Public Sector HR Podcast

Show #013: NHS Employers Conference 2008

Karen Wormwell — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:14:10 +0000

The NHS is the largest employer in Europe and the annual NHS Employers Conference was held in Birmingham last week. This month’s show comes straight from the event.

To listen to the podcast, click the grey arrow below.

Leading Workforce Thinking, is the conference theme and in addition to some high profile plenary sessions there are 4 strand themes - Engaging Staff for Success, Facing the Future, Focus on Fundamentals and Policy into Practice.

The conference featured some highly inspirational and informative sessions and in this episode, we hear from a selection of the speakers across the three days. First up, is Sian Thomas and Alastair Henderson, Joint Acting Directors of NHS Employers who tell us more about the conference.

Podcast running order and timings (in minutes and seconds)

00.00 - 00.44 Introduction
00.45 - 02.55 Sian Thomas and Alastair Henderson talk about the challenges ahead for the NHS HR community and the key elements of the new workforce proposals
02.56 - 06.20 Professor Beverley Alimo-Metcalfe, Professor of Leadership Studies at Bradford School of Management and Chief Executive of Real World Group, talks about the style of leadership that is best suited to today’s workplace
06.21 - 07.36 Dr Anthony Hesketh, Senior Lecturer at Lancaster School of Management, gives us his views on whether the HR function as we currently know it, has outlived its usefulness
07.37 - 09.48 Sahar Hashemi founder of Coffee Republic, shares her thoughts about how to turn your vision into reality
09.49 - 13.12 Rachael McIlroy Policy Officer at the TUC and Paula McDonald, Deputy Director, Public Service Workforce Reform at the Cabinet Office, tell us more about their joint Drive for Change initiative
13.13 - 14.51 Andy Randall Ex Chief Executive of iGrasp and Advisor to leading edge businesses explains how on-line recruitment will develop in the future
14.52 - 17.56 Steve Sonsoni, bestselling author, motivational speaker and Fellow in the Centre for Management Development at London Business School gives his top 3 leadership tips on how to boost productivity and performance
17.57 - 20.16 Professor Derek Mowbray from Organisation Health talks about the prime cause of stress in the workplace and the best way an employer can overcome this
20.17 - 21.59 Gareth Malone, Choirmaster for the London Symphony Orchestra is probably best know for his achievements in the BBC2 documentary ‘The Choir’ he explains how he helps people to believe in themselves in order to fulfill their potential and how they can then turn that into team achievement
22.00 - 23.21 Steve Barnett, Chief Executive of NHS Confederation reflects on the success of the Conference and the things he would like delegates to take away
23.25 - 24.25 Finally we hear from some of the delegates to find out their thoughts on the conference
24.26 - 25.00 Close

Listening to the show is simple, you can do it in a number of ways and you don’t need an iPod or MP3 player. Simply click on the grey arrow underneath the show heading and it will play through your computer.

Alternatively, you can easily download the file and listen to it later, or transfer it onto an MP3 player, just right click on ‘Download’ and select ‘Save Target As…’ The show can also be played on iTunes.

To make sure that you never miss an episode, you can subscribe free via email, or by clicking the orange RSS icon or iTunes button. Each new show will then be delivered automatically to your computer, along with notes about the show, useful contact details and links to additional information.

I would love to hear your feedback and any suggestions for further shows. Either email me directly at karen@publicsectorhrpodcast.co.uk or click on ‘Comment’ underneath the show title and type away.

ShareThis

Show #012: Talent Management

Karen Wormwell — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:46:24 +0000

A talent management system is something that every organisation has, whether it recognises it or not - this is just one of the findings of a two year study carried out by Ashridge Consulting. In this episode, we find out more about the study and hear from the Department for Work and Pensions about how their talent management strategy helps to ensure they have the right people in place, for both today and the future.

To listen to the podcast, click the grey arrow below.

