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Appendix A

In Confidence

Investors in People Diagnostic Report

for

Tewkesbury Borough Council

Council Offices Gloucester Road

Tewkesbury GL20 5TT

Adviser: Lise Lewis MBA Chartered FCIPD

October 2004

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Tewkesbury Borough Council - IiP diagnostic report – October 2004

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Contents

1. Introduction 2. Strengths and Areas of Good Practice

3. Potential for Further Development

4. General findings against each Principle of the Standard

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1. Introduction Tewkesbury Borough Council employs 405 people to provide a range of community services to people living within the borough. The Council recognises that to respond to the demands placed upon local government in terms of operating within a framework of continuous change with expectations to demonstrate performance improvements, it needs a flexible, skilled, motivated and committed workforce and to be able to manage the Council effectively. The Human Resources Manager was appointed 3 years ago to identify and implement an improvement and change management programme which culminated in the human resources strategy. The Council is “striving to be an excellent local authority” and an external measure for success is the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) undertaken in July 2004 on behalf of the Audit Commission. Internal factors identified as potentially influencing organisational effectiveness are staff turnover, absence and restructuring. Staff turnover has increased although the Council is not experiencing difficulties in attracting applicants except for highly technical specialist posts. Current levels of sickness absence are higher than the national average primarily due to long term absence. Reducing the rate of absence remains a key performance indicator. Some vacancies have not been filled awaiting the outcomes of restructuring. Staff made little reference to any of these factors during the diagnostic process. The Council operates within a performance management framework and the principles of Investors in People are encompassed within ‘Our People’ Human Resources Strategy 2004. Members support working towards Investors in People recognition and an assessment of the Council’s readiness is a target for the Chief Executive and the Service Delivery Plan for Human Resources. To inform this assessment the following report provides feedback from Council staff relating to the Investors in People standard. The outcomes are based on the analysis of data from: 3 focus groups totalling 25 people from across the Council and

representing managers and staff. Staff questionnaires completed by 50 people. 1-to-1 discussions with 13 people from each Directorate and included the

Chief Executive and Head of Human Resources. When considering the results it may be helpful to be aware that greater emphasis was focused on areas for improvement in staff questionnaires than in 1-to-1 discussions and focus groups. This sample represents 22% of the total workforce and for IiP purposes is considered as likely to be significant in terms of representing the views of all people employed by the Council.

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2. Strengths and Areas of Good Practice Commitment: 1. Annual staff attitude surveys are arranged and examples are available to

demonstrate actions taken as a result of feedback. 2. ‘Our People’ human resources strategy 2004 outlines the Council’s

approach to people management and development. 3. Individuals have the opportunity for a 2-way discussion on performance,

target setting and identifying development needs. 4. Staff believe the reviews are now more regular and improved since the

introduction of the Joint Assessment Review (JAR). 5. A corporate training programme is available and people generally believe

training is available if they want it. 6. Continuing professional development (CPD) is well supported. 7. A variety of communication tools are available to share information across

the organisation and the latest survey identified that staff generally agree that communications have improved.

8. Teamworking is improving across the organisation. Planning: 9. The Council operates within a performance management framework

involving a business planning and review process for the organisation, teams and individuals.

10. Council objectives are detailed in the Council Plan and Service Delivery plans.

11. A formal process for gaining customer feedback is activated every 2 years together with focus group meetings.

12. Generally people are aware of what the Council is aiming to achieve at organisational level.

13. Service delivery plans include a section which can be used to list anticipated skills gaps impacting on meeting objectives.

Action: 14. The majority of people have regular discussions with their managers

regarding their development needs. 15.Target setting is perceived as becoming “smarter.” 16. Induction training is considered to be relevant and effective. 17. There are some examples of training being linked to external

qualifications.

Evaluation: 18. A process is in place to review performance within the Council at member and officer levels. 19. An identified budget is available for learning and development and reported on. 20. End of course evaluation operates. 21. Staff can give examples of how training has improved performance. 22. An ethos of working towards continuous improvement is progressing.

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3. Potential for Further Development Commitment: 1. To respond to feedback and improve staff retention, generate greater

opportunities for career progression – this is included in the Human Resources service delivery plan for 2004-2005 as part of the key task to develop a Workforce Development Plan.

