Mr. Mark Toland:

We found that many of the gardaí we engaged had never been through a similar process with their own organisation. We ran workshops to which we brought in gardaí from every rank and grade. Some gardaí said to us that is the first time that anyone has engaged them about what would make a difference. They know they answers. If I sit down and engage a group of detectives, they know the answers to a lot of the challenges facing their organisation. We have written a chapter about leadership and about what difference that can make, but a major part of that was engagement within their own organisation bringing in staff with the knowledge and expertise because they themselves know the answers. We found there is a lot one can do.

Certainly, having supervisors on duty to motivate, lead and direct gardaí is a very important issue. If a supervisor is there who comes on, briefs gardaí, motives them and gives them a task to do for the day, one will find that gardaí will react well to that. We included a whole section about recognising good work. They can do a lot more, such as simply saying, "Thank you", more formal recognition, and making gardaí feel valued.

If one looks at the Reserve, one has a group of individuals who are volunteers who are giving up their time to come in and police. They are highly motivated individuals.

With many aspects of leading staff, there are no costs. It is about giving time. It is about spending time and about senior managers being very visible with their staff. I always try to take myself out from behind my desk to go and drive a patrol car or to patrol with my staff because a senior manager has not lost his or her policing powers. The senior managers need to be out more with their staff and to spend more time with them, to be more visible. That will certainly make an impact on morale.