The DWP are the UK’s biggest government department with over 100,000 staff and Claire Wilson is their Head of Talent Development and Resourcing. Claire talks to me about what the term ‘talent management’ means to the DWP and gives some great insights about what initiatives work well for them.

Claire’s advice on developing a TM strategy includes:

UNDERSTAND THE PRIORITIES OF THE ORGANISATION - what capabilities it needs and what kind of leaders it needs and design a talent strategy around those needs
LISTEN TO WHAT MATTERS TO THE MANAGERS - focus on their problems such as having the right skills and building capability within their teams
USE A 9 BOX GRID - using performance and potential to rate people
GIVE LINE MANAGERS THE SKILLS TO SUPPORT TALENT - and reward them when they do
RECOGNISE THE DEMANDS AND PRESSURES TALENTED PEOPLE ARE UNDER - because they are deeply committed and work twice as hard
ALLOW TALENT TO TAKE MORE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN DEVELOPMENT - to decide themselves what kind of things they want to do, e.g. Non-Executive Director, coaching or working with reverse mentors
TALK TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN THERE - rather than focusing too much on the theoretical side of talent management

To play Claire’s quick video message, click in the middle of screen below.

Claire recommends the CIPD, Corporate Leadership Council and IES as good sources for further information. You can also find out more about DWP’s work at www.dwp.gov.uk

Ashridge Consulting, part of Ashridge Business School, have spent two years studying the area of talent management. The results of this research have recently been published and Guy Lubitsh, Principal Consultant at Ashridge tells me what the objectives of the research were and details the key findings.

The research explores areas of best practice within a number of large complex organisations in a variety of sectors and settings. It also has a specific interest in what lessons can be learnt from the public sector. The questions focused on how organisations recruit, retain and develop talent.

The 4 key findings are:

LEADING ORGANISATIONS TAKE TALENT MANAGEMENT VERY SERIOUSLY - they view it as a long term investment of 5 - 10 years, investing money, resources and executive time
THERE IS A FORMAL AND INFORMAL SYSTEM - the informal system was stronger than the organisation declared. For organisations who did not think they were managing talent, they are actually managing it in some way and the people and talent will draw their own conclusions about what is going on
THERE IS NO ONE SIZE FITS ALL APPROACH - it’s very important to take into account the culture and strategy of specific organisations and their context
THERE ARE 18 STRATEGIC DIMENSIONS - that need to be considered when looking at your talent management strategy

Key differences between the public sector organisations and private sector organisations are :

The private sector is:

WILLING TO DIFFERENTIATE MORE CLEARLY - between people that are talent, people that are not talent and poor performers and offering more differentiators and tailored developmental routes to meet individual needs
DIFFERENT ATTITUDE TO RISK - i.e. more willing to give stretch assignments
SENIOR TEAM SPEND MORE TIME - on succession planning, critical roles and the pipeline of talent they have within the organisation

Guy’s advice on how public sector organisations can win the ‘War for Talent’ are:

MAKE SURE YOU GET THE BASICS RIGHT - there’s no point talking about a talent management system if you don’t have good appraisal, selection and recruitment processes or you are not dealing with poor performers effectively
ESTABLISH A FAIR, OPEN, TRANSPARENT CRITERIA - about who is talent and who is not and what criteria you are using, ensure it’s inclusive and communicate it well across the organisation
MAKE SURE YOU ALIGN YOUR DIRECTION OF TRAVEL WITH TALENT MANAGEMENT - ensure you have all of the right people to support your strategy
GEN Y ARE INTERESTED IN WORK-LIFE BALANCE, ETHICS, VALUES AND EXCITING WORK OPPORTUNITIES - think of ways of using these levers to attract and retain these individuals

More about the research and Guy’s work can be found at www.ashridgeconsulting.com

ShareThis

Show #011: E-Learning

Karen Wormwell — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:39:13 +0000

This month’s show is all about e-learning and three experts in the area, talk about how to get the best out of this growing method of learning.

To listen to the podcast, click the grey arrow below.

