Hello PPMA members and friends,

I have always thought that working in HR gives you a unique insight across the organisation. You have to understand of course the breadth of business issues facing the organisation and the people management challenges that arise as a consequence of those. In HR you are also uniquely placed to look across the organisation and see the range of different responses to these issues, from employees, managers and leaders.

That was the starting point for “From Insight to Action “as my theme for my year as PPMA President. At the heart of this is the principle that none of us knows it all and we need new insights to address the challenges we face in these most difficult of times. These new insights come in many shapes and forms and from all sectors: from all parts of the public sector, from the voluntary sector and from the private sector. The challenge facing us at the beginning of last year was that if we were to be best placed to support our organisations through the challenges of public sector reform and financial cuts, we needed to develop new thinking, new insights, and we needed to turn those into action, fast! And of course, action without insight will never make the difference that needs to be made.

I know that many of you have indeed risen to that challenge and have great stories to tell. Now is your chance to tell us about the difference you have made, through the PPMA Awards 2012.  Follow this link to read how to do that.

The challenges faced by our organisations in the last 12 months have been tough indeed.  But one thing I am sure of is that for HR in the public sector, when the going gets tough the tough get going! I am looking forward to hearing about how you have done that.

Until next week,

Anne

Hello PPMA members and friends,

A very Happy New Year to you!

When I first moved to Norfolk I was intrigued to learn that here 31st December is hailed as “old year’s night” and not “New Year’s Eve” as I had always known it.  I guess that that as 2011 came to a close, some of us were reflecting on all that has happened in the last year, while others were thinking much more intently about 2012 and what it might bring.

Many people working in the public sector are concerned and upset that we are seeing the end of many things that they value, services, ways of working, the loss of respected colleagues. Others are excited about the possibility of new ways of doing things, a different kind of public service, and new opportunities. Many more will find themselves buffeted between these two extremes and feeling very uncertain.

This is an important point that in HR we all need to keep at the front of our minds throughout 2012. In some ways it might be seen as nothing more than the well known change curve, but I think it is quite different from anything any of us have experienced in leading and facilitating organisational change. The sheer scale of the changes that people are facing, in their working lives, their professional lives and in their personal lives is without precedent for today’s workforce.  Because of this, we must give careful and extended thought to how we ensure people are supported through the changes. We must keep our fingers firmly on the pulse of our organisations and pay close attention to the different points of view that will be affecting how people react. And in response we will need to be in turns cautious and bold.

Remember that sometimes what you think is the end is just the beginning!

OR, as my surfer son always reminds me, as one wave breaks, another is building!

Until next week,

Hello PPMA members and friends,

The industrial action taken last week by public sector trade unions has been taking a lot of the time and attention of many of us.

The propaganda war has been intense, about the numbers striking, the numbers of schools closed, the impact on other services, the quality or otherwise of the negotiations, and worst of all, in my view, the private v public sector comparisons which encourage a very unhealthy ”them and us” stance.

The challenge for HR in our organisations is to ensure that a national dispute does not translate into local adversity. It is important that HR people are focussed on ensuring that employee engagement and partnership working with trade unions remains strong, even when nationally things remain challenging.

There are many examples of continuing strong partnership working relationships with trade unions.  Last week, employers and trade unions locally worked together to minimise the impact of action on vulnerable service users. Senior managers and HR people visited picket lines to maintain a positive dialogue. It is vital that these positive dialogues are maintained.

Outside the sector, there is little recognition of the dilemma experienced by public service employees in contemplating industrial action. There is always a concern about the impact on customers, especially amongst those working with the more vulnerable. I know from talking to a number of colleagues that the decision to participate in the strike action was one which was weighed with some angst. Some decided to participate, others did not. Regardless of the final decisions made, and the actual numbers who took action, there is no doubt that large numbers of public sector employees feel unhappy and uneasy.

In these difficult times visibility of senior managers across our organisations is important. We all know that what might seem like small gestures from senior leaders can have high impact across the organisation. The reverse is also true. Significant issues experienced by staff at the front line can get minimised as they pass up the leadership hierarchy. So it is important for senior leaders to get out there and talk to people across the organisation first hand so that they see and hear employees’ concerns for themselves and are able to respond to them directly. And it is important that we in HR do this too.

