Public Sector Leadership and Behaviour Change Training

Why Public Sector Leadership Is Rehearsed, Not Explained

Some things cannot be taught, they have to be felt. A critical-incident briefing, a select committee appearance, a ward manager's conversation with a colleague who is struggling: these are moments, not modules. Public-sector frameworks increasingly describe them as behaviour. The College of Policing's Competency and Values Framework sets out six competencies, each at three levels, and four values that apply to all roles.

On our police page we put the lesson of the Casey Review plainly: policy frameworks alone do not deliver the change in behaviour people want to see. Progress is more and more measured by observed behaviour, so the buyer's specification needs to name behaviour outcomes, not training outputs.

The method is the same in every sector. We script scenes from the situations your people actually face, professional actors hold the other side of the conversation, and participants run the moment, get a structured debrief and run it again.

In a randomised 2020 UCL study by co-founder Ben Laumann (n = 57), rehearsal with a role-play coach produced significantly better feedback delivery than an instructional slideshow or video. Two independent assessors rated it blind. The rehearsal condition was a short online coaching session, not our programme, and the study page sets out what it does and does not show.

Policing

Our police work is for officers of any rank, from constable and sergeant populations to critical-incident command. The behaviours at its centre are command and coordination, decision-making under pressure, public-service values and integrity, inclusive leadership and an open speak-up culture. The Metropolitan Police is on our verified client list, and our work with the Met produced The Death of Jane Doe. We see the work as complementary to the College of Policing's central curriculum, not competitive with it.

• Police Leadership Training
  Programmes for UK forces, the six recurring behavioural targets and the routes forces use to buy.
• Law Enforcement and Policing Leadership Development
  Five behavioural areas for police forces, law-enforcement agencies and wider public-safety organisations.
• College of Policing ELP Preparation
  Independent preparation for the Executive Leaders Programme and its development centre.
• What is the College of Policing CVF?
  The Competency and Values Framework in plain English: six competencies, three levels, four values.

Civil Service, Westminster and Whitehall

Civil servants advise ministers while staying politically impartial, and senior civil servants now often face the kind of media scrutiny that used to be kept for ministers. Our Westminster and Whitehall programmes are for senior civil servants, government departments, regulators and public bodies. Scenarios are written from real public-sector situations, and the actors are briefed on Civil Service vocabulary and political-system dynamics. A full-day workshop takes 12 to 25 people, Senior Civil Service cohorts 8 to 12.

• Leadership Training in Westminster and Whitehall
  Six behavioural challenges Whitehall leaders face, from media pressure to the political-Civil-Service interface.

NHS and Healthcare

For NHS trusts, Integrated Care Systems and NHS-adjacent organisations, the design is anchored in Michael West's research on compassionate leadership, the response to the Francis Report and the NHS People Plan. The scenes include the morning huddle, the supportive talk with a struggling colleague and the moment someone sees unsafe practice and decides whether to speak up, with actors playing staff, patients and families. No NHS body is on our verified client list, so the NHS page describes an approach, not past results.

• NHS Leadership and Behaviour Change Training
  Compassionate leadership, speak-up culture and patient safety, and where rehearsal fits the 2026 NHS framework.
• What is Compassionate Leadership?
  The four behaviours in Michael West's framework: attending, understanding, empathising and helping.

Universities and Higher Education

Universities ask academic leaders, heads of department, principal investigators and professional services leaders to carry duties a research or teaching career has not necessarily built. Scenarios are written in the academic register, with actors playing colleagues and students, typically for 12 to 25 people at the institution's own venues or offsite. Our verified higher-education client list includes UCL, the University of Cambridge, Goldsmiths University of London, Imperial College London and Bocconi University.

• Higher Education Leadership Development
  Five typical university application areas, from academic leadership to leading a restructuring conversation.

Executive Coaching for Public Sector Leaders

Public sector executive coaching is confidential one-to-one development for senior leaders in the civil service, central and local government, the wider public sector and policing, including successors. It blends coaching and mentoring with rehearsal of high-stakes moments with professional actors. Progress is measured against goals agreed at the outset: how the leader chairs, handles challenge and decides. For senior leaders in companies, our executive coaching in London is delivered by co-founders Ben Laumann and Sebastian Flack.

• Public Sector Executive Coaching
  Five capabilities senior public sector coaching develops, and how coaching and rehearsal fit together.

