Empowering leaders at the College of Policing – Becs Riley

Episode 9: Workplace Confidence Podcast
Where people professionals share the great work they do

Policing leadership. In this episode, Becs Riley, Senior Leaders Hub Manager at the College of Policing, shares her unique journey from working as a forensic shoe print specialist to leading initiatives that support senior leaders.

Becs explores the challenges of empowering leaders in policing, particularly the difficulty of shifting mindsets from focusing solely on operational tasks to taking on broader leadership roles...

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Here are some of her powerful insights about policing leadership that struck a chord in our conversation.

Policing leadership can be lonely

Becs explains, "Leadership is very lonely, and you can sit at the top of your team thinking, 'I'm on my own in this.'" It's a sentiment many leaders in policing feel but don't often talk about. The pressures of decision-making, navigating ambiguity and managing people within the complex structure of policing can leave leaders feeling isolated.

But as Becs reminded us, shifting your perspective can help: "If you just shift your gaze slightly... there are other people in the same position as you." Having a network, a peer group, or simply someone who understands your challenges can make a world of difference, especially in the demanding environment of policing. It’s about realising that you’re not alone, even when it feels like it.

Psychological safety and authenticity

Becs emphasised the importance of creating environments where people can truly be themselves. She said, "I do bring my whole self to work. And I do talk about my kids... It's a non-negotiable."

Setting this example of authenticity helps others feel comfortable doing the same, creating a more inclusive and supportive workplace. This is particularly crucial in policing, where the culture has traditionally been hierarchical and rigid.

Becs highlighted that fostering psychological safety is especially important for those from marginalised groups—working mothers, people of different faiths, or anyone who feels they don’t quite fit the norm. She argues modern policing leadership needs to break down these barriers and build supportive environments where everyone can thrive.

The power of role models in leadership

Another resonant message from Becs was the importance of having role models - and being one - in the policing sector. She said, "I want to continue to be a senior leader in an organisation who works part-time. And I want people to look at me and say, 'She's doing that. So I can do that.'"

Representation matters, particularly in policing, where traditional leadership roles have often lacked diversity. When people see others thriving in leadership roles while embracing their own needs and individuality, it challenges old notions of what a police leader should look like and empowers others to step into those shoes.

Continuous development in policing

Becs also spoke about how leadership in policing isn’t about reaching the top and staying there - it’s about continuous growth and adaptation. She explained, "I never had any desire to be at the top... but what happened was I got bored where I was and then other opportunities came along."

Staying curious, exploring different facets of the role, and embracing learning opportunities are all key. In policing, where the landscape is constantly changing with new challenges and technologies, this mindset of continuous development is crucial.

It helps leaders stay relevant and effective, ensuring they can meet the needs of their teams and communities. It’s not about getting to the top; it’s about staying engaged and always looking for ways to grow.

Becs shared a key reminder for all of us: the journey of leadership, particularly in policing, is one of ongoing evolution. It involves navigating loneliness, striving for authenticity, being a visible role model, and staying open to growth. These lessons resonate deeply within the context of policing but also have value across industries and roles.

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Transcript: Policing leadership - Becs Riley, Senior Leaders Hub Manager at the College of Policing

Becs Riley
My role is to support senior leaders and executive leaders within their professional development. The college has a really good end-to-end framework for providing development programs. But what we try to do within the hub is that we try to provide that continuing professional development. So once someone's been on a program and they've learned the basics, they've learned the foundations, we're there to make sure that actually

they've still got development opportunities in between those programs. They're much more, I don't want to say ad hoc, but they're very accessible. They are much more flexible. Responsive. Yeah, responsive and bite size, guess, best way to put it. Courses can be long and protracted and the longer and more complex that topic is.

the longer the courses, whereas we're really aiming to kind of give them that bite -sized chunk that allows them to, within their working day, actually access learning and continue to maintain their professional expertise, really.

P.H.
We're going to get onto the actual learning and the outcomes and how you measure all that, because I'm really interested in that aspect of your role. But before we get more into what that is, I want to ask you about your background.

