Leading the asset: Resilience training efficacy in UK policing
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X18763101 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Leading the asset:
Resilience training
efficacy in UK policing
Ian Hesketh
Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University,
Lancaster, England, UK
Cary Cooper
Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester,
Manchester, England, UK
Jonathan Ivy
Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University,
Lancaster, England, UK
Abstract
This paper examines and reports on the efficacy of work-based personal resilience
training in a provincial police force in the north of UK. Taking a contextual view, data is
modelled from an ASSET survey (n ¼350) that provides evidence of the manifestations
and consequences of providing such input, in comparison with respondents who had
no training and were in the same organisation. The findings support the use of such
training programmes (Hesketh et al., 2015) for improving employee well-being and
resilience by addressing the sources of stress and educating the workforce in how to
deal with these stressors. This research provides compelling evidence that resilient
individuals are better equipped to deal with the stressful nature of both policing and an
uncertain working environment. This paper posits that effective leadership, a working
environment congruent with employee well-being, and investment in resilience pro-
grammes for the workforce enhance subsequent organisational performance and are a
marker of good practice.
Corresponding author:
Ian Hesketh, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, Bailrigg LA1 4YX,
England, UK.
Email: i.hesketh@lancaster.ac.uk
The Police Journal:
Theory, Practice and Principles
2019, Vol. 92(1) 56-71
ªThe Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0032258X18763101
journals.sagepub.com/home/pjx
Keywords
Policing, leadership, resilience, training, well-being
Introduction
In a systematic review of workplace resilience training, Robertson et al. (2015) identi-
fied that there had been no meaningful synthesis of resilience training efficacy. The
research concluded that resilience training could improve employee performance and
well-being. This paper seeks to examine the extent to which organisational investment in
resilience interventions improves the working life of employees and organisational
performance – and is a marker of good professional practice. This is examined through
the construct of well-being.
The subject organisation is a provincial police force in the north of UK, where a series
of multiple cross-sectional surveys have taken place longitudinally in order to probe the
efficacy of resilience interventions in the workplace. These interventions consisted of
independent classroom-based training sessions that covered the common themes of
resilience. These included the ability to cope with the stressors of everyday life, thinking
errors and the ability to bounce back following adverse events in the work environment.
Surveys were carried out to establish the extent to which the int ervention had been
effective in terms of general health, attitudes towards work and employee perceptions
of their job. These were subsequently compared to employees that had not undergone
resilience training, but were in exactly the same working environment.
‘A Short Stress Evaluation Tool’ (ASSET) was employed to assess sources of stress
within respondents. It should be noted that during the course of this research the police
force in question was undergoing an unprecedented programme of root and branch
reform, involving considerable financial and workforce downsizing. As such, the rele-
vance of these findings can be given further significance, in that operational performance
has been maintained throughout. This is documented by HMIC inspections on the
subject force, which report high performance levels throughout the research period
(HMIC, 2015).
Literature
The literature in this paper seeks to clarify the thinking to date on many of the aspects
contained within the findings of this research, beginning with contemporary views on
well-being. Literature linking well-being to resilience is then reviewed, covering areas of
gender, police culture, mechanisms for measurement and burnout. Finally, the subject of
resilience is explored in greater depth, this being the essence of the paper and supporting
the notion that it is ‘an idea whose time has come’ (Cooper et al., 2014).
Well-being
Seligman (2012) outlined his view that well-being is more than the absence of illness.
This was supported by Rothmann and Cooper (2015: 222), with the notion of well-being
Hesketh et al. 57
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