Denise Nathan Consultancy has extensive experience obtained over two decades of coaching clients from underrepresented groups in the police service, particularly officers and staff from minority backgrounds. This has helped us to develop a detailed awareness of the often-subtle barriers to success and progression.

This has helped us to develop a detailed awareness of the often-subtle barriers to progression experienced by Minority support officers and staff.

The key options we offer (as well as bespoke programmes) are as follows: –

Individual Coaching for personal development and preparation for promotion and selection processes

Coaching is provided by highly experienced coaches with an understanding of the challenges and dilemmas likely to have been experienced by Minority support officers and staff. Clients include officers and staff highlighted as having potential to progress to senior roles in the police service and officers and staff preparing for promotion or selection processes.  Through coaching our clients improve confidence in their ability to succeed at all levels.

Core skills coaching and workshops

Denise Nathan Consultancy has identified key skills which enable clients to be highly effective in the workplace and substantially improve their chances of succeeding in selection processes. These core skills include:

• critical analysis and assimilation including speed reading
• decision making in critical incidents
• the ability to operate effectively at both strategic and tactical level
• presentation skills including media interview training.
• Partnership working

We offer coaching, workshops and written exercises which provide clients with development opportunities in each of these core skill areas.

Longer term support for individuals and groups

We recognise that the need for the customised training and support that enable individuals to achieve their full potential and become reliably high performers, doesn’t end with the last day of PNAC or Fast Track training. Our ongoing support and coaching for individuals during the first few years of postings helps ensure that newly qualified officers from underrepresented groups achieve their full potential.

We also offer tailored group-based positive action career acceleration programmes for officers and staff. This builds on support offered by the College of Policing and includes skills and career development workshops, 1-1 coaching and mentoring.

Our group workshops can be run for officers and staff from both the police and the fire service, with the added benefits of building cross sector networking and enhancing partnerships.

Consultation Workshops

These workshops offer the opportunity for officers and staff from minority backgrounds to raise issues in a safe environment and helps ensure that the coaching and development opportunities offered are tailored to meet their needs.

Advising forces

The police service is undoubtedly committed to improving opportunities for officers and staff from minority backgrounds but making progress in this area has proved challenging. We have noticed that our clients have not always received consistent advice and support from their forces. Our experiences enables us to fulfil an advisory role to forces wishing to enhance their offer to their officers and staff.

Denise Nathan Consultancy can work with forces to develop more effective pathways to accelerate officer or staff development, including positive action pathways. Our specialist team can provide objective independent assessment of force talent development and career progression schemes and effectiveness.

Working with key stakeholders such as staff associations we can provide constructive, wholistic assessment of force processes for recruitment, retention, progression and promotion, with recommendations for making your organisation more effective in recognising and developing talent/ achieving their equality objectives.

Developing teams to support under-represented groups

We can work with chief officer or management teams as a whole to help teams recognise and develop talent from underrepresented groups and create the environment in which ability can flourish. The tools we use can include psychometric testing of the team, 360o feedback, skills building with individuals and group workshops.

Alternatively, we can objectively assess a team’s performance including working with key stakeholders, and recommend effective strategies to improve collective performance with goals and actions for individual members where necessary

We also offer support to help individual chief officers to manage and nurture talent from underrepresented groups including experiential learning to recognise unconscious bias.