News: Performance Management
Met HR chief: Managers aren't necessarily leaders
10 November 2008
Specific leadership skills training is needed in organisations where "being a manager" is not enough, according to the Metropolitan Police's human resources (HR) chief.
Martin Tiplady told delegates at Personnel Today's recent HR Directors Club event that the importance of leadership cannot be overstated, before suggesting that HR professionals make it a priority if they want "organisational success" to be their outcome.
"The challenge to all HR directors is: are you developing leaders as well as managers, who know how and what to do and not just the processes to follow?" he remarked.
Mr Tiplady also pointed out to the publication that leadership is not management - "it is the ability to inspire".
Such a need for inspiration will be "pretty considerable" as the police service moves forward and continues its modernisation process, he noted.
The HR's chief's comments were prompted by a discussion about the force's transformation, with regards to diversity as well as leadership, over the last ten years.
A report into the death of teenager Stephen Lawrence released in 1999 had attacked the service's leadership skills, "demoralised workforce" and alleged institutional incompetence and racism.
Former police commissioner Sir Ian Blair claimed in July that diversity in policing is currently a matter of "operational necessity".
