This paper provides a review of an innovative new leadership programme aimed at senior leaders in the police service and other public sector services. It considers the context and approaches to leadership that underpin the ethos of the programme. It provides a discussion on the learning approach of the programme and how it offers participants opportunities for critical reflection and for learning in collaboration with peers. It then discusses the use of strategic questions to provide practice for the participants in conducting and understanding an evidence‐based project. Through evaluation research it then considers how effective the approach is in terms of leadership development and in particular the application of this learning to the real world.

Purpose -This paper sets out to review leadership development since the inception of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in 2001, its developments over the past ten years, and to look at the opportunities and challenges for the future. It considers the new leadership strategy for policing in Northern Ireland. Design/methodology/approach -This paper explores how leadership development has been considered before, during, and after the change process for policing in Northern Ireland. Through synthesis of available information, learning materials and documents, it identifies and reviews the key models, theories and approaches used for leadership and management development within the PSNI and the approach considered necessary for success in the future. Findings -The PSNI has progressed significantly from policing the 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland, where inward focus was more prevalent than the external partnership and collaborative approach that is needed today and in the future. The change from the Royal Ulster Constabulary to the new Police Service of Northern Ireland required leadership to deliver the transformation required. A new leadership development strategy is vital if operational policing is to continue to enhance public confidence at a time of renewed terrorist threat. Practical implications -Public sector organisations are currently facing great change in order to ensure they are able to meet the challenges of globalisation, technology, demography and the world financial crisis. Leaders can learn from the experience of the Police Service of Northern Ireland in the transformational change process which took place over the past ten years and how it intends to meet the future challenges facing a smaller service with reduced funding. Originality/value -This review comes ten years after the establishment of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. It provides insights into the leadership development which supported the transformational change process within Northern Ireland.

This article is concerned with research carried out in the Police Service of Northern Ireland to develop a model of costs and benefits of training. It provides a blueprint for use by those who practise planning, decision making and management every day in the police organisation in order that they can solve the most crucial problem in training: how to decide on good quality and relevant training interventions within limited resources. The model has three systems: an Awareness System that sets out the culture and understanding of the organisation; the Operational System which includes identification of the needs, achieving the training outputs, delivering quality products, evaluating the products to test its value and worth and costing all of these issues under a standard costing process; and the third system is the Monitor and Control System which maintains the overall system.

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