At Leapwise, we know that the best change and transformation programmes balance the need for strategic thinking with efforts to engage closely with those delivering services to the public. That’s why, for so many of our projects, we place a real emphasis on working with the frontline.
One of our newest consultants, Joe, provides a unique perspective on this. A former teacher who spent 4 years working at the top-performing secondary school in England, he’s also recently made the decision to train as a special constable with the Metropolitan Police. Here, he reflects on why working with the frontline is essential to making change happen.
What I’ve learned at the frontline
When I was at university, I remember writing a paper on how to improve children’s grades. I was confident with my solution. In fact, I was certain that if it had been implemented there and then, it would’ve made a positive difference.
Years later, as a secondary school teacher, I looked back at that idea and realised it was completely unfeasible. I’d done some good theoretical analysis, but ultimately, it just wouldn’t have landed on the ground. In a similar way, working at the frontline before coming into consultancy has given me a different perspective on the work I do today.
Training as a special constable, I’ve developed a much clearer sense of how complex even the most routine police activities can be. Trying to get handcuffs on a suspect (even in a training setting) or write a witness statement for a crime aren’t as straightforward as it might be perceived.
I think it’s easy for senior leaders trying to make change happen – or external consultants supporting that work – to forget just how complex and difficult the actual work of delivery really is.
Putting the frontline at the heart of change
Crucially, I’m not arguing that frontline experience is a must-have for anyone trying to deliver a change programme. It’s entirely understandable that those seeking to reform a police force or an NHS hospital trust might not have spent time chasing criminals or treating patients. These are often very different skills and there is often value in a fresh, outsider perspective on how you work. But, at the very least, close and sustained engagement with the frontline is essential to making change happen.
We’ve written before about why this is so important. It’s partly because the frontline are, by definition, closest to the work you’re trying to improve. They usually know what’s working well, what the everyday blockers are, and have a good sense of what some potential solutions might be. But more importantly, those on the frontline will usually be the ones delivering the new process, using the new ICT system, or helping you deliver the better outcomes you’re after. Their insights and engagement will be key to making the change you want happen be more successful.
That won’t always be easy. As public service leaders have experienced many times over recent years, implementing funding cuts makes for difficult conversations with your frontline staff. But there’s a leadership angle to that too. I’ve seen how hard teachers work in schools and how challenging everyday policing really is. Being honest with the frontline is crucial for success, but it’s also the right thing to do. At Leapwise, we follow exactly this approach.
3 tips for learning from the frontline
- Get out there yourself
- Use multiple methods to find the truth
- Incentivise a cycle of engagement
1. Get out there yourself
Practical experience won’t solve every strategic challenge for you, but it helps with framing the right questions (and some of the answers too). If you’re leading a major change programme in a police force, carve out time to engage with your business analysts, frontline officers, or others working directly with the public.
When I first started training as a Special Constable, I thought I had a decent grasp of operational policing from working with forces at a more strategic level. But even in a simulated environment, experiencing the difficulty of something as basic as applying handcuffs gave me a visceral appreciation of the challenges officers face. Firsthand exposure like this doesn’t just build credibility; it sharpens your ability to ask the right questions and design practical solutions.
2. Use multiple methods to find the truth
These informal conversations are undoubtedly useful, but supplementing this with structured engagement – whether through perception surveys or interactive tools – is a better way to measure the most significant frontline challenges. Leaders shouldn’t rely solely on gut instinct to understand frontline views, especially with large organisations where individual conversations simply can’t reach a wide enough proportion of your workforce.
And no single tool captures the full picture either. Combine data, technology and those informal conversations to get the truth – at Leapwise, we use things like Mentimeter that can effectively capture group sentiment by creating visualisations in real-time. The key is to layer multiple approaches – structured and unstructured, qualitative and quantitative – to identify a well-rounded picture of the frontline experience.
3. Incentivise a cycle of engagement
Gathering structured feedback is only one side of the equation – sharing back through a programme of rolling engagement matters too. Leaders who show that frontline voices are being listened to are more likely to build a cycle of constant interaction.
I saw this myself in teaching. The best headteacher I worked with had an ‘error correction’ chart in the staff room, where teachers earned points for emailing suggestions or questions to leadership. This system incentivised staff to share real challenges and propose solutions, in turn supporting the senior team to spot issues. It showed us that leaders actively valued our views and made us more open to change, as we felt that we were part of that work, rather than disconnected those setting a new direction.
Learning from the frontline
For Leapwise, looking to the frontline isn’t just a rubber-stamping exercise in stakeholder engagement – it’s a core part of how we build high-performance solutions for the public sector.
Please contact us if you want to learn more or have your own insights to share.
