New Resource: A Practical RAG Maturity Tool Shaped by the Blue Light User Group

At Head Light, we’re committed to ensuring that learning from the Blue Light sector is not just discussed—but turned into practical, usable tools.

Following our most recent Blue Light User Group, where policing and fire organisations came together to explore leadership, talent, succession planning and workforce development, a clear message emerged: services want simple, structured ways to assess maturity and evidence progress—without creating additional burden.

In response, Head Light has developed a RAG-rated Leadership & Talent Maturity Tool, directly shaped by the themes and challenges raised during the session.

What the tool does

The resource enables organisations to:

• Assess maturity across ten key leadership and talent themes
• Apply a simple Red / Amber / Green rating for each area
• Instantly surface the appropriate maturity descriptor for consistency and clarity
• Visualise maturity at a glance through colour indicators
• Generate an overall RAG position via a built-in dashboard

The themes reflect real issues discussed in the User Group, including governance, succession planning, leadership pathways, data and analytics, feedback, coaching capacity, and culture.

Why this matters

Participants highlighted the increasing importance of being able to:

• Demonstrate structured self-awareness
• Evidence progress to HMI/HMICFRS and the College of Policing for NTDS (National Talent Development Strategy)
• Identify priority risks and improvement areas
• Move beyond anecdotal discussion to shared language and evidence

This tool is designed to support exactly that—whether for internal assurance, inspection preparation, or leadership discussions.

Built with the sector, for the sector

Importantly, this is not a theoretical model.

It has been co-created from live sector insight, grounded in the experiences of those working within policing and fire services today.

We’d like to thank all Blue Light User Group participants for their openness, challenge and contribution. As always, Head Light will continue to translate collective learning into practical solutions that support improvement across the sector.

If you’d like to learn more about the tool, the Blue Light User Group or our work supporting forces implementing NTDS, please get in touch.