2. Identify more opportunities for working across services and Directorates to improve motivation, provide development opportunities and step up organisational effectiveness.

3. There is a perception that there are inconsistencies in the distribution of development opportunities. A way of validating this perception is to review the pattern of training activity across the organisation in terms of spend and number of courses attended at different grades and for individual services.

4. People have commented that training isn’t necessarily available for everyone. Consider including a question in the next staff survey on equality of access to training. If this question already exists compare the results with the outcome of this review.

5. A process for knowledge and skills sharing already exists with team briefing, “Lite Bites” and Café Society. Consider extending the process to assess whether team briefings can absorb skills and knowledge sharing by people returning from development activities.

6. Reinforce the managers’ role of providing regular balanced feedback on performance and recognition for people’s efforts.

Planning: 7. Can the process for performance management be strengthened by

creating further links between the Council Plan, the business plans and JARs by adding columns to all documents for “who is responsible for achieving objective/key task/target” – “estimated budget” and “learning and development needs”? Consider this in terms of facilitating performance monitoring, budget allocation and focusing organisational development needs.

8. To be more inclusive and to encourage officer contributions, identify opportunities in the performance management cycle to proactively involve key people in objective setting throughout the Council.

9. Consider whether sufficient information is communicated between members and officers to gain a shared understanding of what is needed to and what can be achieved by the Council.

10. Is there a brief summary of the Council’s 4 priorities and 13 objectives so that people can see “at a glance” what they contribute to in their work?

11. Similarly is the Planning and Performance Management Process flow diagram widely available to help people understand how it operates?

12. Consider reviewing the effectiveness of the process for using customer feedback to inform future business objectives.

Action: 13. People identify a desire for more focused direction and leadership. When

planning the proposed identification of management competencies also consider arrangements for leadership development.

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14. The JAR process is a critical element of the Council’s performance management model. The supporting paperwork is perceived as having improved. There is scope to further improve the process by managers focusing on the discussion to determine the real needs of individuals when determining the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to perform well in achieving targets and objectives.

15. In finding the most appropriate option and to maximise the spread of resources available for development, encourage managers to become more reliant on alternatives to training courses when identifying development needs and solutions for their people.

16. Encourage everyone to use the Action Plan in 1-to-1 meetings to regularly review progress and to identify changes in priorities and development needs.

Evaluation: 17. Gaining clarity for individuals, managers and the organisation on

expectations for development can be achieved by encouraging managers to have the before/after discussions with their staff. This enables people to understand why they are attending the development activity, what they are expected to learn and when they return to evaluate how they can apply it in their work. This also provides valuable evaluation data on whether the investment in training was worthwhile.

18. Review what action is taken as a result of collecting end of course feedback data.

19. People are identifying improvements in their performance as a result of development and making stronger links with the business planning process will help people to understand more fully their contribution to business success and for the Council to evaluate the effectiveness of its development programme.

4. General findings against each Principle of the Standard

Commitment An Investor in People is fully committed to developing its people in order to achieve its aims and objectives: 1. The organisation is committed to supporting the development of its

people: Outcomes from attitude surveys in 2002 and 2003, exit interviews, Trades

Unions feedback, senior managers and elected Members identified: Staff wanted to feel more valued. Leadership capabilities needed to be developed to be consistent

across the Council. A desire for improved communications. Directorate and section boundaries impeding collaborative working. The benefits of producing a skills audit identifying existing knowledge

and competencies to inform future people development needs. The Council’s response to addressing these outcomes is outlined in ‘Our

People’ human resources strategy 2004 which outlines future arrangements for:

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career development opportunities Feedback from the IiP diagnostics included the comment:

“There doesn’t appear to be career progression for part-timers although my manager has suggested an in house course to assess capabilities”

a performance management system that drives improvement at team, organisational and individuals levels and sharing skills and knowledge across the Council and with other local authorities.

Feedback from the IiP diagnostics suggests that: Working across sections and directorates still has much scope for

improvement. all new staff will receive a comprehensive induction to the

Council - This has been in place since June 2004. Ensuring staff know what is expected of them and to identify their

personal development needs with their line manager through the Joint Annual Review (JAR) process - The JAR process has been implemented with appropriate training and subsequently reviewed during 2003-04.

