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Leadership Competencies

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CPKN is working with project partners, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) and Canadian Police College (CPC), to update leadership competencies in the Police Sector Council Competency Based Management Framework (CBMF). The project is a result of recommendations from a CBMF Workshop hosted by CPKN in November of 2018.

This project is partially funded by Public Safety Canada with additional contributions from the project partners. To advance the project objectives, a working group has been established with membership from each of the partner organizations. Including:

  • Steve Schnitzer, Chair, CACP Human Resource and Learning Committee
  • A/Comm Serge Côté, Canadian Police College
  • Stacey Moreau, Canadian Police College
  • Sandy Sweet, CPKN
  • Nadine Sutcliffe, CPKN

The working group has engaged the services of the Community Safety Knowledge Alliance (CSKA) to undertake the research and report development for this project.

CSKA is a non-profit that supports governments and others in the mobilization, integration and facilitation of research and knowledge development that, among other things, informs and improves professional practices across the community safety system and contributes to alignment within the sector.

The team at CSKA brings years of multi-disciplinary experience and knowledge relevant to policing, community safety and competencies.

Project Updates

The final report has been complete and is available to download.

The Modernizing Police Leadership Competencies project has proven to be a valuable initiative to the benefit of Canadian Policing. As you will see in the report, there were three significant outcomes:

  1. Creation of an updated Competency Profile for Police Executive Leadership (Appendix A of the report). This was based on information, discussions and analysis resulting from the literature review, community survey and facilitated workshop that formed the foundation of this project.
  2. Definition of a series of next steps to complete the updating of the Police Leadership Model taking into consideration factors such as Character-based Leadership and other issues not contemplated in the original Competency Based Management Framework (CBMF). These issues are clearly laid out in the final report and represent the next phase in updating the overall CBMF.
  3. Broad engagement of the policing sector at both the leadership and practitioner level. Leaders from Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, Canadian Police Association and Canadian Association of Police Governance (CAPG) along with large and small police services (including the RCMP, Toronto Police Service, OPP and Montreal Police and Sûreté du Québec) were all actively engaged in this initiative and want to be part of the next phase.

Similarly, HR practitioners from right across the country and the sector are now part of the newly created Competency Based Management Community of Practice (CBM-COP) that was developed through this project. This new service allows these experts easy access to updated competencies as well as all existing Police Sector Council material. The existing Sector Council website will be decommissioned. The COP will also allow easy flow of material and information between and among the participants.

The next steps will be undertaken by CPKN’s National Advisory Committee’s Competencies Sub-Committee and overseen by a Steering Committee of leaders from the sector including representations from CACP, CPA and CAPG.

Download a copy of the report here.

Project Activities

  • Engage Consultant

    Through an RFP Process, CSKA was contracted to conduct a literature review, develop a survey, host webinars, facilitate a workshop, and present the final report.

  • Webinar

    A webinar, targeted to participants of the November 2018 Workshop, will be hosted on December 12, 2019. This will be an opportunity to hear the results of the literature review, learn more about the project and provide input on the survey. Participants in the webinar will communicate what they learn within their respective networks. An update on this discussion will also be available online.

  • Leadership Competency Survey

    In early January a survey will be distributed to police services through human resource and training departments. The survey will be open for two weeks and we encourage broad participation! Survey feedback will be an important part of the workshop discussions and final report.

  • Leadership Competency Workshop

    In late January 2020, a two-day workshop will take place in Ottawa. This will include 35 participants with expertise in competency development and implementation and will represent members from the police community and the competency framework advisory committee established in November 2018.

  • Webinar

    A second webinar will be hosted mid-March 2020. This will allow all those interested in attending to hear about the final report and provide feedback prior to a final draft and project wrap-up.

  • Final Report

    A final report and updated dictionary will be available through CPKN and other project partners after March 31, 2020. This dictionary will also be used to update the Police Sector Council CBMF.

  • Updated Technology

    As part of this project, CPKN will research and develop a secure online environment to house the competencies. The goal will be to have an online space that is easy to access and update and provides opportunities for more discussion and interaction.

Want to find out more?