Promotion Interviews: Mission Impossible?

 “Mr Hunt, this isn’t mission difficult, it’s mission impossible” – Commander Swanbeck

You are to appear before a panel. Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to identify, secure and assimilate critically important information to respond effectively to their questions. Your actions from today are vital to equipping yourself with the knowledge, skills and attributes you will require. That is all. Good luck.

 Ok, as you’ve probably guessed, I recently went to see Mission Impossible – Fallout, at the cinema.

 It’s as good as all the hype too. Here’s a taster:

Identify and Secure Intelligence

“Intelligence or the lack of it determines the probability of success” – Sun Tsu

 Gathering, verifying and assessing facts and information is the first step in the decision-making process and identifying operational threats and risks. Asking questions to do that are key. Good leaders don’t have all the answers but do ask great questions.

 What do you know? What do you need to know? Where and how will you get the information required?

 Here’s another: “What kind of promotion interview will you face?”

 As a coach/mentor, I’ll often ask candidates this question because responses can be revealing. A tremendous amount of uncertainty around this topic is not uncommon. Many candidates unwittingly ignore or overlook existing open source intelligence.

“You don’t understand what you are involved in” – Ilsa Faust (MI6)

“I don’t know” is a common reply. And that’s ok because it’s a great place to start.

 As a leader, manager and supervisor you won’t always have all the facts and it’s a helpful question to identify knowledge gaps, raise awareness and to build confidence. Being comfortable with uncertainty is also an expectation for leadership development given today’s vortex of change.

 When asked in the film how he was going to solve the problem at hand, agent Hunt replies:

 “I’ll figure it out.”

 Adopting an intelligence-based approach is a tried and tested method to help you figure out how to perform well in your force selection process – and accomplish your mission of securing promotion.

There are a variety of knowns and unknowns involved and many individuals are simply unaware that a great deal of useful information is freely available, hidden in plain sight! I encourage officers to build and develop an intelligence picture of what is known.

“Maybe it’s hard to see what’s right in front of you while you’re frantically searching for it” – Susane Colisanti

 Actionable Information 

“Information about the package is as important as the package itself” – Frederick W. Smith

* * * Impossible Missions Force (IMF): 13 Point Intelligence Report  * * *

• You will face a competency interview. This is also known as a structured or behavioural interview.

• You need to understand this because it means you will be asked questions in a certain way.

• In means also that any answers you provide should be structured. This will help you to score. Different structures exist. You need to choose one you feel comfortable with.

• Any selection test for promotion including this interview will be assessed against a competency framework.

• Different competencies may be tested more than once during a selection process, so develop your understanding of the assessment framework. You’ll be operating blind if you don’t.

• You will be asked six to eight questions. Some will be forward facing questions. Others will be rear facing.

• You’ll have between 45 minutes and 60 minutes to persuade and influence the panel that you can do the job.

• Make it easy for them to choose you. Be so good they can’t ignore you.

• All agents should know. Those days of ‘winging it’ or flying by the seat of your pants – are long gone.

• Prevailing in this situation is likely to be underpinned by your ability to talk comfortably about the role; the challenges you’ll face and how you believe you can meet them.

• A demonstrable understanding of vision, mission and shared values are important.

• The depth and breadth of your preparation will be apparent to those charged with making the decision to promote you.

• The panel’s role is to promote the best available people. Start now.

***This report will self-destruct in five seconds ***

 Once you’ve acquired timely, accurate and actionable information as outlined above you’ll need to increase your focus, up your energy and activity levels to make full use of it.

Making the jump from where you are to where you want to be, requires an effective plan and action! A digital Toolkit could help you leap to another level. Heightening awareness as you get nearer to the prize can be a nail-biting experience. You may need to fight harder, change gear or increase your speed.  

“Phoenix, I have eye on the prize. Do you copy?” – Ethan Hunt

 Achieving promotion can sometimes seem like Mission Impossible. However, hundreds of officers are taking covert action using open source information, which enables them to report back successfully:  “Mission accomplished”.

A determined Sergeant inspired me to write this blog. He first made contact with me because he had been unsuccessful in previous attempts at promotion to Inspector in his own force. I’ll come back to this later…

There’s no easy route to acquiring or developing good interview skills. It takes time, perseverance and commitment. The good news is that you can massively enhance your chances of success with some smart working. Because of the promotion processes are a competition, it means you must become the best version of you.

A strong performance in your promotion interview is likely to be underpinned by your ability to talk comfortably: Talking about the role you aspire to, your workforce mission, vision and shared values; together with enthusiasm and a clear idea of what you will do with your new stripes or pips going forward.

 Begin With the End in Mind

 “Visualise this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

To make it easy for the panel to pick you from others, aim to be so good that they can’t ignore you. This is in your power. Take a few moments to visualise your promotion interview. Ask yourself these questions and write down your responses.

