This article is written by Israel Pastor, chief of staff to the Permanent Secretary of Justice in Spain, and an expert in public sector leadership. He is also the former Director of the Centro de Estudios Jurídicos, or the Centre for Legal Studies.

  • The problem: Poor performance from teams is often laid at the feet of those within it - unjustly
  • Why it matters: Misguided criticism can cause issues with staff morale
  • The solution: Lessons learned from smash TV hit Line of Duty can help

If you sit down to watch something on a popular streaming platform, you’re likely to see public servants in action. I see examples of leadership and public service expertise in series from Game of Thrones to Roadkill. But Line of Duty might have the most to offer someone who’s interested in leadership in the public service. Don’t worry — this is not a review of the series and there is no need for me to give you a spoiler alert.

We often blame a lack of staff for not having enough capacity, but sometimes we need to rethink our organisation.

Diversity can improve our capacity to serve and serve fairly

The first lesson one could take from Line of Duty is the importance of diversity, which you can see in the cast of the series, mirroring the diversity of UK society. Now, the UK civil Service has made diversity a priority.

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I work in the Spanish civil service. Many provinces of Spain's central plateau are losing inhabitants. Attracting diversity and talent ought to be an essential part of improving capacity in our “función pública”, while bringing in more fairness. We should make it easier to pursue a career in the civil service.

Respect the rules

Public organisations must follow the rule of law. But in Line of Duty, the law is represented as helping public servants deliver, and not as a hurdle for them to jump over.

You may never see it on screen, but it’s key to the plot’s development. The law is in the background, working to guarantee fundamental rights and set legal limits for the police. In everyday life, this work is done by the Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, the independent agency responsible for criminal prosecutions, as well as for providing legal advice to police officers during investigations in England and Wales. When, as a public servant, you are exercising your legal powers, it’s good to know there is a safety net.

Motivate teams and encourage loyalty

Loyalty and truthfulness are seen everywhere among the ranks of AC-12, the professional standards department dramatised in Line of Duty. You see this in their commitment to their remit, namely chasing corrupt officers or “bent coppers”. Sometimes it is hard to find motivation in certain types of public service jobs, but I believe that remaining loyal to your colleagues creates a bond that provides motivation.

Leaders in Line of Duty also need to motivate their teams. They encourage and scold when needed. Both are essential when you are leading teams: in the right proportions, of course!

The chain of command is important

Hierarchy has had a bad press lately. But in organisations that are accountable and actually deliver, it still plays an essential role. In Line of Duty, strictly observing the chain of command is a very important part of the way they work. For example, as regular watchers will know, in Season 6, DC Chloe Bishop provides vital information throughout the investigation. As leaders, we must praise this and publicly recognise it.

Can Line of Duty show us how to improve things in public service?

Just like the police of AC-12, most of us don’t directly interact with the public. The series does not portray citizens in police stations. The drama comes from the internal affairs of the force, just like in our working lives, rather than the emotional personal issues that animate other police fiction films. Having to serve the public, providing quality services, is a very different proposition to having to serve your own colleagues. Then, the weight of public service principles swings a little bit from quality to ethics, from social legitimacy to keeping up the common good of public servants.

One thing that I truly envy is that teams in Line of Duty deal only with one case at a time. In real public service, we must handle a number of projects simultaneously: it really is a juggling act. We often blame a lack of staff for not having enough capacity, but sometimes we need to rethink our organisation. You can’t catch many bent coppers if your unit isn’t fit for purpose.

One way we might actually be able to follow the example of AC-12 is by incorporating evidence and data into everything we do, especially in decision-making and evaluation. The type of information sharing you see in the series is impossible without collaborative environments. Sometimes in public organisations we are too jealous with our own data, or simply not organised enough to allow one department to access all the information produced and stored by another. I really believe this could become a real thrust for public delivery. All too often, we waste precious time asking for information we could get ourselves, preventing others from actually working, saving a lot of time for everyone. Cross-departmental information systems should be implemented, bearing in mind we are all serving the same public, no matter which department we work in. I truly believe this could make a significant difference to public service delivery. — Israel Pastor

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