Kirklees Council were one of the early adopters of e-learning some 7 years ago. Chris Allan is Senior Training and Development Officer at the Council and he talks to me about how they have gone from a standing start to winning awards.

His advice to anyone considering e-learning is:

E-LEARNING IS NOT CHEAP - it’s a long term plan and is more about effectiveness rather than efficiencies and savings
GET OUT AND TALK TO PEOPLE - who are already doing this, they will give you advice and products
DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL - most people have already done what you are thinking of doing
TALK TO MORE CUSTOMERS, THAN PROVIDERS OF SOFTWARE - find out what the customers think
FUNDING CAN BE DIFFICULT - a brilliant way to fund e-learning is to get a slice from everyone’s budget, everytime someone buys a pc, they pay a little extra for the e-learning programmes
BE PREPARED TO EXPERIMENT - and play!

Chris is happy to talk to anyone who would like to find out more about his work and you can contact him directly by email at chris.allan@kirklees.gov.uk

To play Chris’s quick video message, click in the middle of screen below.

One decision that moved Kirklees a big step forward with their e-learning programme, was when they partnered with the Learning Pool. Created in 2002 by the IDeA, the Learning Pool became independent in 2006 and over 86% of councils in England and Wales now use their services.

Mary McKenna, Learning Pool Director, believes the key benefits of e-learning to an organisation are:

IT’S AVAILABLE FOR ACCESS 24/7
ENABLES ORGANISATIONS TO TRAIN A LOT OF PEOPLE VERY QUICKLY
DELIVERS CONSISTANT MESSAGES
CAN BE BROKEN DOWN INTO BITE-SIZED CHUNKS
CAN BE USED FOR JUST-IN-TIME LEARINING
CAN EVIDENCE AND RECORD THAT TRAINING HAS TAKEN PLACE AND A CERTAIN PASS SCORE HAS BEEN OBTAINED

Other considerations are:

IT WORKS BEST AS PART OF A BLENDED PROGRAMME
ANYONE WHO IS COMFORTABLE WITH A KEYBOARD AND MOUSE WILL BE COMFORTABLE WITH THIS TYPE OF LEARNING
THE MORE INTERACTIVE THE PROGRAMME, THE BETTER THE RESULTS

If your interested in finding out more about the Learning Pool, go to their website at www.learningpool.com or call them on 0207 101 9383.

To play Mary’s quick video message, click in the middle of screen below.

Martyn Sloman is the CIPD advisor on Learning and Development as well as author, lecturer and conference speaker on the subject. For him, the fundamental principle to remember is, ‘it’s all about learning’ and we have to ask ourselves “how do people learn and how can technology, accelerate, mediate, support and direct that sort of learning?”

He also tells us that 50% of the workforce now regard the pc as an essential tool for their job and e-learning is an easy way of giving people easy access to information and collaborative tools, BUT it is only part of the mix and part of the solution. Learner preferences are always going to be to learn something by having it demonstrated and on any survey, e-learning will always be way down the list.

ln addition, a recent CIPD Learning and Development Survey highlights:

57% OF RESPONDENTS ARE USING E-LEARNING IN THEIR ORGANISATIONS
OF THOSE THAT AREN’T, 25% PLAN TO DO SO OVER THE NEXT YEAR
E-LEARNING IS AVAILABLE TO 60% OF THE EMPLOYEE POPULATION OF RESPONDENT ORGANISTIONS, BUT ONLY 30% TAKE IT UP

This highlights that there are still issues with the appropriateness and effectiveness of what’s on offer. To help ensure that e-learning is as effective as it can be, the CIPD have developed a set of Best Practice Principles, which are:

START WITH THE LEARNER - recognise the legacy the learner brings to the organisation
ENSURE PROGRAMMES ARE RELEVENT - this drives out resistance
NEVER PUT ANYTHING ON THE WEB UNLESS YOU’RE PREPARED TO SUPPORT IT APPROPRIATELY - don’t put something up and leave it
THINK ABOUT HOW TO EMBED IT INTO THE ORGANISATION - what other support people need and who the key intermediaries are, i.e. line managers

