I recently had the pleasure of interviewing West Midlands Police’s Chief Constable, Craig Guildford QPM VR DL, for an inspiring and exclusive podcast. This blog outlines some key highlights and quotes from our podcast chat.
I’m grateful to Craig for taking time out from his busy schedule as Chief of one of the UK’s largest police forces. He answers a few pertinent and challenging police leadership questions on an array of subjects, while sharing his insights on policing and career progression. He was generous in his responses and our discussion covered a fair bit of ground.
If you’re an officer aspiring to Sergeant, Inspector, or more senior ranks in policing, you’ll find meaningful tips, insights and guidance here from one of the most senior and experienced UK police leaders. Whether you’re looking to progress your police career through the ranks or interested in policing and leadership more generally, this is for you.
You’ll find more inspiring podcast content on my website, including more interviews with senior police leaders sharing advice and insights for aspiring officers. Thanks also to those podcast subscribers, who support my work enabling me to release more interviews like this.
Craig’s Career Background
Craig’s Guildford’s policing career began in Cheshire Constabulary in 1994 and progressed in a number of crime units before secondment to the National Crime Squad, working in intelligence and targeted operations as a Detective Constable and Detective Sergeant. He progressed through the ranks in Cheshire Constabulary, with duties as a strategic firearms and public order commander, before being appointed as ACC Special Operations with West Yorkshire police in 2012, then at Gwent Police in 2014 as DCC.
He has been Co-Director of the Strategic Command course and is currently National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) lead on Professional Standards and Ethics in policing and police exams portfolio.
In 2021 he was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service.
Policing: Enjoying the Journey
I initially asked Craig about highlights from his career to date as he has progressed to become Chief Constable (CC). Reflecting on what a previous CC said to him, he recalls advice offered to “enjoy the ride”.
Accordingly, he alludes to three roles/ranks that stand out for him. Firstly, Detective Sergeant was most enjoyable, with some very happy and enjoyable times, mainly in the CID arena locally and nationally. Secondly as a Chief Superintendent in Cheshire and thirdly the huge privilege in reaching Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire, serving for six years before appointment as West Midlands’ Chief Constable.
He remembers each one for different reasons and expands on each, concluding he “missed frontline policing most”.
Police Leadership Expectations
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” – Max de Pree
Concerning promotion selection processes, I asked him for his three main expectations of leaders in his force and why? Craig’s response included:
“First and foremost is operational. I’m looking for people who can do it operationally, because operational is the key ingredient on behalf of the public. Closely followed after that, is an ability to make sure that staff are properly looked after, supported, nurtured, developed and brought along…it’s not just about getting a task done, it’s about how you approach your staff. What’s your personal style? Do you understand your staff? Their strengths and weaknesses? Do you understand how they communicate? Developing others, are you able to get the best out of them?”
Thirdly he emphasises it is service to the public that is important, not self-focus, and explains he sees candidates failing promotion processes by not understanding this.
Where Are Your Lines in the Sand?
“A line in the sand is where your core values intersect with real life situations.” – Scott Cochrane
As the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) lead for Professional Standards and Ethics, I asked Craig for his views on the state of public trust in policing following recent high profile cases, and what he expects to see Sergeants and Inspectors doing to improve standards and culture?
His response covers that public trust and confidence has been undermined by some recent national events and abhorrent behaviour, which have been quite rightly publicised. He talks of how policing needs to focus on areas where people have been let down, including specifically violence against women and girls (VAWG), such as approaches to investigation of rape and domestic abuse.
He also alludes to policing being the victim of its successes around how the system has changed, with lots more people being rooted out now and dismissed for serious wrongdoing, which has let the public, colleagues and wider policing down. But policing must be…
“Bold enough to confront this and to continue supporting anti-corruption units in their work to bring those tricky cases forward, with Chiefs setting the example.”
Linked to this are expectations of line supervisors. Craig covers aspects including clear communication, setting and upholding high standards and through professionalism, getting the job done. He asks,
“Where are your lines in the sand?”
Supervisory influence means coming to work, looking after each other, have a laugh, but there is a need to understand through your example “where that line lies”. For those who are serious and aspiring to promotion, he adds:
“First and foremost, know yourself, know what your values are and the force values. Know what you stand for, but also remember that this is a process, and processes need a professional approach”
To get yourself ready, Craig provides insight on what candidates need to do, including putting yourself in positions, exposing yourself to learning new things, making the most of opportunities, things you might not ordinarily touch. He gives an example of the “least welcome” appointment he was promoted into. This was a significant learning curve in a role that he learned a tremendous amount in, that has stood him in good stead since.
He summarises additional key expectations he expects in leaders including authenticity.
“If I’m on the other side of the table, I look for people who have got a good moral compass, can demonstrate they can get things done, they understand the levers of performance but most importantly, they are good with people”
Supervising and Managing Investigations
“If you judge, investigate.” – Seneca
Investigating crime is an area highlighted for improvement in His Majesties’ Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) PEEL reports. West Midlands is no different (as per my summary video below), so I asked Craig what he expects from leaders who supervise and manage investigations to ensure West Midlands can improve?
His response provided some interesting insights and perspective including his observation that post austerity, the service has recruited at pace and “probably has had to promote at pace as well in certain areas, and I’ve certainly seen that here.”
He alludes to the structures of lots of forces having been more reactive to circumstances and fiscal conditions in the last 10 or 12 years, but coming out of that now, with the pendulum swinging a more towards focus on investigations. Increasingly, especially with a new government there will be more focus around performance and comparing relative performance.