You know, if someone said to me, National College of Policing, I have to say, I'm going to think a campus and people doing, you know, drilling and marching in uniforms. Now I've been to your campus and it's not like that actually, is it? It's very much like a university campus feel. But as well as these officers, you know, huge part of the police force, there is another huge element, which is the staff and the volunteers and the specials, as you say, but tell me about the staff.And your background in coming through the force.

Becs Riley
So in terms of police staff, just to give you an idea of where we're at currently, the full -time equivalent workforce for policing in England and Wales, and we're very specific and deliberate in saying England and Wales because that's our remit, although we support other associated organizations, but the total workforce is 236 ,588. Of that, 147 ,746 are officers.

P.H.
Lovely detail there. Absolutely. Every bum on every seat is counted. Everybody counts.

Becs Riley
And I think that's really important because it's important to know there are so many opportunities within policing and that's from the cleaning staff through to the forensics. And you're talking about almost 100 ,000 people who don't have warranted powers, but absolutely give.

towards the success of policing. Policing wouldn't happen without the forensics or the people who manage the car fleets. And they're a huge, huge part of that demographic. Interestingly, I'm not sure entirely when it was, but it was certainly quite recently, we're talking kind of within the last 50 years that police staff were introduced. Prior to that, everything was done by police officers. For myself, my career started in 2006.

And I joined West Yorkshire police as an assistant forensic Mark analyst. was a really long job title, really exciting. And I was fortunate enough to work within forensics for West Yorkshire for approximately nine years. And I absolutely loved it. I've got to say it was something that was, it was fascinating. It wasn't what we saw on the TV. It wasn't what I'd read in my crime novels that had kind of got me interested.

But it was fascinating and it was just something that was really compelling because you felt like you were helping society, you were supporting policing. We had a great relationship with police officers who would bring in the evidence and we'd worked to try and establish the fact. That was what we were trying to do. We were trying to establish facts. And that wasn't for the prosecution, that wasn't the defence, we were just trying to establish a fact.

And I was lucky enough. So a lot of my career was spent looking at footwear impressions. So I spent a lot of time with trainers. I was really good at being able to look at the tiniest, tiniest little mark that was left. And I could tell you what trainer it had come from. I you were great at parties with that. Walking on the beach. yes. It's such a huge distra it's something that's taken a while to get out of because she did used to get distracted by the patterns.

And you might see one and go, my gosh, I saw that at a crime scene. What is that? Where's that person? How can I find their shoe? When it was a new one. So yeah, that was great. And I also was fortunate enough in the early 2010s, I think it was to also start to train to look at fingerprints. So I dabbled very much in that. I never got to kind of the high regards of the expert status, but.

I really enjoyed it, really enjoyed it.

P.H.
And you really enjoyed the job, you really enjoyed the results. Did you have good leadership around you to enable your team and yourself to enjoy that role and feel a greater part, know, part of the greater picture?

Becs Riley
That's a great question. And I think I was really, really fortunate when I first started, bearing in mind I was quite young. I'd come out of university, I'd done my masters. And so,

It was being young, being female in a predominantly male police officer environment. And I was so fortunate to have two people, kind of they were joint leaders. It was Jim and Sue, and they were a bit like mom and dad. And I learned so much from them in how they led us and that kind of approach of caring. They were very much servant leaders. And I only know that retrospectively having kind of learned a bit more about it and then

looking at how they led us, but they cared about us predominantly and they supported us and that was in us as people, but actually also in our development. So it was kind of, was a holistic picture. They were looking after me holistically and that really helped me to kind of develop and progress and, and yeah, want to be the best that I could be. Cause I wanted to impress them as well. And I wanted to do it for mom and dad.

P.H.
I'm sure a lot of people listening and myself included to what you just said, quite envious of that. You must have heard your friends, colleagues, people you experience now telling you about bad experiences that have, I mean, you leave a manager, don't you? You leave your manager, not the organization. That's the classic line. What do you think when you hear others' about the situations they're in? You go, God, if only they'd just stopped doing this or they're micromanaging me or they're just not interested and do you, are you able to empathize at all?

