Leadership priorities in 2014?

In issue 378 of Police Professional, there is an article entitled A Challenging Future which features some very useful unpacking of the presentation given by CC Mike Cunningham (Staffordshire Police) to the Excellence in Policing conference, on what kind of police leadership is needed for the future. I recommend the article to you as his slides (now uploaded) only present a smidgeon of what the article reports him as saying.

To summarise, CC Cunningham asked more than 200 personnel at Staffs Police what they thought were the key leadership issues for the future. This helped him identify four priorities:

• Ensure lines of communication with staff and officers are open
• Welcome challenge and understand how the service can respond
• Develop early intervention strategies, spotting problems as they emerge
• Spend time discovering the fears and concerns of staff and officers: a step change in staff/officer engagement

I like this. I always like lists of priorities when they number under ten and I like lists of four even more! And I think these four are useful.

But the question is, as we turn towards the end of this year... what do you think should be the leadership priorities for police (and other public service) leaders in 2014? 

I have posted blogs like this one in the past (see this link for the 2013 list, and these for 2010 and 2012). So please post below, tweet or email if you wish

So to repeat the question:

What do you think should be the leadership priorities for police (and other public service) leaders in 2014?

UPDATE 031213|2312: Thanks to Suzanne Thompson ‏@Suzze05 for these five priorities

1. Open & transparent leadership - visible & approachable
2. Be intuitive & responsive to the 'informal work culture'
3. Be open to genuine innovation & collaboration opportunities to improve practice & add value.
4. Welcome positive change but do not be afraid to openly challenge change based solely on ideology & not evidence based.
5. Listen..no really, really listen, not just pay lip service & go through the motions as staff know the difference

UPDATE 041213|0920: Thanks to Roger Nield ‏@rogernield2703 for these priorities

• Listen to what the public want.
• Do something about it - not just do what's easy or what interests your organisation.
• Tell them what you've done.
• Do this without arrogance, fear or favour and without thought of reward.
• You can boil this down to "Do Good"

UPDATE 081213|1628: Thanks to Annette Hill ‏@familyhrguru for these priorities

UPDATE 121213|2108: Thanks to Sukhvinder Stubbs ‏@Sukhvinder2011 for this observation