Feedback from the IiP diagnostics identifies that: Managers believe that everyone has a JAR. Staff generally believe JARS are more regular. Approximately 50% of staff believe the Council is committed to

developing everyone, 40% think the commitment is only for some people and 10% believes the Council has no commitment to people development.

There are several comments about self identification of training courses without input from managers.

Continuing professional development (CPD) appears to be well supported.

a corporate training plan based on clearly identified needs across the organisation with maximum value obtained from the investment made in training by targeting it at key priorities and focused on future organisational developments – this is now available.

Improving methods of identifying, evaluating and sharing knowledge from development activities. Feedback from IiP diagnostics reinforces that:

There are some examples of information and knowledge sharing from development activities on return to the workplace. One example is Acoustics training attended by one person and sharing learning with the rest of the section.

Open and transparent communications: Feedback from IiP diagnostics identifies that the Council has various approaches to inform and update people. Examples are:

The Chief Executive attends section meetings. Corporate messages are cascaded from the Chief Officers

Management Team (COMT) through an informal process of team briefing.

This is demonstrated through Café Society held quarterly for all staff to discuss key issues. There are mixed views about Café Society seeing the meetings as informative, difficult to give feedback at, intimidating, taking time from work and challenging to get to because of location.

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“Light Bites” for managers are held every 2 weeks and involves one of the Chief Officers or Heads of Services making a 45 minute presentation to update others attending.

Weekly member updates which are also circulated to staff and includes significant news on progress, challenges and new starters.

“Borough Matters” is an in-house publication for all staff and provides the latest informal chat.

Regular meetings with Trades Unions. The latest annual survey showed a perception that communication had

improved. Individual comments included:

“Communications are brilliant – kept in touch and informed about everything.”

“Communications vary - it depends what’s happening - if CPA is a driver then lots of communication and then it quietens down.”

“There is CPA overload.” “Lots of cascade information and information on new systems,

complaints, achievements and have regular directorate management and team meetings.”

Leadership development – Generally staff will welcome more direction and leadership.

Promoting equal opportunities within the workforce. A workforce action plan to achieve the strategy.

2. People are encouraged to improve their own and other people’s

performance. Feedback from IiP diagnostics identifies that:

Approximately 25% of people think their managers give regular constructive feedback, with the majority sometimes getting feedback and about 10% getting none at all.

There is a growing emphasis on teamworking within the Council which can be increased through managers further actively reinforcing this approach to improving performance.

3. People believe their contribution to the organisation is recognised.

Feedback from IiP diagnostics illustrates that: Approximately two-thirds of people believe that “sometimes” or “not

really” their contribution to the Council is valued. Comments supporting this result are largely attributable to irregular feedback from managers in recognition of people’s efforts. Positive feedback is most likely to be given at JARs, as a result of managing excess workload and through customer comments.

Individual comments include: I received a thank you letter from senior management. The feedback I get is only by customer letters. I’m usually thanked for doing things. Achievements are listed on the public drive for everyone to see.

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4. The organisation is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity in the development of its people. Feedback from diagnostics identifies that:

Managers believe everyone has equal access to training. 1-to-1 interviews generally presented a picture of equality for all in

terms of access to training opportunities, although a couple of comments suggested there are inconsistencies to access perceived in some departments. Results from staff questionnaires identified that people are divided in their opinion with approximately 50% believing there is equal access, 40% believing there is for some and 10% thinking there was no equality of opportunity for development.

Staff questionnaire analysis included the comments: “…my current manager does not agree with training part-time staff.” “there was no real contact with the organisation during maternity leave

although I understood about the restructuring.” “left to own devices but may be because I’m part time.”

Planning An Investor in People is clear about its aims and its objectives and what its people need to do to achieve them: 5. The organisation has a plan with clear aims and objectives which are

understood by everyone: The Planning and Performance Management Process (PPMP) flow

diagram sets out the performance plans for the Council, how they link and what needs to be considered at each level of planning and performance management in terms of strategies, external influences, communication, customer care and people development.