Becs Riley
Yeah, I can because I wouldn't say that every manager that I've had has been good. What I would say is I wouldn't want to dwell on them because I don't think it's fair on them. And I also think when I look back on some of the poor managers, some of the poor managers haven't necessarily been poor because they've been bad leaders. They've potentially been poor leaders for me because we haven't

haven't got on and there's been a clash. And actually it's a bit sad because in other regards I can now see that they were doing a good job but perhaps they didn't have the skills and the tools to identify how they behaved with people that they clashed with because it was a mutual clash. It wasn't a one -way clash.

P.H.
I think self -awareness is the single biggest key to unleashing great leaders. And it's for people to lean into that. God, I hate that phrase, but yeah, people to embrace that self -awareness. How would you, I mean, is there any work that you do within the Leaders Hub to enable greater self -awareness in the same way that you've experienced? Is it through the psychometric aspect of understanding yourself? Is that a good starting point?

Becs Riley
I think the psychometrics give a really good kind of grounding.

and really help you to understand yourself. We're very fortunate within the Senior Leaders Hub that we offer a range of products. So we do do the kind of, I kind of alluded to the C, the bite -sized online CPD. We do that, but we also try to offer a more bespoke and personal service when we're able to. I think introducing and extolling the idea of reflective practice is really important.

What they sometimes need is the confidence to put themselves into what can be a very tricky structural situation because inherently organizations aren't necessarily designed to see the challenges and the limitations of individual groups. And that can be working mothers who are breastfeeding, or it could be Muslims who want to pray or need to pray on a Friday.

But inherently groups who are generally marginalized in society, it is a bit harder. We work with people to understand what psychological safety is and how they might get there and how it would help them. And similarly, imposter feelings, and I call them imposter feelings because it's not a syndrome, it is a fiddling. And so again, trying to help people identify there are imposter feelings that you have.

There's often a reason I'm working around trying to break that down and get past it. I've had imposter feelings. I get them all the time, especially coming back from having children. And so even having worked in an area where I've talked about imposter feelings, having come back from my second and needing somebody else to help me, tap me on the shoulder and go, you can still do this. It's not that you can't, you're just feeling a bit out of it at the moment.

Yes, that's acknowledgement, that sort of ability to understand that everyone else has got it. I've worked with groups of people who will reveal that they thought they were the only one who carried around negative thought patterns and phrases in their heads and feelings of imposterism. And it's that vulnerability in a self -aware leader who can have their own self -acceptance levels and their ability to

embrace others and difference that builds confidence. That's how I see it.

P.H.
And you're absolutely right. There are so many capable, wonderful people. If it was all about just confidence, then it would be the silver bullet, wouldn't it? Just to getting equity at the top and women on boards and gender and ethnicity balance everywhere. But it's not that people don't have the ability.

Becs Riley
No. You're right. It's the confidence and the seeing other people being confident and doing things in a different way and being accepted. It's such a big piece of work that's quite difficult to pin down, isn't it? It's not a course you can go on immediately and then all of a sudden you're sorted and you've learned it. It's not like learning Excel spreadsheet, is it? No. And I think you kind of mentioned there about people thinking that they're the only one. And I think that's a huge part of it is helping to put those people in touch and helping to create that network.

where all of a sudden people don't feel that they're the only one because they see somebody else in the same situation. And there's a real power for me in being honest and open and showing that vulnerability and then having somebody go, yeah, I know exactly what you mean. That's how I felt. either being there with you to move through it. So you got each other to, I guess, as a mentor to kind of discuss and talk about it.

or someone that's got through the other end of it.

P.H.
There's a connection isn't there between being yourself at work and the abilities that you have as a leader, I think. And it's this classic question. It's like, how do you be yourself at work? And should you be yourself at work? It's like, well, isn't it going to be really tiring if you don't bring your whole self to work?

Becs Riley
There's definitely something in the fact that the imposter feelings that came with being a mother have disappeared. And I do bring my whole self to work. And I do talk about my kids.

