Learning from Group Relations and how that is applied to the inspection process.

As it was announced that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies will begin a new programme of regular force inspection, Stephen Otter, HMIC, joined the TIHR ‘Food for Thought‘ lunchtime talk series to ask how his experiential learning through the Tavistock Institute’s Group Relation tradition is offering insight to the way he approaches the inspection process.

Stephen’s talk draws on his experience of working both as a member and as a consultant at the Leicester conference and spoke to us about some of the questions this raises for him in this emotionally charged organisational setting, such as:

• How should the police inspectorate avoid the danger of making inspection the end in itself
• Understanding that inspections are mostly associated with guilt and wrong-doing, what should we do to make sure our inspections lead to a constructive facilitation towards improvement
• Understanding that police officers often invest much of themselves in their roles, how could we diminish their feeling that they are being personally challenged
• How do you avoid criticism leading to learning shutting down and defensiveness

A recording of Stephen’s talk along with associated powerpoint presentation can be found below.

Recording of the talk

Slides from talk

Stephen Otter QPM is one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Constabulary. His previous career was with the police, starting in 1982 in the Thames Valley Police before moving to the Royal Hong Kong Police as an inspector – where he led teams in CID and ‘vice’ – tackling the unlawful sex trade and drugs supply. Stephen then spent 13 years in the Metropolitan Police Service where his career ranged across operational postings in central London, leadership roles at large scale public order events and strategic roles at New Scotland Yard, leaving the force at the rank of Commander to serve as Assistant and Deputy Chief Constable in Avon and Somerset Constabulary; and then Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police from 2007 and 2012 when he joined HMIC. He is a former client of the Tavistock Institute and has worked as a consultant at the Leicester Conference.