The PPMP includes: 1. Vision and values: 2. The Council Plan outlines the role, objectives with short and medium

term targets and priorities for the Council for the next four years. The plan has been developed by Councillors with the involvement of staff at all levels and a consultation activity with customers and key partners. The Local Strategic Partnership’s Community Strategy “Working Together” provides the foundation for this plan. The Council Plan is anticipated to be achieved by a range of detailed Plans and Strategies.

3. Service Delivery Plans which are based on Business Excellence principles and link with the Council Plan include: a. Key functions and priorities for the service. b. Service staffing and budget details. c. Past, present and future planning, monitoring and evaluation of

service achievements during the previous year. d. Performance measurement in line with Best Value and local

performance indicators and critical success factors. 4. The Joint Annual Review (JAR) is designed to support review meetings

between individuals and their managers. The aim of the meeting is to: a. improve the Council’s overall performance by establishing a clear

link between the corporate objectives, service plans, work programmes and contributions of individual employees.

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b. Provide employees with clear objectives, an understanding of what is expected of them, how they are performing, an opportunity to feedback to management, a joint review of learning and development needs and personal aspirations.

c. Provide a record of achievement for the individual. Feedback from customers is proactively gained through 2-yearly surveys.

The Council scored well against the benchmarks included in this year’s survey. Direct customer services provide immediate feedback for units such as Benefits and Planning. Focus group meetings are also arranged. It’s not clear what happens to the feedback received.

A new “complaints” system is being implemented to learn more from customers. Feedback from IiP diagnostics highlights that:

At management level there is a perception that there is room for improvement on setting objectives, devising strategy and initiatives to meet national indicators which need political support on budget spend. This is because identified objectives may not be funded at Member level which subsequently questions the authenticity of strategic decisions.

A management comment is “we have some input into objective setting on service plans although the process is generally viewed as top down management driven.”

One staff comment suggested that: “There is a gulf between officers and what members want. Members are not working together to have a clear focus on objectives and what can be realistically achieved; officers are confused about what to deliver.”

Another comment suggested that “service plans satisfy the need to produce policy and codes but don’t have an immediate effect on people in the Borough – we can’t grasp what we do best; the plans are too vague, too nebulous and unfocused on the community.”

Generally, people believe they are aware of what the Council is aiming to achieve at organisational level.

6. The development of people is in line with the organisation’s aims

and objectives: Service delivery plans include the training requirements within the

‘exceptional capacity requirements section’. There is a corporate training plan to deliver Council wide development

needs such as project management. Feedback from IiP diagnostics identifies that:

There are mixed responses to people understanding what training and development activities should achieve, both for them and the Council. Limited feedback exists where managers discuss with individuals expected outcomes before and after a training event. The overall impression is that training can be more focused on individual and business needs.

Examples of how people believe the training they have received aligns with business objectives include: Giving a faster response to customers through using GIS and

Imagescan. IT programming supporting the Council’s systems.

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7. People understand how they contribute to achieving the

organisation’s aims and objectives. The JAR process includes the completion of an Action Plan to record

individual objectives. A similar plan is available for training and development.

Everyone has a job description. Feedback from IiP diagnostics suggest that:

The management perspective is that involvement of staff in the business planning process is improving.

An example given for improving understanding is to include 3rd tier managers in DMT meetings. This is already happening evidently in one Directorate and the perception is that it works well.

Staff generally advise that they don’t have total clarity about understanding how the business planning process operates and their role in achieving the Council’s objectives. This is particularly relevant for people not located in the Council Offices.

Action An Investor in People develops its people effectively in order to improve its performance: 8. Managers are effective in supporting the development of people.

Feedback from IiP diagnostics: Business Excellence assessors evaluate whether Heads of Service

have the knowledge, skills and attitudes to develop their people. The Council does not have a dedicated in-house management

development programme. A future action is to identify competencies for management.

The perception is that management development works well at 2nd tier in terms of team building and that there are opportunities for improvements at 3rd tier for managers who need to have a general management as well as service planning perspective to meet the modernisation agenda. A generic Head of Service job description was suggested for promoting working across services.

