myAIPMBy way of introduction my name is Stuart (Stu) Bartels and I am the Acting Executive Director of the AIPM, having commenced here in my substantive role of Deputy Director in July 2019 after 36 rewarding years with the Western Australia Police. It has been a big year for the AIPM and we have spent much of it positioning for some even bigger years ahead.
Under the banner “Future Directions” the AIPM has been reshaping how it supports ANZ policing and public safety organisations with two main approaches; in partnering with organisations to build their leadership capability, and in offering more flexibility and choice for organisations and individuals. These approaches operationalise many of the research findings from our Dr Vicki Herrington and the many members of our AIPM global professoriate. We now refer to the AIPM Executive Leadership Suite as our formal structure of support, offerings and opportunities.
With the support of the AIPM Board, the Future Directions shift began in 2019-20, and we have been successful in being able to move to full implementation for the financial year 20/21. At the core of our work remains “the AIPM experience”, the unique learning and development experience found nowhere else in the policing and public safety domain.
We have formalised professional development opportunities into our Executive Development Strategy (EDS) – which is a fresh update of the previous ANZ Police Leadership Strategy (ANZPLS). EDS moves beyond a series of residentials to offer a series of interwoven coaching activities, both personal and peer learning. It extends the coaching to include the participants and their organisational leaders, as well as utilising past alumni to support the participant journey.
Research consistently highlights the importance of selection and preparation for effective leadership development. Our new approaches enables the more holistic development of individuals within their organisational and professional context – hence our focus on “strategy” rather than “program”. We have extended EDS to a third level – EDS3 – where we can support the better development of middle managers, both in terms of preparing them for future executive roles and in their current leadership roles.
The AIPM continues with our commitment to executive education, through our Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma. Building on successful redesign of our 2018 Graduate Diploma residential, which saw a significant increase in academic completion and graduations, our academic programs have been repositioned within our calendar to offer greater accessibility, longer distance learning opportunities, and more focused residential learning experiences.
We will continue to support the relevance and effectiveness of our foundational leadership programs. Our Balance, Frontline and Facilitate programs remain well received, either in their AIPM flagship format, or delivered in support of organisational needs, across Australia or internationally. Guided by our Board and Advisory Committee we will in 2020 push further into this space to tackle the specific leadership issues that matter to policing and public safety.
Lastly, we will be turning some extra energy to partnership programs and activities. For well over a decade the AIPM has worked with police and public safety partners to foster leadership development within specialised domains. The AIPM has often held the program management and leadership development capability, while our partner agencies hold the specialised operational context. There have been some rewarding partnership successes which we are keen to perpetuate and grow. The Leadership in Counter Terrorism program, a partnership for 13 years, the Regional Executive Leadership Program (12 years), the AFAC Strategic Command Program (8 years), Q-Balance (5 years), ABF Frontline Indonesia (3 years), SAHELI (3 years) are just some examples of partnership success.
In support of police in the Pacific, we have extended this partnership concept to the Pacific Faculty of Policing, an initiative which is having great influence in the region. This year the AIPM has delivered multiple programs into the region and in turn welcomed many Pacific participants to the AIPM, further diversifying the leadership development experience.
We are extending this partnership concept with an upcoming pilot of an International EDS3, where we will bring leaders from around the globe together for shared leadership development. We firmly believe that bringing the international perspective only adds to the quality and diversity of thought and experience for all AIPM participants.
The realignment of AIPM approaches to better reflect research outcomes and policing and public safety needs has been made possible by the broad support of organisations and individuals from a diversity of sectors. As with my international comments, the value of bringing the experiences and viewpoints of diverse leaders together cannot be understated. Ordinarily I would prefer not to name just a few when there have been so many and when all are highly valued no matter their size, but I would like to acknowledge the significant partnerships with and contributions of AFAC and the Australian Border Force. We look forward to going even further together in 2020 and trust all of our public safety partners will be able to leverage our offer of flexibility and choice through our Executive Leadership Suite.
In closing a big thank you to all of our alumni old and new, to all of our partners far and wide, to our Board and Advisory Committees and to the team here. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all and I look forward to seeing you all at the AIPM in 2020.
Regards,
Stu