When implementing an e-learning strategy, Martyn’s advice is to think about:

RELEVENCE - what are the key things people need to learn on their job
LEARNER PREFERENCE - where are they coming from, how motivated are they, how technologically savvy are they and how do they choose to get their information

For more information on learning and development, the CIPD produce a number of useful factsheets that can be downloaded free at www.cipd.co.uk/factsheets They are also undertaking a major research study into web 2.0 networking and more information on this as well as some interesting cases studies can be found at www.cipd.co.uk/helpingpeoplelearn

ShareThis

Show #010: Employee Engagement

Karen Wormwell — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:19:16 +0000

An engaged workforce is something that every employer wants to have. It’s not always easy to achieve, so in this month’s show we hear from two experts in the field of employee engagement, to find out how to get our employees to go that extra mile.

To listen to the podcast, click the grey arrow below.

Dilys Robinson is Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies and works in the HR & Consultancy team there. Much of her work is commissioned by employers or employer bodies and she has spent many years studying employees attitudes, motivation and commitment.

The IES definition of employee engagement was arrived at in 2002/3, following a major consultation exercise with IES member companies. It is:-

“Engagement is a positive attitude held by the employee towards the organisation and it’s values. An engaged employee is aware of business context and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organisation. The organisation must work to nurture, maintain and grow engagement, which requires a two way relationship between employer and employee”.

Dilys’s findings have highlighted:

THERE ARE STRONG LINKS BETWEEN ENGAGEMENT LEVELS AND ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE
ENGAGED EMPLOYEES ARE MORE RECEPTIVE TO CHANGE
ENGAGED EMPLOYEES MAKE CUSTOMERS FEEL BETTER ABOUT THE ORGANISATION
IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR, THERE IS A LINK BETWEEN EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT LEVELS AND TRUST & CONFIDENCE IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS Heintzman R and Marson B (2006) People, service and trust: links in the public sector service value chain. Canadian Government Executive

The 4 main drivers of engagement are:

JOB SATISIFACTION
FEELING VALUED BY AND INVOLVED WITH THE ORGANISATION
PERCEPTIONS OF EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY
VIEWS ABOUT HOW SERIOUSLY THE ORGANISATION TAKES HEALTH AND SAFETY

However, these drivers can vary considerably depending upon the organisation and the employee group. Feeling valued and involved is more important in the public sector than it is in the private sector. Surprisingly, the manager relationship did not emerge as the key driver in the public sector - it is important, but at sub-driver level, meaning that it is driving most of the drivers.

To find out what your own organisation’s drivers are, Dilys recommends conducting an employee attitude survey, or asking employees their views more directly via facilitated workshops or focus groups.

Her advice to People Managers is:

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES SHOULDN’T JUST BE SEEN AS AN HR RESPONSIBILITY - to succeed, it needs firm and real commitment from the top
HR HAS AN IMPORTANT ROLE TO PLAY - in monitoring and understanding engagement levels & drivers
MANAGERS AT ALL LEVELS SHOULD BE EXPECTED TO PLAY THEIR PART - and have a good understanding of what they need to do to be effective people managers
GOOD QUALITY MANAGEMENT TRAINING IS ESSENTIAL - for first line managers and supervisors and should be reinforced throughout their careers
HR SHOULD SUPPORT THE LINE - with good clear policies and procedures
EMPLOYEES SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED - to raise issues and concerns, take responsibility for problems and make suggestions for improvements

And to keep employees engaged through these difficult economic times, Dilys advises organisations to be wise, keep faith with their employees and to continue with their engagement strategies, in order to give reassurance and encouragement to employees to do as well as possible. By doing this, employees will increase public confidence by representing their sector in a positive way, helping those in trouble.