Specific examples of managers input to people development are: Staff are transferring to Community Development under TUPE and

plans are in place to support their integration. An example of fast tracking a new starter to become qualified

includes development opportunities such as shadowing. The aim is to implement a system for retention by helping people to qualify and have devolved responsibilities.

The JAR process has improved the availability and quality of performance reviews and target setting is becoming “smarter”.

A range of responses were received on manager’s effectiveness in supporting their people’s development. Some comments confirmed a systematic approach to identifying development needs with managers actively involved, some people felt their managers approach was somewhat mechanistic relying on prescribed training activities and others felt unsupported with identifying opportunities for transferring learning to the workplace.

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Specific comments about JARs included: “People are not confident about telling managers what they want” “My manager tries but is too busy.” “The JAR process is brilliant, I know exactly what I have to do and

can have whatever training I need.” “Managers are approachable – strongly supportive about

professional development. The majority of people have regular discussions with their managers

regarding their development needs. Responses to the staff questionnaire identified 8 people who hadn’t.

9. People learn and develop effectively:

Feedback from IiP diagnostics: Generally people think they understand what they are expected to do

as a result of training received, although this isn’t validated through before/after discussions on training events.

Externally recognised qualifications are viewed as being available to some extent. Examples given are ECDL, basic skills training, NVQ, NPLQ and HNC – Civil Engineering.

Induction training is considered to be relevant, effective and improved in the revised format. A suggestion made is to include key contact people across Directorates.

Several examples were offered of development in knowledge, skills and attitudes as a result of training.

Evaluation An Investor in People understands the impact of its investment in people on its performance: Training spend is currently £121,290 an average of £300 for each

individual. The budget is devolved to sections with a small corporate resource retained for management development priorities such as project management, recruitment and selection and absence management.

Feedback to COMT and the Joint Staff Committee includes individual exam successes and type of training delivered.

End of course feedback assesses whether the training has been good value for money in terms of its appropriateness to the specified learning.

10. The development of people improves the performance of the

organisation, teams and individuals. Feedback from IiP diagnostics:

A significant number of people can give examples of their performance improving as a result of training. Examples mainly cover IT training with particular reference to ECDL.

Team working is reported as being encouraged and increasingly improving support for each other and effectiveness in task completion.

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11. People understand the impact of the development of people on the performance of the organisation, teams and individuals: Feedback from IiP diagnostics:

Approximately two-thirds of people believe the Council understands how staff development can improve the performance of the whole organisation.

Evaluation of the benefits of management development in “softer” skills produced a mixed response to recognising improvements in performance as a result of the training.

One person believes that “Directors appear not to understand the importance of development at the coal face.” Another comments that: “Management actively encourages and resources technical development which improves the business.”

12. The organisation gets better at developing its people:

Feedback from IiP diagnostics: In 2003 feedback from staff was “good” for the review process and

resulted in changes to the JAR paperwork with a simplified version for casual staff.

Staff generally believe their suggestions for improvements to development activities are welcomed and implemented. One manager believed the “absence management” training could have taken a more practical approach.

Feedback suggests there is scope for improving timeliness of training and ability to transfer learning particularly with IT.

Reviewing action plans supporting the service delivery plans provides the opportunity to highlight any shortfall in skills. The action plans are intended to be used regularly in one-to-ones. There is some evidence of this happening.

Staff relate instances of suggestions for training being accepted where a business benefit is identified.

The Council has reintroduced apprenticeships and now has traineeships arranged with Gloucester City Council.

…… and finally: How can we improve? People are asked to list any improvements they would like to see in the way they are managed, trained and developed. Comments received are: Leadership and Management: Members to be motivated to improve their skills base and be prepared to

do some training themselves particularly on strategic focus. Be honest – what’s happening what are the constraints and pressures? –

Don’t shirk if a Member is being difficult - senior management have to have courage to steer in a different direction.

There is more support for senior officers. Ensure vision and values are translated into practical applications. Be inspired about the future – make you see you are part of a bigger

picture.

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Organisation needs to prioritise its objectives, the associated risks and align to an individual’s objectives.

Clear direction and maintain – clear priorities and maintain until completion.

