This is their opportunity to analyse what they are good at, what skills they want or need to develop, where they want to go, and what they need to get there.

It should give you a good idea of how they view themselves and their aspirations, and can start you thinking how you can support them.

You and your member of staff can have a wider discussion about their career and aspirations, where they see themselves progressing and what they need to do in order to achieve that.

This is your time to have a conversation about what support is available, such as a particular course or undertaking shadowing opportunities to gain further understanding about different areas of the Trust. An individual should be encouraged to think about things they can do for themselves to aid their own development (with the support of information from the Aspire site) as well as formal education or courses where necessary.

A Career Conversation is the opportune time to have a wellbeing check in with your member of staff. Start with an open “How are you?”.

You will evaluate the evidence the individual has included to determine whether or not they are meeting, exceeding or not meeting in demonstrating their knowledge and skills. Does the individual demonstrate that they have learnt from incidents and events and/or are aware of and have embedded wider learning?

It should be made clear to the individual that meeting the required level for their role is a great achievement. That the individual is meeting everything that is expected of them by the Trust and they are able to demonstrate this.

To be exceeding, that individual would need to consistently demonstrate they are working above and beyond their job role, and have shown the ability, aptitude, attitude and motivation to do so.

The individual’s previous objectives should have been added from a previous appraisal (if this is the first conversation this can be left blank).

You will evaluate whether someone is ‘meeting’, ‘exceeding’ or ‘not meeting’ their previous objectives. Again, meeting objectives is a great achievement and this should be fed back to the individual.

If an individual has not met their objectives, a development and support plan can be put in place. If an individual is rated as not meeting, they require your support and attention, and maybe some further development. In order to develop a plan to support this individual, please contact the HR department.

New objectives should be set that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time specific). One should be a personal development objective.

This section allows you to fully address mandatory training requirements for your member of staff. It acts as a reminder to ensure these are up to date. Have you considered the CPD opportunities available to your member of staff through SWAST CPD or other providers?

Anyone performing a Operational Commander, Tactical Commander, Strategic Commander, NILO or Loggist role, will need to review the following additional requirements.

– Compliance with CPD requirements as per command policy and NARU interoperable capability standards
– Identification of training/CPD requirements and support required
– Review of command competence/performance
– Review of command CPD portfolio

This does not replace centralised reporting, so you must still send completion forms through the usual routes.

You and the individual can write a brief summary of the conversation and how the individual is doing in their role in general.

If you believe the individual does consistently demonstrate above and beyond for their role the ability, drive, motivation, knowledge, skills, values and behaviours, you will be able to recommend that they are added to one of the Talent Pool.

You will send the Career Conversation booklet and any other evidence to the County Commander (CC) or Head of Department (HOD), who will make the final decision.