Development and Assessment Centre Preparation

A development or assessment centre judges observable behaviour under pressure, not what a candidate knows. Public-sector and policing candidates are assessed against published frameworks with high stakes attached, so the rehearsal is mapped to the framework in use. Preparation runs one-to-one for an individual leader, or as shared rehearsal workshops combined with individual coaching for a cohort. We are independent: not affiliated with, endorsed by, or delivering the College of Policing Executive Leaders Programme.

• Development and Assessment Centre Preparation
  Mock exercises with a professional actor, executive coaching, online assessment and personalised feedback.
• What is a Development Centre?
  A multi-exercise, multi-observer way to assess behaviour against a competency framework.
• Development Centre vs Assessment Centre
  The key difference, when each is used and the exercises they share.

Documented Cases With Public Bodies

Three of our case studies involve public bodies or public-sector audiences. We describe them only as the case studies do.

• The Death of Jane Doe, with Met Police Lewisham and the Innocence Project, addresses mental health stigma in frontline work. Police officers and frontline staff meet, and interrogate, actors playing real conditions, scripted with clinical advisors; a structured debrief then targets biases such as anchoring and fundamental attribution error. It was recognised at the CorpComms Awards.
• The Accused, with a UK courts and tribunals service and Goldsmiths, reconstructs a 1950s courtroom from the real trial transcripts of Ruth Ellis. Participants serve as jurors, and the debrief maps their decisions back to workplace bias patterns. It was commended at the Goldsmiths Public Engagement Awards 2018.
• Top of the Cops, with Goldsmiths, UCL and cross-sector leaders, is crisis-leadership practice for mid-career leaders set at a live 1980s punk gig. It is a separate cross-sector production, not a Metropolitan Police project.

How a Public Sector Engagement Runs

Every engagement starts with a free consultation that names the specific behaviour that needs to change. A typical engagement takes 12 to 16 weeks from the first call to the follow-up measurement, depending on format. Formats run from a half-day workshop to two or three days, and each programme is designed for one organisation.

We measure observed behaviour against the baseline three to six weeks after delivery and again at around 90 days, and we report it at Kirkpatrick Level 3, not as satisfaction scores. The client journey shows each phase.

Procurement and Funding: What We Can and Cannot Say

Our sector pages describe the routes public bodies use to buy, not routes we hold. Forces use BlueLight Commercial frameworks or buy directly, trusts use NHS Shared Business Services frameworks, and universities use purchasing consortia such as LUPC and SUPC. Central government frameworks are open across the public sector. Below the relevant thresholds, public bodies can buy directly under their own financial controls, which suits pilot work and first engagements.

Sidestream does not claim a place on any public-sector framework. Sidestream is not an approved apprenticeship training provider, so our programmes cannot be funded through the apprenticeship levy. Every programme is priced per engagement, and the free consultation settles which route fits your rules.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which parts of the public sector does Sidestream work with?

Police forces and law-enforcement agencies, government departments, regulators and public bodies, NHS trusts and Integrated Care Systems, and UK universities. Public-sector clients include the Metropolitan Police, UCL, the University of Cambridge, Goldsmiths University of London and Imperial College London.

Is Sidestream on a public-sector procurement framework?

We do not claim a place on any framework. Our sector pages describe the routes public bodies use, such as BlueLight Commercial, NHS Shared Business Services and university purchasing consortia. Below the relevant thresholds, public bodies can buy directly, which suits pilot work and first engagements.

Can we pay for a programme from our apprenticeship levy?

No. Sidestream is not an approved apprenticeship training provider, so our programmes cannot be funded through the apprenticeship levy. Each programme is priced per engagement and invoiced directly.

Do you run open courses for public sector leaders?

No. Every programme is bespoke and designed for one organisation, with scenarios written from that organisation's situations. We run no open courses and award no certificates.

Do you work with the College of Policing?

We are independent of the College. Our police work complements its central curriculum rather than competing with it, and our ELP preparation is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or delivering the Executive Leaders Programme. The College remains the authoritative source on its own processes.

How do you measure whether a public sector programme worked?

We measure observed behaviour against the baseline three to six weeks after delivery and again at around 90 days, at Kirkpatrick Level 3, with indicators agreed with the commissioning organisation. Satisfaction scores are not the measure.