Managers to get rid of cynics and moaners and people loathe to change. Issues to be dealt with more sensitively. Would be nice to see managers at locations outside of council offices –

wouldn’t know them if I saw them and they are managers. Delegate more. Be involved in more areas of my work. Need to identify serious problems with staff motivation and remedy. More interest in staff in less well paid jobs. When advice needed to have your opinions respected. More one to one feedback. More involvement by managers to encourage staff. “I would like to be asked and be more involved in things, instead of feeling

I’m the little woman sat in the corner.” Culture: Feel separate and don’t feel part of the whole and don’t know what’s going

on to respond to customers. Structure: Community Services have several disparate units and appear to be

separate to the rest of the Council. Operational: Greater input from an operational level to corporate groups. Frequent workload reviews. More proactive workloads, my work is more reactive. With structure and

better procedures, this would not happen. Through training, this would also be achieved.

Laid down procedures. More defined parameters on what to do – job routines. Clearer work programme. Recognition for what I do for other sections. Not to let workload acquired from other sections impact on ability to do

own work Resources: To have resources where they’re needed, for example, in Housing. Restructuring can mean redundancies and how will that impact on service

delivery? Implement adviser alongside enforcement officer to give customer extra

help. Terms and conditions: Childcare subsidy Financial reward for achievement and loyalty (2) The admin team to be appreciated and paid for the amount of work given

to them. Essential posts should be made permanent, not on 1 or 2 year contracts.

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Learning and Development: In-house officer responsible for training. Better scope for job promotion – link to qualifications (may help retention). More people to have the opportunity to gain proper qualifications (not just

management) for the job, not just a couple of days when you need it. 3 month appraisal reviews. More regular chats with manager to discuss training. (2) Put forward more specialist courses. When you are asked to do new things it would be helpful if we were

trained first (2) More training for present job. Continual training plan (pretty ad hoc at the moment) Active encouragement to start training. Personal development plan. More training on systems to help with job There is a desperate need for more money for training courses in our

department. Budgets were always small and have not been increased in real terms for years.

Lack of funds for training When training is requested this should be followed through (2) More chance to do course for typing etc. More accessible corporate policy on training Tailoring of training needs to employees eg staff who work out of

office/part-time staff. (2) Make training available to people on fixed term contracts Identify team training opportunities

Communication: Give earlier advice about news jobs to do which allows adequate planning

time. About what people are doing – new people – what community services

does and between directorates so would know who to contact. Improve across Directorates lots of people you don’t know – have staff

updates but if they were introduced would help Success stories and what we are achieving – real achievements that

touch people in the borough and make a difference to them. More discussion as to future. More frequent section meetings. Meetings with manager. More communication required, on a weekly basis, taking time to inform

you when you have been on leave etc, whether it involves you directly or not, regarding the department.

As a small team within the section, communication is very poor. I would like more unit meetings re work relationships. To be listened to. Not to be the last to know.

Working Environment: Building - Cramped in Planning. Small windows – no air conditioning. Refurbish the building – although done best they can.

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What are we doing well? People are asked at the end of interviews to identify what is going well. Comments are: Leadership and Management: We are set realistic targets. Always get the utmost support. Happy with the way managed, trained and developed.

Communications: Have improved with cascade from Chief Executive + emails about different

COMT issues. Good on disseminating information through emails. Union consultation much improved Are excellent – Head of Service excellent in passing information down and

keeping people informed. CPA info shared.

Learning and Development: Can normally get training wanted other than budget constraints.

Working Environment: Good facilities – free parking. Environment good Stable environment – moves forward but don’t feel threatened –

restructuring OK and positive. Operational: Good team work (demonstrated by CPA) (2) Great people – easy to work with (3) Section works well - support of colleagues Friendly atmosphere – now a team atmosphere with attitude from new

people and new ideas. Staff do a brilliant job with high sickness and high turnover. Performing well with a lean workforce who are delivering through the

commitment of the people. Ability to manage own time. Encouraged to do different things. Majority of customers are nice. Love the job, the people and the public. Everything! “Wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.” Delight of delivering something good. Challenge of working in local government. Variety of work.

Terms and Conditions: Flexibility of hours and annual leave Pay’s good Facilities good - restaurant.

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