1. What impression do I want to leave the panel with when I leave the room?
2. What do I want them to think?
3. What needs to happen for that to be the case?

Visualising success ahead of your promotion opportunity helps lay a mental foundation for managing your interview responses. Thinking through potential questions and responses develops self-awareness and incrementally builds your personal confidence. However, it’s not a one-off. You need to work at this over time.

 Your Attitude

“You have to apply yourself each day to becoming a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little better each day and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better” – John Wooden

Your attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents your degree of like or dislike for something. It is your ‘state of readiness’ to respond in a characteristic way to a concept or situation. It is the dynamic element in your behaviour, the motive (reason) for activity e.g. Why are you doing this?

The good news is that your attitude is a choice. It can be changed through persuasion. It is generally a positive or negative view of a thing or event. Always remember that you are free to choose your attitude.

“The last of human freedoms is the power to choose one’s attitude to a given set of circumstances” – Victor Frankl

What attitude have you chosen?

 Growth Mindset

 “When the world says give up,hope whispers, tryone more time.” – Unknown

Have a look at the differences between fixed and growth mindsets, as described by the psychologist Carol Dweck.

The following also lays the concept out nicely in a graphic designed by the theorist Nigel Holmes.

Dweck states that a passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even when it is not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. Individuals with the growth mindset find success in doing their best, in learning and improving.

What do you recognise in your own mindset?

A Triple Whammy…

“Some people don’t like competition because it makes them work harder, better” – Drew Carey

Aspiring officers who have previously experienced failure often contact me. As a coach/mentor, I believe in the potential of every individual.

I mentioned earlier that I had been inspired to write this blog by a Sergeant, who had been unsuccessful in promotion selection processes in his force. We spoke on the phone and it was clear that he still possessed a positive attitude.

Although he was disappointed by previous setbacks, his growth mindset, self-belief and reserves of resilience were all factors that made him want to try again. But this time he decided to approach things slightly differently. I’ll let him tell the story:

“I applied for promotion three times with my force and was unsuccessful each time. From wanting to give up and thinking it may not be for me, I attended the Rank Success promotion Masterclass, where I got to grip with how and what I needed to do. I tried one final time applying for mutiple advertised Inspector vacancies in three different forces. Every force had different application processes (A “Why Me & Why Now” Letter, an online application and a standard application).

“I was successful in all three paper sifts that followed and was invited to interviews/assessment centres. Rank Success eBooks helped me prepare for my presentations, briefings and formal interviews.”

I went from 3 Failures to 3 Passes!

“I passed all three-promotion boards with flying colours coming top in two processes. A choice of three forces! I wish I could take all the positions offered but have to decide where is my career best suited!”  –

Deepak recently (Passed THREE Inspectors processes at once!)

What happened for this to be the outcome?

When you begin with the end in mind,‘ Be so good they can’t ignore you, becomes a mindset. It raises the bar from day one. I encourage all my clients to aim that high.

Successful candidates often tell me that they put more effort, time and commitment into preparing for their interview than anything they have ever prepared for before. As a result, they feel more aware and confident. It’s that simple, and it’s that hard!

Ask yourself  How much do I want to succeed?

Am I prepared to do the necessary work to perform to the best of my ability when it matters?

Life is a series of choices. You can choose your mindset. You can choose to start now.

Wherever you are on your promotion journey, Rank Success can help you prepare effectively. Why not download a FREE guide & start today?

Two police officers this evening shared their chips with a man they found on the motorway who hasn’t eaten food in days.

The caring cops showed compassion and humanity when they could have just nicked the lad and sent him off to the cells.

But instead of taking him straight into police custody they stopped off for some chips.

Showing a truly caring side of British traffic cops who often don’t get the best press.

“The cops from the Leicestershire road policing unit tweeted that they had found on motorway suspected to be an illegal immigrant into the UK.

“He’s not eaten for days and we’ve not eaten for hours, so we’ve all shared some fine English cuisine …… a bag of chips!! 👍🏻 🍟”

These truly caring officers have shown this evening that police officers have hearts and they do care about people.

Policing is not always about crime, it’s the small acts of human kindness that go a long way.

We praise these officers for their genuine out of kindness out of their own pocket.

Helen tweeted “I know you’ll probably get people complain but. Compassion, humanity and care are great qualities.”

UK Cop Humour tweeted “Fab stuff and whilst we’re on the topic of spuds: why do potatoes make good detectives? Because they keep their eyes peeled.”

ElAine tweeted “I know some people’s heads will explode at this but well done for your compassion.”

Simply policing at it’s best. What ever your views you have to admit this is compassion and humility at it’s best.

These cops truly deserve to be recognised for great policing work.

Not every job needs to be a tick box, just because it’s a suspected illegal immigrant doesn’t mean they should be treat any different.

Top job with excellent policing skills, that will have ensured this suspect didn’t cause any problems for the officers.

Full up on chips, the officers then processes this man through custody and will refer to the home office immigration services.