion process (particularly the exam stage) for those with English as a second language.
Videos in Polish, French, Arabic, and More!
The first thing I’m excited to share with you is my new YouTube playlist of videos translated into various languages. To help convey the points in your mother tongue, I’ll be translating my most useful content into Chinese, French, Polish, Urdu, and more.
I’ve been exploring and experimenting with technology to automatically transcribe overlaid captions for the language onto my video. An example of this is below, with my usual dulcet Brummie tones with French subtitles:
Where possible, I’ve also been able to convert my spoken words into another language, so you have both the subtitles and audio in that language. Isn’t it insane what you can do with technology now? Here’s me speaking Urdu (I don’t speak Urdu), explaining the CVF ‘We Are Collaborative’ concept…
Sure, the dubbing may be terrible, and I cannot possibly vouch for the 100% accuracy of the converted language. But I’m assured the translations are very accurate and am confident this adds value, to meaningfully support people from under-represented groups and to start doing so for free. Ultimately, it’s about helping cops get their heads around nebulous promotion concepts by simply doing so in a more favoured language.
Please let me know how helpful you think this initiative is, whether in the comments below, email, or on social media. Do you think this is a waste of time with something I shouldn’t bother with, a game-changer, or somewhere in-between?
I’ve not seen anyone in the policing arena doing this sort of thing yet. So I’m happy to be pioneering on a shoestring budget to learn lessons for other organisations (e.g. forces, the College of Policing), who might want to capitalise on similar technology to make their own information and materials more accessible.
Translate My Blog and Website Via Google Translate
Did you know, you can translate any page of my website or blog post into dozens of other languages already? The steps are so simple, yet few are aware of this handy life-hack…
- Copy the URL from your address bar
- Head over to Google Translate (for websites)
- Paste the URL and choose from 100+ languages
Hey presto! There’s your favourite blog and police promotion information resource in your favoured language. Why don’t you try it with this very blog post? Here’s a quick tutorial of me running through these steps for the more visual learners…
Anyway, I hope you find these language accessibility tips helpful and would greatly appreciate you letting me know how you get on.
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, a podcast.