And I do have it in my diary, nursery pickup, because actually that's a really important time today for me. I don't want any meetings then. it's a non -negotiable. Other people see my diary. It's an open diary. And it means that they can see where my priorities are. And that means that they can then do the same to me. And they will say, can I have the afternoon off to go to my kid's sports day? Of course you can. And they know that I'm...

never going to question that because it's important. It's easier to do that than to not do that perhaps. Yeah. And I don't think it's quite as there are other people who will massively struggle to bring their whole self to work because society at the moment doesn't accept it in the same way that we do now accept working mothers more. Do you feel in any way or have you ever considered yourself as a role model to others? I nearly did the really self -deaf thing. No, no, I've never seen that. And do you know what? I actually stopped

reframe that, yes, I have. And that's exactly what I want to be. And there is part of me that goes, and I've had this conversation with my husband, I don't want to go back up to full time. When my youngest goes to school, I don't want to do that Friday. And part of that is because I enjoy that Friday for myself. I think it works. I think I work better having an extra day off. I think I do as much, if not more, and I'm more focused and I'm just better.

But the other side of it is I want to continue to be a senior leader in an organization who works part time. And I want people to look at me and say, she's doing that. So I can do that. And I do want to be that role model. And I do want to pull women up with me. I want to make sure that they do run, that they're not held back. The things that I... That the system isn't against them. The things that I found difficult. Look.

I found it difficult, but I got past it. You can get past it.

P.H.
It's one of the main challenges that I think we have discussed in the past when we've worked together about having an absence of role models who reflect the types of leaders you want to see in your organization. And I know that you've worked strongly with the idea that you are leadership material, even if you don't think you are, and encouraging role models because you can only be what you can see.

What's your view on that in terms of encouraging leaders and how do you do that?

Becs Riley
I don't always think it's about getting somebody to think to enter as a new member of police staff or a new constable and think I could be the chief constable. It's not about that. It's about getting them to think I'm going to try and meet my potential. I'm going to keep working and be the best I can be. Actually, what happens is they naturally end up

rising to the top. if someone comes along to you and says, you know what, don't have much ambition for being at the top. I just want to be a good copper. I don't know if people still use that word. I just want to be a good police officer. I just want to be a good forensics, Mark person, and really bang into footprints. Right. So what would you say to that person who's like really happy at that level? Would you try and encourage them to

develop their careers and get higher up the ladder or what would you do with them? I think I'd talk to them about what they enjoy and what they don't. And I think I'd support them very much. mean, ironically, you are talking about me. I've never had any desire to be senior and never had any desire to be at the top. But what happened was I kind of got bored where I was and then other opportunities came along. So when I was in forensics, the opportunity to train came along. So I started training police officers to with

in the footwear world when they were out at scenes and stuff and with suspects. And then I was like, I really enjoy this training stuff. So then I got a job within a different department training that department. And then from there I got into the college of policing. So actually I don't think it's necessarily about pushing somebody to aspire for the top. It's just pushing them to keep interested and

What are you interested in? How do you think you can develop? Because, and I know that one of the things that I think particularly is that people have a tendency to do is you saying, God, I don't need this development. It's called development, isn't it? I don't need this development. I just want to be a good copper. And there's almost an assumption that they've learned it so they can just be a good copper and that is, or a good forensics person. And that's it, learning done.

but that's not the case. And I think it's quite easy to demonstrate that at the moment, particularly with digital side of things. So before the millennium, before the turn of the millennium, 1998, remember it well, not all police individuals had a computer. There might've been several computers in a station that were used, but it wasn't an individual kind of piece of apparatus, equipment.

Now we've all got at least one in our pocket. And with that, the technology, the understanding, the skills, the knowledge has all changed. So that police officer who in 1998 said that they wanted to be just, I just want to be a good police officer. They still want to be that in 2024. The only way they're going to be is to continue learning and developing and becoming the best that they can be based on

the changes around them in the world. And I think for me, that's what it's about when you're trying to get the best out of a person, ensuring that they maximize their potential and reach their potential is about kind of making sure that they understand that. And then with that, I think it does naturally happen. how do you sell these ideas then to the public purse, I suppose, and you go, it's development. It doesn't have a necessarily

doesn't have a tangible outcome that we can point at and go, that's gone from that place to that place and it's all changed. The evaluation is incredibly challenging. mean, you have to set metrics, don't you? You have to measure something to understand your success. And those things would be retention, engagement, the usual things like that. We've got the home office workforce data, helps us understand what the proportion of staff and officers are.

