THE CHANGING ROLE FOR

HR IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Stephen Moir

Deputy Chief Executive

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Is this the type of people management capability in your organisation?

Public Sector Context• The comprehensive spending review (CSR) set the tone for an era of austerity with at

least 25% plus less resources over the next 4 years

• This will create pressures for further integration of local public services and a stronger drive towards shared services

• The “State” will be rolled back and the remaining elements of the state will be doing much less, as well as more for less

• Public Servants will be doing things differently and doing different things to achieve different outcomes

• Different organisational models will be needed with new and different management structures and approaches

• This will fundamentally require new mindsets, behaviours, approaches , leading to a different dynamic with service users, citizens and communities

….however around 70% of change management programmes fail

Boards, Councils and politicians require HR that can:

• Help to encourage and facilitate ‘radical’ long term thinking

• Support leadership development for the new context• Be involved early in planning changes: • Involve in strategic decisions • Warn about significant potential issues• Offer safeguards, reassurances and arrangements for

accountability• Help to play appropriate role in leading the required cultural

change

Senior managers require HR than can:

Achieve successful organisational transformation, through:

• Clear, compelling, united and positive vision of the future• Ensuring that the capacity and capability for change exists• Getting middle managers and other key stakeholders on board • Identifying and using catalysts for change• Sustaining employee engagement in turbulent times• Delivering the ‘promise’ of cultural change • Keeping up the pace • Being bold, taking more risks.

Service users and communities require HR than can:

• Changing attitudes and norms internally

• Linking internal and external consultation and involvement – including ‘co-production’

• Using lean/systems thinking and insight driven approaches to achieve better outcomes, e.g. customer journey mapping.

The Public Sector HR/OD role now includes:• Supporting the leaders, including personally

• Promoting radical thinking ‘spaces’

• Bringing in fresh ideas

• Cultural change support

• Developing leadership skills for new context – at all levels

• Developing own/others new skills e.g. organisational redesign

• Asking questions– helping to leaders to clarify • Future vision• Intended outcomes/benefits • Business case • Risk management• Impact of change

HR/OD role continued • Promoting the importance of the process and creating

meaning for people to achieve sustainable change

• Enabling employee engagement and involvement

• Developing and supporting transformation catalysts

• Keeping up the pace – firm timetables

• Focus upon wellbeing, organisational and individual health

• Highlighting issues, constraints, risks…

HR role modelling….• Starts with you as an individual and needs to be underpinned by clarity of

purpose and personal humility.

• Needs to be clarified and reinforced by systems, structures, processes, values and personal behaviour.

• In my organisation and previous ones, the ‘role modelling’ for the people function has been about ‘three simple rules’ for the last 5 years:

- People/Customer Focus, - Teamwork, - Communication.

• Importantly, these three ‘rules’ have been applied equally to me as a leader within the function and I’m equally held to account by the team.

HR role modelling…• In practice, start with the basics and build from the ground up, if you can’t

deliver hygiene/housekeeping tasks effectively, forget a strategic role.

• Demonstrate an ability to understand the needs and priorities of the business as a whole and to offer a commentary on what’s going on internally and relate that to your external environment.

• Ensure you do the things you expect from the line yourself – e.g. self service, process compliance, managing HR talent, developing yourself, understanding resource and performance issues, delivering operational excellence, etc.

• Be open to new ideas and learning.

• Being visible, being accessible.

• Fundamentally though, it’s not just what you do, but how you do it.

The journey for HR…

From The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Research Report: Next Generation HR, 2010

Service

Driven

Process

Driven

Insight

Driven

The circle of good HR practice?

©CIPD

Conditions and behaviours for successBeing insight driven is part of the approach HR needs to apply. To deliver such a whole systems change to the organisation and beyond, the climate and conditions for success are key. The following points are descriptors of howsome public sector bodies are tackling this:

• Focus – overhaul of strategy, structure, culture, systems/process, behaviour and mindset.

• People orientated process of change.

• Outcomes emerge through continuous review and corrections to direction, as needed.

• Approach – conscious process design, facilitation, high involvement approach, and emergent process.

• Freedom to innovate, create and conjure.

Foundations of Business Savvy HR

Understanding the business model and

drivers

Generating insight through evidence & data

Connecting with curiosity, purpose and impact

Leading with integrity, compassion and challenge

©CIPD

Issues to keep in mind include…• The sheer scale and complexity of the challenges - need for

exceptional leadership

• Need for investment up front (perhaps in people management and in HR itself)

• The necessity of getting middle managers and professionals on board

• Dealing with your own turmoil and anxiety, both in HR and

personally

Some closing thoughts….• Quality people management and development approaches are

critical to sustain organisational performance and success for the future.

• HR capability can be a significant enabler of change – it can equally act as a huge barrier if it’s delivered poorly. It must be supported by the right behaviours, attitudes and the insight of HR people themselves.

• HR does not equal good people management. Good line management equals good people management, good HR should be about making line managers even better.

• Organisations get the HR people and function that they deserve.

The people dimension for public services in the future is not about this……

HAPPEN