Supervisory Leadership Development Programme
Investing in People, Culture and Leadership by providing good practice guidance, tools and improvements at a national level for implementation locally.
Welcome to the supervisory leadership development programme (SLDP), a self-directed development programme, designed exclusively and collaboratively between the NFCC and CMI (Chartered Management Institute). It offers supervisory leaders across the fire and rescue service, a wealth of support for their day-to-day leadership and management activities, along with access to learning materials to address ongoing development needs.
Chris Blacksell, Project Executive and CFO of Humberside Fire and Rescue Service: “The Project Board view first-line leadership as a critical point in an individual’s career where they begin to develop their leadership styles. This programme sets a strong foundation to foster positive behaviours that will remain throughout the leadership pipeline. Inclusive in its approach, this programme is designed for existing, new, and aspiring supervisory leaders, regardless of role or contract type”.
Mark Hardingham, Chair of the NFCC, shared his thoughts about the launch: We know that Leadership is a continual area of focus for fire and rescue services. Leadership programmes enable all colleagues to reach their full leadership potential and provide excellent fire and rescue services for the public.
The Supervisory Leadership Development Programme is one initiative from the NFCC’s Leadership Programme which helps to address these recommendations by unlocking and nurturing talent across all FRS staff. Together with other work streams being delivered by the Leadership Programme, such as the Core Code of Ethics, the Coaching and Mentoring Portal, the Talent Management Toolkit and the Direct Entry Scheme, we have a strong offering for UK fire and rescue services to support them in identifying and developing excellent future leaders.
- Click here to access NFCC ManagementDirect (you will need a licence and a password)
Who is SLDP for?
The programme has been designed exclusively to develop knowledge, skills, and behaviours for every existing, new, and aspiring supervisory leader across all areas of the UK fire and rescue service, regardless of role, contract type or location.
What does SLDP include?
The whole programme has been developed around the NFCC Leadership Framework, which clearly defines the leadership behaviours required at each level of leadership within the UK fire and rescue service. The programme consists of 4 modules, 1 for each area of the NFCC Leadership Framework.
Each module contains a selection of learning materials, such as videos, checklists, models, and templates.
At the start of the programme, all learners will be invited to complete an on-line self-assessment, built around the NFCC Leadership Framework. This self-assessment has been designed to help learners benchmark their current skills, knowledge and experience against each section of the NFCC Leadership Framework and the Core Code of Ethics.
This process also allows the learner to consider any prior learning or experiences.
Whilst we do recommend that learners complete all topics within each module, the results of their NFCC Leadership Framework self-assessment, along with guidance from line managers, will help identify areas where additional attention may be required or where the learning may be more of a refresher.
How will the learning be embedded?
Learners are encouraged to complete a Learning Log which acts as a supportive resource, capturing follow-up actions, reminders, and reflections. At the end of each module, they should have a discussion with their line manager to confirm learning, agree any follow-up actions and sign off.
In addition, there are many benefits of group learning, therefore a Group Learning Guide (GLG) is provided for each module, which includes some suggested activities and questions for group discussions. These can be used by line managers, facilitators, or by the cohort of learners themselves to help facilitate group learning.
It is still recommended that learners complete their individual Learning Log, as this will help embed their own learning, prepare them for the group discussion sessions and ensure they receive a certificate for completion of the programme.
NFCC Management Direct
NFCC ManagementDirect is a comprehensive online leadership and management toolkit. It is accessible 24/7 from any device, ensuring you can find the information you need, when you need it. It contains a very wide range of high-quality content on leadership and management in a variety of formats to suit all learning styles. It also provides access to the 4 exclusive supervisory leadership development programme modules and the NFCC Leadership Framework self-assessment.
Promotional material
Link to SLDP flyer
Link to SLDP slides for Services