Alluding to brought to justice outcomes and expectations Craig says:
“It’s not just about incarcerating everyone, prisons are full. We have to proportionately divert where we can, particularly younger people away from the system, which is good for the country, good for cops and good for the taxpayer. And the very bad need incarcerating for as long as we can possibly do it for. The test is to fill the prisons from my perspective with people who massively undermine society.”
Going back to the question, Craig adds:
“First and foremost as an investigator, we have to recognise that we’ve not invested in some of those skills for supervisors in the way that perhaps it was when I joined. So most forces are reinvesting in supervisory training and trying to upskill, I think that’s a good thing, we are doing that and I know loads of others are.”
After making changes to force structures Craig states:
“We’ve got lots of cops being investigators first, so if you are a neighbourhood cop in our force it does not mean that you don’t carry a crime workload because if I’m looking on your patch, I want to make sure you know what’s going on and I can see you making interventions on some of these people that undermine everybody’s nice life. So the number of investigators we’ve actually doubled, our outcome rate has quadrupled, our arrest rate has doubled and we’ve only opened another two custody suites. File quality has improved it has doubled and a bit more and I think we are heading in the right direction.”
Craig then offers some detailed insight what he expects supervisors to be doing, in relation to their team, development, and how to support new officers.
He acknowledges the organisation should also be honest with supervisors in that it could perhaps have done better concerning investment in their development. West Midlands police are doing this now via bespoke classroom training.
The force has successfully resolved issues previously highlighted for improvement by HMICFRS, becoming the most improved metropolitan police force in England and Wales.
“Just one more thing…” – Columbo
The only outstanding issue now is investigations, which will be subject of re-inspection in September. The force’s collective approach and supervisor expectations outlined above will support the force in where it now needs to focus and improve.
Legal Exam: Your Personal Responsibility
“Development is always self-development. Nothing could be more absurd than for an enterprise to assume responsibility for the development of an individual. The responsibility rests with the individual’s abilities and efforts.” – Peter Drucker
There has been significant interest in recent months around the SIPP proposed changes to police promotion exams. As NPCC lead for exams, I asked Craig the following question:
“As NPCC lead for police exams, what are your views on the Sergeant’s and Inspector’s promotion exams? How can forces better support officers to ensure a level playing field in achieving this first major step towards promotion?”
His response emphasises personal responsibility of officers studying and putting time into preparing for the exam, including…
“I suppose my answer’s going to be quite direct and say, I at the time, when I was doing this was married with three kids, working through shifts and you know, everything else that was going on and trying to do a few dissertations, distance learning… So, what I’m trying to say is you need to take responsibility as an individual. Don’t expect the job to do it. Now I’m looking for people who can do things over and above the day job, in their own time if they want to succeed. So yes there will be a ubiquity of a little bit of time to prepare, some coaching and support, absolutely 100%. But I pose the challenge back to the individual and say, are you up for it? And if you are, you will put some discretionary effort into your future development because that is a sure sign of future success.”
Values and West Mids Police Compassion
“The purpose of human life is to serve, to show compassion and the will to help others.” – Albert Schweitzer
With different forces increasingly creating their own bespoke values as part of ‘local tailoring’ of the CVF, one I’m seeing more of is Compassion. So I asked:
“Please can you share with listeners more about West Midlands Police’s value of Compassion, and what you’d like to see from your leaders, especially to demonstrate this value?’
“I think this is a cross cutter… values are important, so for me service, professionalism, integrity, compassion and then equality. When it comes to compassion, this extends to those we serve and also those we lead. For me compassion is understanding the impact of the service on others and understanding the impact of you as an individual on your peers and those that you lead.”
Craig expands in the podcast further having led on Professional Standards. He alludes to importance of using your professional judgement with compassion, when…
“On occasion, good people do bad things or silly things and you have to be able to make the right judgement call.”
He speaks to process and welfare issues and his experience of seeing ‘both sides of the coin’, offering guidance for leaders in how judgement can be applied with good supervision to “keep nudging people along the right path.” It’s definitely worth listening to all that he says on this!
Inspiration in Policing
As a promotion coach and mentor, I encourage all aspiring candidates to think about what inspires you. It’s a behaviour in the CVF used to assessing aspiring leaders and so, for my penultimate question I asked Craig what inspires him?Listen in to the interview find out! A clue? It’s something that inspires you and many others too!
Finally, I asked Craig: “If you could travel back in time and speak to yourself as a young constable, what career advice would you offer?”
His response imparts three points of wisdom you may wish to absorb, on top of any other tips and guidance in this interview for your career own progression; especially in navigating highly competitive promotion processes.
That’s all for now. I hope you have found this exclusive interview interesting food for thought and reflection. Thanks again to Craig for granting this interview and speaking so freely about police leadership. If you would like your chief officer(s) to come on my podcast, please send them my way.
At Rank Success I’m putting as much FREE material and content as possible ‘out there’ for cops aiming to convert leadership aspiration into promotion success. If that’s you, making the best use of time between shifts, family life and your other commitments is critical to ‘becoming’ a well prepared promotion candidate.
You can take action any time you choose by downloading your rank specific digital toolkit to support effective preparation. This premium content goes far beyond the extensive free stuff I provide.
Wherever you are on your promotion journey I wish you the very best.
Kind regards, Steve
Seeking police promotion? Want to get a massive head start right now? Hit the ground running with your personal digital promotion toolkit, and/or my market-leading Police Promotion Masterclass. There’s nothing else like it to effectively prepare you for success in your leadership aspirations. You can also contact me to arrange more personal coaching support. Or try my podcast for your ongoing police leadership CPD covering a range of fascinating subjects.
