Growing austerity and the changing nature of crime bring fresh challenges to modern policing. Dr Phil Bardzil, of Impact Consulting Psychologists, delivered a master-class to senior officers of West Midlands Police on leading across whole systems, using an integrated multi-agency approach – to maximise effectiveness while reducing costs. Many of the problems currently facing society and impacting on crime rates are complex, with multiple inter-related causes. These can include diverse factors such as: vulnerability to radicalisation, alcoholism and drug dependency, social deprivation, racial prejudice, and so on. These difficult issues can best be addressed by a cross boundary approach, bringing different public and third sectors resources and skills together ‘across the system’. The police are well positioned to play a central role in such initiatives.
The session was held at Ikon Gallery and focused on ‘whole systems thinking’, helping to unravel complex and ‘wicked’ problems (for which there are no existing answers) and developing an applied understanding of different leadership styles and their impact on the different organisational cultures which may be involved in integrated working. Effective engagement is crucial, with key partners and stakeholders, and the workshop centred on using emotional intelligence to help lever positive change, through appropriate communication and leadership styles. The Psychologica Model™ provided a perfect framework to help understand how different elements of complex systems can be integrated together successfully – and as a guide to deploying the necessary leadership skills to bring this about.
Find out more here about how the model can help with organisational change and whole systems approaches
Pictures from the masterclass at the Ikon Gallery venue in Birmingham:
