There’s been a definite up-turn in opportunities for firefighters to make a move to a new Fire & Rescue Service. This is great news for firefighters to enjoy increased flexibility for making big life choices, and convenient for FRS’ to boost their numbers whilst...
We spoke to a the Group Manager responsible for delivering promotions Supervisory and Middle Manager (Leading the Team/ Function) processes in their FRS to find out what led them to VCA and how they found the CPG first time round.
The 'Open Access' Career Progression Gateway (CPG) calendar means that we will be running CPG assessments for candidates for a specific level of promotion on specific dates. Any FRS can join these events
Promotion processes are rarely popular, and approaches can shift like the tide as services struggle to find the holy grail of what will a) cause least complaint from candidates and rep bodies b) be manageable for overworked admin teams c) fit the budget and d) identify leadership potential appropriately. (The pressures of a-c can leave point d. somewhat at the back of the queue.)
FRS’s are doing their very best but a great number are struggling with their promotions processes. There are a mix of key factors:
Having spoken to many candidates who have experienced both internally delivered feedback, and a developmental feedback session with our team, here are the 4 issues which seem to cause the greatest difficulties with internal feedback sessions, and some tips for making it easier and more effective for all involved.
It’s easy to focus on what the costs would be to the Service of using an external provider such as VCA to run promotions processes, but what about the costs of not doing so, particularly in light of continued scrutiny of FRS fairness, ethics and effectiveness?
What happens if certain individuals aren’t managing the assessment exercise well? What if they aren’t demonstrating the behaviours effectively, not because these aren’t the approaches they usually apply in the workplace, but because they aren’t using the opportunity provided in the CPG to present evidence in a way which demonstrates their full potential?
At VCA we are in the privileged position of having been closely involved with the FRS across the UK for over 20 years, whilst remaining impartial and independent. Here is our perspective on this year from the work we have been engaged in.
The number of Career Progression Gateway (CPG) enquiries and demo’s we are delivering each week is really gathering pace. But why is the CPG getting so much attention now?