Informed decision-making, community engagement and participation workstream report

8. Colleague engagement

8.1 Police Scotland, as with many other organisations, is focused on improving and embedding best practice approaches to colleague engagement.

8.2 The findings of the Your Voice Matters survey suggested the service engage in 'listening mode' and gain a deeper understanding of the areas that matter to colleagues. To support this approaches need to continue to shift towards involving colleagues in the 'how' – in the co-creation of workplace environments that enable them to thrive, and design of services that will help improve the lives and safety of the communities they serve.

8.3 Evidence shows that the colleague experience directly impacts public experience and police legitimacy, as demonstrated by research into the practice of stop and search in Scotland.[28] Through comparing the experiences and opinions of the public and police officers, a direct link was found between officer training and their working environment, and impact of stop and search on public confidence. Engaging colleagues about their experiences and opinions helped to identify problems and solutions to improve the quality of police-citizen interactions, particularly with children and young people. How we do things, is as, if not more, important as what we do in building confidence and trust within communities.

8.4 It is important that our people are involved in creating environments so they are able to serve their communities in the most appropriate and supportive ways; using colleague's rich insight and operational experiences to deliver our services in the most efficient and effective ways^[29].

"Create an open/transparent way for our people to suggest an improvement 'whenever' they identify one, not just when asked, and feedback honestly on their suggestion. Improvement should be continuous, driven from within and be open to all, so this needs support and management, not just lip service."

(Your Voice Matters, 2021)

"Listen to staff in decision making processes (they actually know the job inside and out). All too often views are not accepted or just blatantly discounted, usually resulting in poorer working practices / procurement that just makes the job more difficult."

(Your Voice Matters, 2021)

8.5 A collaborative and open engagement approach will enhance capability and capacity within policing to work with colleagues, ensuring pro-active listening and involving colleagues in change management / ideas for improvement at an early stage. This is supported by the findings of the Your Voice Matters survey implementation planning approach being progressed within the service.

8.6 Our evidence base confirms^[30] that this is a key expectation of today's workforce, and is essential if policing is to attract and retain the best talent needed for excellent service delivery. A focus on approaches to colleague engagement that build on current Police Scotland initiatives, including the Chief's Forum, Truth to Power Sessions and Your Leadership Matters will enable the service to:

8.6.1 Consider what everyone has to say;

8.6.2 Seek and share views and information in new ways;

8.6.3 Listen to one another's concerns in a collaborative and safe process – regardless of rank or grade; and

8.6.4 Solve problems and make decisions together.

8.7 Key areas on which to engage and involve colleagues, in the introduction of technology to police safely and effectively in a changing world, include understanding the following:

8.7.1 Fair treatment, protection of human rights and safety;

8.7.2 Skills, knowledge and technology required to deliver service;

8.7.3 Human-machine interface and impacts on our people and communities; and

8.7.4 Maintaining internal confidence and trust in use of technology in policing – including how colleagues feel about using new and emerging technology.

8.8 Colleague engagement and involvement should not be seen as an end in itself but a continuous and evolving process that is open and collaborative. As with public engagement, it is equally important to keep colleagues informed about the actions taken and how their feedback has been heard^[31].

8.9 For effective service delivery, an open two-way dialogue that is safe and inclusive, and facilitates a reciprocal exchange of ideas and feedback. This helps to address any problems or conflicts between the public and colleagues as technology is introduced with the right training, communications and Code of Practice.

8.10 These are key lessons from Police Scotland's consultation and engagement with police officers and staff, leaders and staff associations on the use of Body Worn Video and emergency contact technologies including Next Generation 999 (i.e. location identification and live streaming).^[32]

8.11 An involved and supported workforce is important in creating a psychologically safe workplace environment, and a culture of learning and innovation. This is supported by Police Scotland's Values and Competency Framework and Code of Ethics:

Three clusters and six competencies that further support Police Scotland’s values, Competency Framework and Code of Ethics

Cluster:

Intelligent, creative and informed policing: with competencies of “We are innovative and open-minded” and “We analyse critically”.

Cluster:

Resolute, compassionate and committed: with competencies of “We are emotionally aware” and “We take ownership”.

Cluster:

Inclusive, enabling and visionary leadership: with competencies of “We deliver, support and inspire” and “We are collaborative”.

Activity

8.12 All organisations can better monitor positive change by measuring more regularly and with frequent opportunities for colleague participation in dialogue. Having real time feedback and organisational oversight of what colleagues are experiencing and feeling, and knowing where to focus and enhance our response for improvement in the areas where it matters most, is important in making a difference.

8.13 Colleague engagement is key to organisational development and wellbeing. It is recommended that Police Scotland continue to build on existing good practice with new initiatives that continue to involve colleagues in an open, inclusive and accessible manner including . The following are suggested approaches based on existing work in the service and best practice areas that would enhance colleague engagement, with particular emphasis on new and emerging technology.

Engagement purpose and features

Follow-up colleague survey

Your Voice Matters survey (summer 2022) - capturing and measuring emotional energy, feeling of involvement in decision-making, engagement with change, job satisfaction and hinders to engagement.

Introduction of internal colleague engagement platform

This will enable open, transparent and two-way internal colleague engagement, idea generation and quick polls on issues of importance.  For example, for sensitive topics, anonymous ways for colleagues to provide feedback, share their experiences, observations, gaps in communication and process. 
 
The platform will enable leaders to stay connected with colleague feedback, respond to their concerns and ideas in real time, and update on actions, plans and decisions taken.  

Focus groups

For areas where we need to take a qualitative approach and understand deeper feelings or the ‘why’, focus groups will be facilitated to explore behaviours, lived experiences and reactions to concepts such as Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion; and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Collaborative workshops

Service design workshops will be used to scope opportunities and design solutions, adopting the principles of Service Design.