I am looking forward this coming week, to having the opportunity to discuss these and other issues with PPMA members. First on Thursday 8 December at the East of England PPMA regional event on “insight to action”  and then on Friday 9 December at a meeting of PPMA members in our London Region.

Before then, I have another very important event-my eldest son is 16 this week-Happy Birthday Joe!

Until next week,

Anne

Hello PPMA members and friends,

Here’s a question for you: Can you think of something significant that you have learned in the last 6-12 months?  Take a moment or two to reflect on that, what you learned, how it happened and what you have done since with that learning.

Sometimes it might be a light bulb moment. On other occasions it might be a build up of several experiences that gradually come together into a coherent thought. Sometimes it will be something you have read, sometimes an event you have attended, or simply a conversation with different people who help you to see things in a new way.

Talking to a group of senior managers recently, we were reflecting on the challenges ahead and what we would need to equip us to meet those challenges. We were unanimous that we would need fresh insights but we also reflected that looking back over the last 12 months it has been difficult to find the time and opportunity to pay attention to our own learning.

Why? Well, in many ways the “age of austerity” has been a wake-up call for the public sector. It has reminded us of the fundamental importance of the need to get the best out of the resources available to us and it has caused us to re-think how we do that. But there is a danger that we are now throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. Caught up in the back wash of justifiable criticism of unnecessary public sector spending, are many of the valuable learning opportunities we need to ensure the fresh thinking and new insights that are so important to improving public services.

This is a “must address” issue for those of us working in HR in the public sector. We must continue to champion learning as an essential part of improvement and change.

The public sector holds a huge amount of talent, but to thrive, it must be nurtured and given the confidence to do things differently. So think hard about the learning that is going on (or not) in your own organisation right now, for your leaders, managers, teams and individuals. Has the pendulum swung too far to a place where learning is being neglected or is there investment in the right things and at the right level?  There is an art and a science to this. The data is important but so too is talking to your people to understand if and how new learning is getting into the organisation. Try asking my first question in a few places and reflect on the answers you get.

And finally, don’t neglect your own learning! PPMA is committed to supporting our members’ with new thinking and fresh insights. The latest opportunity to do that will be at our PPMA private members’ event at the CIPD conference in Manchester on 10th November, when we will be debating the most appropriate responses to the challenges we all currently face. You will also be able to access the extensive CIPD exhibition and explore new ideas and thinking about HR issues and activities. For details see PPMA’s website.

Until next week,

Anne

Hello PPMA members and friends,

As an approach to “employee engagement”, beatings might have worked on the high seas, but times have changed!

“How can we hope to engage the public sector workforce when so much media and political criticism leaves them feeling like part of the problem rather than part of the solution? “ This was one of the central questions raised by a range of commentators at an event I attended last week which was looking at how to create value through employee relations and engagement. It’s an issue that has been concerning PPMA members for some time.

There is no doubt that public sector workers are feeling pretty beaten up both by negative reporting in some parts of the media and by comments made by a number of politicians. The latter is particularly significant since political leaders are the direct employers of some public services and the commissioners of many more. As we all know, employers need to set clear expectations of what they want their workforce to do and provide the motivation for that to be achieved. And also as we all know, all stick and no carrot will not work.

So I was delighted at the same event to hear the Rt Hon Francis Maude MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General said that he “hugely values the public service ethos” and the commitment of public service staff. This sort of comment is exactly what our public sector workforce really needs to hear loudly and clearly. It is an important issue that PPMA is championing this year.

That said, the people they need to hear value and appreciation from most are their own managers and employers. Public sector organisations cannot abdicate their responsibility on this. Regardless of political and media opinion, it is up to us to do the right things as employers to maintain the motivation and engagement of our employees.

How to get this right is one of the key issues PPMA members will be debating at the PPMA private members’ event to be held alongside the CIPD annual conference on 10 November 2011 in Manchester. More details are available on PPMA’s website. I am looking forward to this and to debating these and other key issues for HR in the public sector with PPMA members.

Until next week,

Anne