If you would like to contact Dilys, you can call her on 01273 873122 or email her at dilys.robinson@employment-studies.co.uk. You can find out more about the work of the IES from their website at www.employment-studies.co.uk

RBS Group is regarded as one of the world leaders in not only engendering workforce engagement, but linking it with the group’s overall business performance.

Greig Aitken is Group Head of Employee Engagement and is responsible for developing an engagement strategy that provides a detailed understanding to the group, of how effective they are at attracting, engaging and retaining world class staff and how efficient those staff are, at delivering superior business results, financial performance and customer service.

In this interview, Greig talks about how his engagement strategy impacts on the RBS Group performance, how he measures engagement and what lessons he has learnt along the way.

You can ask Greig about his work via www.rbs.com and he has recently been involved in a major study on Human Capital Management - which is available from IES.

An opportunity for you take part in a major new research project

Roffey Park Institute are looking for public sector HR professionals to take part in a major new research project they are about to undertake into the success of HR Business Partnering. There are a number of valuable benefits to be gained by participating, so if you’d like to find out more, contact Dilip Boury at Roffey Park on 01293 854040.

ShareThis

Show #009: Customer Service

Karen Wormwell — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:09:09 +0000

The delivery of customer service in the public sector is something that we all experience - usually with no choice. In this month’s show, we hear from two professionals who are passionate about ensuring that top quality customer service levels in the public sector are consistently reached and maintained and discuss HR’s role in achieving this.

To listen to the podcast, click the grey arrow below.

Angela O’Connor is Executive Director HR (Policing), at the National Police Improvement Agency. She believes that any service we receive from the public sector should be as good, if not better than the service we receive elsewhere and there is a fantastic opportunity for HR to really drive customer service in the public sector.

Her advice is:

DELIVER REALLY GOOD SERVICE - in the right way, at the right time, to the right standard
HR SHOULD SEE THE LINE OF SIGHT - between what they do and the community they serve
REALLY LISTEN TO YOUR INTERNAL AUDIENCE - understand what line managers lives are like and walk in their shoes
SPEND TIME IN THE BUSINESS - ensure that people solutions are built around common sense approaches that are relevant to the lives of their customers
CONNECT PEOPLE - with the services they deliver and break down the silo mentality, so people can see that they bring something really special to individuals and communities
DEMAND THE ABSOLUTE BEST - in terms of attitudes in staff

To contact Angela or find out more about the NPIA visit www.npia.police.uk

The Association for Public Service Excellence is the foremost specialist in local authority front line services. Paul O’Brien is APSE’s Chief Executive and he talks about the public’s perception of service delivery and how the energy and ideas of the front line staff who deliver the services, should be harnessed in order to improve the customer’s experience.

Some other pieces of advice Paul shares are:

GET BETTER AT MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION - tell the public what we do well
HR CAN INFLUENCE THE CULTURE OF AN ORGANISATION - well motivated people deliver high quality and excellent services
GET THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS RIGHT - create that environment where people feel they get an opportunity to learn, thrive and aspire to greater things
PUT ALL OF THESE THINGS TOGETHER - find a way of binding them into a ‘one team’ approach

To find out more about APSE’s work or to contact Paul visit www.apse.org.uk or call them on 0161 772 1810.

ShareThis

Show #008: How HR Leaders Can Add Value to Their Organisation

Karen Wormwell — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:21:13 +0000

There has been much debate about the future of the HR Function and the role of HR Leaders. This month I talk to Peter Reilly, Director of HR Research and Consultancy at the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), to find out his views on this topic.

To listen to the podcast, click the grey arrow below.

Peter shares with us what he believes the challenges are for HR Leaders, particularly those in the public sector and how they can best add value to their organisations.