It helps us understand the proportion of women and ethnic minorities. It doesn't give the whole picture and it's challenging. everyone will engage with our products. We are lucky in the college that we do have people who are evaluation experts and help work with us to understand that there is value for money and that our products are in the right place. I think it's one of the things at the moment that we're very keen to do is make sure that, well, is tight for everybody.

and we are very keen to make sure that we are putting it in the right places.

P.H.
One last question for you, your own job satisfaction then, how do you capture that? How do you notice it? And if you're no longer looking at footprints and deciding whether they're a puma or an adidas and what size they are, how do you get your job satisfaction personally now?

Bec Riley
You need to reflect every day or every month, whatever works for you on what you've done.

I got myself a journal and in it I started, initially I just started kind of saying what I'd done and what my feelings were. And as it's grown, and I think I've been doing it for a few months now, I've started one page just making a note of actually what are the things that I've done in that day. And then at the end of the day, how do I feel? Do I feel productive? To try and spot some, again, maybe this is the forensics in me, spot patterns. When do I feel the best?

What am I doing in my day that makes me feel like I'm actually being productive and achieve stuff? And then I've got a little to -do list at the bottom. But what that's done for me is even on the days when I feel like I've been unproductive, I've not really done anything. It's not really been a great work day, actually. I look at it and I go, well, I did do all these things. Am I? So it's that evidence, isn't it? That evidence. When you've got an opinion.

What is the actual evidence to support it? If you've got a negative perception of yourself, what is the evidence that says that's true? And I think that works in anything that works in your day to day kind of have you worked? Well, yes, actually I have. I can see that I've got this list of things that I've done. Are you, are you good at your job? Are you an imposter? Are you a fraud? Well, actually the evidence is that my boss hasn't given me a terrible

performance development review. said, thanks. I've not been sacked yet. Yeah, I'm not being sacked yet. A friend had said to me, what do you want? was submitting a report. What do you actually want? Do you want him to turn around and say that this is the best report that he's ever read in his career? because you were, what were you doing sort of perfecting it and sort of, is that your I .K.? Yeah, I'd done it. I'd written it. It was there. I needed to send it through and I was sat on it, not sending it.

And I was like, was Friday's my work -free day, but I'm quite flexible. So if I need to do something, I will, because again, the organization is flexible with me, so I'll be flexible with them. And I'm sat on it and she's like, why don't you just send it? I was like, I'm not sure it's quite right. And she said, what do you want him to say that it's perfect, that it's the best report he's ever read? And I just looked at her and went, yeah, I do. That's exactly what I want. I want some external validation. And there's nothing wrong with that. No.

And so that, when she said that, I then went back and just press send because it was like, it was a totally unrealistic expectation. And for some reason was flying around in my head. And actually when we came to talk about the report, there was a moment where they went, I won't tell you how good it is. We'll concentrate. And I went, no, no, no, no, no. You need to just right now tell me the good bits. And then I wrote them down and then it's there and all the rest is. So I actually did give him that feedback that no, for me.

I actually need you to tell me that, and I think they said it was well written, well thought through and easily understood. It's like perfect job done. That's all I needed.

P.H.
Do you need that every time you send a report? Is that what you ask for?

Becs Riley
No, no, no,

P.H.
You've got it. You've ticked that So yes, this is all about investigating yourself, interrogating the information that you're telling yourself, providing evidence.to support and taking that thought to court and extend that police metaphor, but in order to support yourself and understand the value that you bring in order to get that satisfaction and external validation, which we all need and we don't get it so much when we're in leadership or doing, you're kind of more of a lone wolf.

in your role and maybe that is why you need your mastermind groups and your networks and your mentors. Absolutely. the journaling, the reflective practice that you do is phenomenal.

Becs Riley
Reach out. There are people and I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Leadership is very lonely and you can sit in the top of your team thinking I'm on my own in this. But if you just shift your gaze slightly and look to the left or to the right or even up, there are other people in the same position as you.

and other people who will talk to you and experience the same things as you and it's really important to share that.