His advice is:

PERSUADE THE ORGANISATION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF PEOPLE MANAGEMENT TO ORGANASATIONAL SUCCESS AND DECIDE WHAT ROLE HR CAN PLAY IN ACHIEVING THAT OBJECTIVE
BE WELL ATTUNED TO THE ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY AND ISSUES
ALIGN, WHAT THE FUNCTION IS TRYING TO DO, WITH THE ORGASATIONAL NEEDS, IN ORDER TO SOLVE REAL BUSINESS PROBLEMS
THINK OVER A LONGER TIME HORIZON AND BE AWARE OF WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
INTERNALLY, BE INNOVATIVE IN THE WAY THE FUNCTION POSITIONS ITSELF
BE ABLE TO MEASURE WHERE THE FUNCTION IS BEING EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE
HR LEADERS SHOULD ACT AS ‘HEAD OF PROFESSION’ AND PROVIDE FUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP TO THE TEAM
CONTINUE TO DO THE BASICS WELL

He also tells us more about an exciting new joint initiative he is working on with the IDeA and the PPMA, which will provide a self assessment tool for HR Leaders to both benchmark and develop their skills.

You can find out more about how to get involved with this project, by contacting Kelly Sandiford at the IDeA on 07766 115104 or email her at kelly.sandiford@idea.gov.uk or Marcia Hazzard on 07867 514753 or via email at marcia.hazzard@idea.gov.uk

To find out more about Peter’s work, you can contact him via email at peter.reilly@employment-studies.co.uk or call him on 07771 932993.

ShareThis

Show #007: The Public Sector People Managers’ Conference 2008

Karen Wormwell — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:36:08 +0000

The PPMA’s annual conference was held in Brighton last week and this month’s show comes directly from the event.

The theme of this year’s conference is Evolution or Extinction: the future for HR in the public sector and there was a good mix of inspirational and interesting speakers, who challenged everyday thinking and shared their knowledge, through case studies and research findings. We caught up with them during the conference to find out more.

To kick off the show, we hear from Stephen Moir - this year’s President, to find out his plans for the Association.

To listen to the podcast, click the grey arrow below.

Podcast running order and timings (in minutes and seconds)

00.00 - 00.30 Introduction
00.30 - 03.07 Stephen Moir, PPMA President outlines his goals for the Association
03.08 - 05.30 Dr Emma Parry, Research Fellow, Cranfield School of Management, outlines the early results of research she has undertaken into public sector recruitment and retention issues
05.31 - 07.50 Russell Prue, Anderton Tiger, talks about how HR professionals need to embrace new technology in order to engage with prospective employees
08.07 - 09.28 Greg Dyke, former BBC Director General, explains what makes a great leader and how HR can best support leaders in their organisations
09.29 - 12.44 Peter Reilly, Director of HR Research and Consultancy, Institute for Employment Studies, tells us what key challenges face HR Leaders and what skills they will need to tackle them
13.10 - 14.36 Greig Aitken, Group Head of Employee Engagement, Royal Bank Of Scotland, explains briefly how he has engaged employees at RBS and the benefits this has had on their business
14.42 - 15.24 Councillor David Parsons, Leader of Leicestershire County Council, talks about the key benefits of their employee engagement strategy
15.25 - 16.07 Joan Munro, National Advisor- Workforce Strategy, IDeA, gives advice on how best to engage a workforce
16.08 - 17.30 Councillor Steve Reed, Leader of London Borough of Lambeth, tells us about the future landscape for local government and the impact this will have for HR
17.31 - 19.06 Steve Bundred, Chief Executive, Audit Commission, talks about the challenges facing HR teams as a result of the changing face of public sector inspection
19.20 - 20.27 Jan Parkinson, Managing Director, Local Government Employers, talks about this year’s pay agreement
20.28 - 23.12 Christopher Johnson, Director of Employment, Civil Service Capability Group, Cabinet Office, tells us his thoughts on current pay and reward challenges
23.13 - 25.40 Miles Hilton Barber, Adventurer, gives his key pieces of advice on how to cope with and embrace change
25.41 - 27.33 Martin Tiplady, Director of HR, Metropolitan Police Service, shares his views on the future for HR
27.40 - 29.17 Ray Tompkinson, Consultant, discusses the issues around the shared services model
29.18 - 31.30 Dean Shoesmith, Executive Head of HR, London Boroughs of Sutton and Merton, talks about a major London Borough recruitment partnership he has led
31.31 - 33.31 House Debate, Geoff Armstrong, CIPD Director General, is for the motion and Professor Graham Martin is against, they both explain their reasons why
33.32 - 34.20 Gillian Hibberd, Corporate Director, (People & Policy) and PPMA Vice-President, tells us her thoughts on the conference and her vision for the future
34.21 - 35.43 Finally, we hear from some of the delegates to get their views on the conference

To find out more about the PPMA, go to www.ppma.org.uk or visit their new blog at www.ppmablog.org.uk

ShareThis

Show #006: Managers Attitudes to Working in the Public Sector

Karen Wormwell — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:20:56 +0000

Working in the public sector has attracted some negative publicity in recent times. In this edition of the show, I talk to three people in the know, to find out what public sector managers really think.

To listen to the podcast, click the grey arrow below.

Jo Hennessy is Director of Research at Roffey Park, the executive development and research institute and she talks about the findings of their latest Management Agenda research. Now in it’s 11th year, the annual survey canvasses managers views and experiences across a wide range of organisational issues and of almost 500 participants, 25% were from the public sector.

The key findings for the public sector are:

HIGH LEVELS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT - public sector managers enjoy a better work-life balance, more flexible working and work less hours than their counterparts in the private services sector in order to be seen to be successful
A HIGH PREVELANCE OF CHANGE - 92% of managers in the public sector have experienced change in the last two years compared with 78% in the private services sector. The public sector managers also said that there is room to manage change much better in their organisations
HOW UNDERPERFORMANCE IS TACKLED - only 4% of public sector managers said that this is dealt with effectively
HIGH LEVELS OF BEAUROCRACY - 66% in the public sector against 45% in the private services sector

According to Jo, the challenges facing public sector managers include:

HOW TO CONSOLIDATE THE BENEFITS OF CHANGE
HOW TO MANAGE EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION THROUGHOUT CHANGE
HOW TO ENSURE SOME REVIEW AND LEARING FROM ANY CHANGE PROGRAMME

To get a copy of the Management Agenda 2008 report visit www.roffeypark.com/research/managementagenda.html

To give an ‘insiders view’ I talk next to Jan Parkinson, Managing Director of the Local Government Employers and Sian Thomas, Joint Acting Director of NHS Employers.

Jan is surprised by the Management Agenda findings and they don’t reflect her personal experience of working within the public sector. She agrees that there is some change weariness, but points to LGE research that shows public sector managers are very good at handling change. Jan also states that the best managers she has ever met have worked in the public sector, this she believes, is because the issues they face are so complex that they have to be incredibly innovative to deal with them.

Jan’s advice to HR Managers looking to improve performance in the public sector includes:

DEVELOP A SUITE OF HR POLICES AND STRATEGIES THAT ARE COHERENT AND ALIGNED TO THE SAME GOAL
GET SENIOR MANAGERS TO BUY INTO THOSE POLICIES

Sian is also taken aback by the report and feels that although the survey sample size is reasonable, the NHS Employers own research of 300,000 NHS employees indicates that the day-to-day challenges faced by them, are the very reason why people come to work in the public sector. They have found that change is a motivator for a lot of people, as is a sense of massive responsibility early on in their careers.

She does agree that bureaucracy is the biggest demotivator and that middle and more junior staff find a lack of control somewhat limiting.

Sian’s advice to HR Mangers looking to tackle areas of weakness includes:

SHAPE THE CULTURE - organise practices around a sense of well-being
DEVELOP TALENT AND SKILLS - it’s a critical role for HR
SUPPORT LINE MANAGERS - in managing change

To find out more about Local Government Employers visit www.lge.gov.uk or NHS Employers visit www.nhsemployers.org

ShareThis